Einstein Quantum Quest Valiant Swabian

Einstein and the Quantum: The Quest of the Valiant Swabian (Hardcover) Einstein has been my scientific hero since I was a child, and I have been inspired to conduct research on general relativity and statistical mechanics. To me, it is annoying that many people only know about Einstein's E=m c^2. (Einstein actually wrote m=E/c^2 in 1905, but that's another story.) Through my studies, research and teaching, I gain a more profound understanding of Einstein's multifaceted contributions to physics. The more I learn about Einstein's lesser known works, the more I become fascinated by him. There is a persistent misconception about Einstein's attitude toward quantum theory; even some educated people claim that Einstein rejected quantum mechanics (perhaps to conceal their ignorance). Einstein's penetrating insight revealed the bizarre features of quantum mechanics, and Douglas Stone of Yale University has written a wonderful book to highlight Einstein's seminal contributions to the development quantum theory.

There are so many books on Einstein. I noticed this one because of Professor Stone's interesting article for Physics Today in 2005, in which he connected Einstein's 1917 work on old quantization rules to quantum chaos. Here I particularly enjoy the chapter "The Indian Comet" which gives an a detailed account on how Einstein invented quantum statistical mechanics in 1924 after he received a letter from Bose. The succeeding chapter "Quantum Dice" discusses the Bose-Einstein condensation which led to several Nobel Prizes, and Einstein's influence on Schrodinger. It contains a facsimile of Einstein's letter to Schrodinger in which Einstein demonstrated the difference between tossing 2 coins and 2 quantum particles to illustrate the concept of identical particles. Professor Stone has masterfully weaved many interesting facts about Einstein into an eloquent narrative. The book is is informative for me--I consider myself to be well-read. His accounts are accessible to students and general readers as well.


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