Einstein’s Struggles with Quantum Theory: A Reappraisal

Dipankar Home, Andrew Whitaker9780387715193, 0387715193, 0387715207

Einstein’s Struggles with Quantum Theory: A Re-Appraisal, presents an account of all aspects of Einstein’s encounter with quantum theory. Until recently it was accepted that, after important early work, Einstein was simply unable to follow Niels Bohr’s approach to quantum theory, and that Einstein’s own views, centered on realism, were of no interest. This book follows modern scholarship arguing that Einstein’s arguments were well constructed, in the Einstein-Bohr debate his position was legitimate, and his pragmatic approach to realism stimulated John Bell and encouraged the emergence of quantum information theory. The book provides a readable account of Einstein’s achievements in quantum theory, his own views, and the progress his work has stimulated since his death. While some chapters use mathematics at an undergraduate physics level, a path is provided for the reader more concerned with ideas than equations, and the book should be of interest to anybody interested in Einstein and his approach to the quantum.