Book Review - Uncertainity: Einstein, Heisenberg, Bohr and the struggle for the soul of science

Completed this wonderful book on the history of quantum science by David Lindley. A gripping read which charts the history of quantum physics from the early decades of the 20th century till the years after the conclusion of the Second World War. The book starts with Robert Brown and his Brownian Motion, ending with the Uncertainty Principle of Heisenberg.

Reading this book I got to know more closely each of the characters involved in this journey chief among them being Bohr and Heisenberg; Bohr was the god while Heisenberg was his prophet.

Understanding the personality of the geniuses like Bohr, Heisenberg, Pauli, Schrodinger and others is an enriching journey. We have all read about the concepts like Uncertainty principle,  Schrodinger wave equation or the wave-particle duality of matter in our high school physics but to know how these theories evolved over decades of brainstorming discussions is a different experience.





Heisenberg being brought down to tears by Bohr, Heisenberg calling Pauli a 'jackass' or disagreements and debates between Bohr and Einstein are to be read to be believed. It is fascinating to read how these most fertile human brains collided in an attempt to formulate theories which could explain coherently the behavior of sub-atomic particles. The complications associated with the mathematics around quantum mechanics or the theories presented by Bohr can be judged by the fact that many contemporary physicists, some of them very eminent, were unable to grasp it. It was a classic case that amidst all these discussions, arguments and counter-arguments even the Nobel committee was a in fix to decide if quantum physics is worth to be awarded and hence amidst the confusion the suspended Nobel in Physics in 1931 before awarding the 1932 prize to Heisenberg and 1933 one to Schrodinger and Dirac.

The author himself being a physicist does a great work in presenting such complicated stuff in the most elucidated language as possible. The age of quantum principles and uncertainty is the stage wherein the boundaries between physics and philosophy become blurred. It is the stage when theoretical physicts no longer able to explain the phenomenons of nature takes refuge in the arms of philosophy and probabilistic mathematics.

Bohr was himself more of a philosopher than a pure physicist and theories came to him more from intuition rather than an understanding of the underlying mathematics. In fact the author points to Bohr's lack of grasp on higher branches of mathematics because of which he mostly depended on others like Sommerfeld, Heisenberg, Pauli to provide an analytical interpretation of his theories. Equally interesting were the unsuccessful attempts by Einstein to prove Bohr and Heisenberg wrong. The book is aptly titled as the 'struggle for the soul of science'.

The author also brings in the socio-political dimension of this period and how the changing scenario impacted the life of these great minds. Germany for most of the period discussed was the seat of academic excellence in theoretical and most of the finest brains were either from Germany or were closely associated with the institutions there in. However narcissistic policies of Hitler soon robbed Germany of all the talents with USA being the greatest beneficiary.

This book would make a most interesting read for high school students who are first introduced to these revolutionary concepts; it is sure to ignite their imaginations. It would also be a great reference read for a teacher of physics as the contents from this book can serve as very interesting and informative anecdotes for their students. And for general readers like me it's just a chance to once get acquainted with underlying framework which nature has weaved for us.