Schrodinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality - by John Gribbin (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

In this eagerly anticipated sequel to the classic bestseller In Search of Schrodinger's Cat, John Gribbin digs even deeper into the mysterious and confounding world of quantum mechanics. Gribbin takes infinitely complex, mind-bending experiments, brings them to life, and makes them accessible to the lay reader. Under his deft guidance, we can begin to grasp the fundamental riddle of today's quantum mechanics: how a single photon can be seen going in two directions at once. Along the way, Gribbin reveals some fascinating discoveries: how quantum particles could one day be used in a Star Trek-type teleportation system, and how quantum cryptographers have developed ways of making unbreakable codes using quantum effects. Schrodinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality illuminates the world's most intriguing and enigmatic scientific phenomenon - and shows how the "impossible dreams" of such legendary scientists as Bohr, Feynman, and Einstein may soon become reality.

From the Back Cover

"Nobody understands quantum theory", said Richard Feynman, and in the 1980s that was true. Now John Gribbin presents exciting new evidence about the nature of light that pulls together quantum theory and relativity theory into a coherent explanation of reality - solving the quantum mysteries. John Gribbin's bestselling In Search of Schrodinger's Cat, heralded as "absolutely fascinating" by Isaac Asimov, was the first book to present the quantum's many riddles. Now he returns with Schrodinger's "kittens", the offspring of his famously indeterminate cat. As a way of visualizing the many perplexing paradoxes of the new view of reality, Gribbin carries them to opposite ends of the universe, where their fate is determined by signals that travel faster than light and backwards in time. Elsewhere in the mysterious quantum world there are photons capable of being in two places at the same time. All this has much more than just theoretical interest. The practical applications are equally astounding. They provide for the serious possibility that quantum theory could eventually be used to develop a Star Trek-style teleportation machine, and how it has already found applications in uncrackable codes.