A gripping account of the birth of the troubled science of quantum physics, a dramatic conflict that climaxed at the pivotal Solvay Conference of 1927.

    There’s trouble brewing in the world of theoretical physics, and it’s all about a problem that began eighty years ago. That’s when a handful of physicists, struggling to create a whole new science, also created the seemingly intractable problem of unifying the paradoxical worlds of classical and quantum physics. Physicists have never been able to solve this riddle, and that’s causing some to question the very foundations of quantum physics.

    In The Quantum Ten, Sheilla Jones tells the fascinating behind-the-scenes story of the awkward beginnings of quantum physics, and paints an intimate portrait of the ten key figures who wrestled with the mysteries of the new science of the quantum. The Brussels conference was the first time so many of the “quantum ten” had been in the same place: “Albert Einstein, the lone wolf; Niels Bohr, the obsessive but gentlemanly father figure; Max Born, the anxious hypochondriac; Werner Heisenberg, the intensely ambitious one; Wolfgang Pauli, the sharp-tongued critic with a dark side; Paul Dirac, the silent Englishman; Erwin Schrödinger, the enthusiastic womanizer; Prince Louis de Broglie, the French aristocrat; Pascual Jordan, the ardent Aryan nationalist, who was not invited; and Paul Ehrenfest, who was witness to it all.”

    This is the story of quantum physics that has never been told, an equation-free investigation into the turbulent development of the new science and its very fallible creators, including little-known details of the personal relationship between the deeply troubled Paul Ehrenfest and his dear friend Albert Einstein. Jones weaves together the personal and the scientific in a heartwarming—and heartbreaking—story of the men who struggled to create quantum physics.

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Selected reviews of The Quantum Ten

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 "[Jones's] lively narrative shows that she is not merely an engaging popular science writer but also an excellent storyteller." - Literary Review of Canada 

 

  "An excellent introduction for readers who have little previous background information about the exciting story of the developments of quantum physics."

 - Metascience

  "The Quantum Ten illuminates a neglected chapter in the history of physics, and Jones tells the story with enthusiasm and flair. Above all, she gives the reader a real feeling for the personalities behind the science, a look at the minds of 10 passionate thinkers who changed our world forever." - The Globe and Mail

  "Out of this human and historical stew came ideas that have thrown physics into a tizzy ever since, resulting in a field that even its most famous practitioners admit they don't understand, and in further explanations like string theory that nobody knows how to prove. Yet there is the tantalizing potential for eventual understanding that goes beyond physics to life, the universe and everything." - North Coast Journal

  "The eminently readable result brings to life characters like the caustic Wolfgang Pauli and the womanising Schrödinger." - New Scientist

 

"Anyone interested in the emergence of quantum physics and the debates about its foundations will be thrilled by the controversies among its protagonists. So far, no one has portrayed that crucial episode of 20th century physics is such an easily read, down-to-earth manner as Jones." - Physics Today 

 

  "Well written and easy to read, as one would expect from someone with a long and distinguished career as a journalist...it illuminates an important part of our [physics] history in a way that our textbooks don't." - American Journal of Physics 

 

  "Jones's clear-headed prose does a good job of outlining the heady physics that [the quantum ten] theorized, but the strength of her book is in reminding us that physics is more then just experiments or equations on a dusty chalkboard. Many of these men have been mythologized, but in this book they are seen as human - crippled by personal flaws, often ruled by self-interest, and on occasion, brought down by a world not entirely kind to the pursuit of science."

 - Quill & Quire

 

  "Many books have been written about the development of quantum physics, but most writers have either ignored the personal lives of these individuals or bestowed on them a kind of sainthood, skimming over their follies, the dark side of their personalities and the seedier incidents in which they became involved. Not so Jones. She weaves in the sort of juicy details that today make headline stories in the tabloids devoted to celebrities. And she has good material to work with." - Guelph Mercury

 

  "The Quantum Ten is a book about the history of quantum physics unlike any other...a story that is accessible, exciting, as well as compelling... The book elegantly interweaves the lives of the main characters into a riveting tale of friendship and rivalry, ambition and frustration. This book is highly recommended to those with an interest in the people behind one of the greatest revolutions in human thought." - Frans van Lunteren, Teyler Professor in the History of Science, Leiden University, The Netherlands