The Quantum Labyrinth: How Richard Feynman and John Wheeler Revolutionized Time and Reality

By Paul Halpern, PhD
Read by Brian Troxell

 • 10.74 Hours • 10/17/2017 • unabridged
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In 1939, Richard Feynman, a brilliant graduate of MIT, arrived in John Wheeler’s Princeton office to report for duty as his teaching assistant. A lifelong friendship and enormously productive collaboration was born, despite sharp differences in personality. The soft-spoken Wheeler, though conservative in appearance, was a raging nonconformist full of wild ideas about the universe. The boisterous Feynman was a cautious physicist who believed only what could be tested. Yet they were complementary spirits. Their collaboration led to a complete rethinking of the nature of time and reality. It enabled Feynman to show how quantum reality is a combination of alternative, contradictory possibilities and inspired Wheeler to develop his landmark concept of wormholes, portals to the future and past. Together, Feynman and Wheeler made sure that quantum physics would never be the same again.

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Summary

Summary

A Library Journal bestseller in science history

In 1939, Richard Feynman, a brilliant graduate of MIT, arrived in John Wheeler’s Princeton office to report for duty as his teaching assistant. A lifelong friendship and enormously productive collaboration was born, despite sharp differences in personality.

The soft-spoken Wheeler, though conservative in appearance, was a raging nonconformist full of wild ideas about the universe. The boisterous Feynman was a cautious physicist who believed only what could be tested. Yet they were complementary spirits. Their collaboration led to a complete rethinking of the nature of time and reality. It enabled Feynman to show how quantum reality is a combination of alternative, contradictory possibilities and inspired Wheeler to develop his landmark concept of wormholes, portals to the future and past. Together, Feynman and Wheeler made sure that quantum physics would never be the same again.

Editorial Reviews

Editorial Reviews

“Halpern brings the full story of these men to life in a brilliant way…Feynman’s contributions…are not only covered, they’re explained in gloriously in-depth and simultaneously comprehensible fashion…Well researched, well written, and highly accessible.” —Forbes
“Feynman was a doer, Wheeler a dreamer. So Paul Halpern aptly describes them in The Quantum Labyrinth, his book about their lives, work and friendship, and the virtues of their complementary styles….Feynman was one of the greatest intuitive problem-solvers in twentieth-century physics, a world-class doer. But I suspect that many readers will take most pleasure from the account of Wheeler’s inspired dreaming.” —Nature
“Provides a portrait of a rather neglected era in physics…Halpern shows that it was every bit as significant as the pre-war period that looks now to be an age almost of gods and legends.” —Physics World
“Readers soon see that Feynman achieved his breakthroughs in physics by collaborating with his mentor, John Wheeler…Halpern retraces the way this unlikely pair smashed traditional understandings of time…A compelling reminder that even the most triumphant science comes from vulnerable humans.” —Booklist (starred review)
“Paints an evocative picture of the tension between cooperation and competition felt by researchers at the cutting edge.” —Library Journal

Reviews

Reviews

by Rae 11/16/2017
Overall Performance
Narration
Story

Much gossip and little science.

Much gossip and little science.

Author

Author Bio: Paul Halpern PhD

Paul Halpern, PhD, is a professor of physics at the University of the Sciences in Philadelphia and the author of fifteen popular science books, including Einstein’s Dice and Schrödinger’s Cat. He is the 2002 recipient of a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, awarded for research that ultimately resulted in the book The Great Beyond: Higher Dimensions, Parallel Universes, and the Extraordinary Search for a Theory of Everything.

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Details

Details

Available Formats : Digital Download, CD
Category: Nonfiction/Science
Runtime: 10.74
Audience: Adult
Language: English
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