Books

The Quantum Universe: Everything that can happen does happen by Brian Cox & Jeff Forshaw

By: Janey Davies on March 3, 2013 @ 6:05 pm

Professor Brian Cox is everywhere at the moment, from reruns of his ’Wonders of the Universe’ TV programme being shown on Discoverys Eden channel, to guest appearances on Radio 6 and more. His natural exuberance for his subjects and the passion in which he talks about them, have made his programmes about physics and the Universe unmissable. His credentials are to be admired; he is a Professor of Particle Physics and Royal Society University Research Fellow at the University of Manchester. He also works at the CERN laboratory in Geneva. Amongst the many awards for his work promoting science, include the prestigious British Association Lord Kelvin Award and, in 2010, an OBE. His colleague and friend Jeff Forshaw is not as publicly known but as note worthy. He is a Professor of Theoretical Physics at the University of Manchester, and specialises in the physics of elementary particles. He was awarded the Institute of Physics Maxwell Medal in 1999 for outstanding contributions to theoretical physics. He has co-written an undergraduate textbook on relativity and is the author of an advanced level monograph on particle physics.

In 1998 Cox and Forshaw began collaborating on scientific papers in 1998 and published many topics featuring, amongst others, Pomerons to Higgs Bosons. They wrote their first book together called Why Does E = mc2? and it instantly became an acclaimed international bestseller with such accolades from press and media as ‘Fundamental and dizzyingly exciting’ The Times; ‘A truly impressive achievement’ [pullquote]Daily Telegraph; ‘Like being taken on an army assault course by the two friendliest drill sergeants in the world’[/pullquote] Guardian; and ‘Pairs the enthusiasm of newcomers with the knowledge of experts’ Physics World. Their latest offering – The Quantum Universe, brings together these two authors on a brilliantly ambitious mission to show that everyone can understand the deepest questions of science. But surely not everyone can comprehend quantum physics? And what exactly is it? How does it help us understand the world? Where does it leave Newton and Einstein? And why, above all, can we be sure that the theory is good? Cox and Forshaw examine the bizarre nature of the atoms and energy that make up the universe, which has led to some very woolly pronouncements on the nature of all interconnectedness. Here, these two scientists give us the real science, and reveal the profound theories that allow for concrete, yet astonishing, predictions about the world. This is our most up-to-date picture of reality.

More praise for The Quantam Universe:

A scientific match made in heaven…as breezily a written accessible account of the theory of quantum mechanics as you could wish for – from the Planck constant to the Higgs particle and everything theoretically in between (Observer )

Mindblowing … what is novel about this attempt is that the writers take an intellectual rather than a historical approach … it is a surprisingly rich idea that allows the authors to avoid using too much mathematics (Christopher Potter Sunday Times )

[Cox and Forshaw] stand together at the cutting edge of their discipline … despite their elevated status, both men remain tiggerishly excitable about their subject … Cox and Forshaw’s book is a carefully guided tour through this quantum world … popularize[s] without dumbing down (Christopher Cook Financial Times )

A thrilling voyage into the subatomic world (The Economist Books of the Year )

With brightness and gusto, the opening chapters deal with the culture shock that thinking about the sub-atomic world entails …They are good at drawing connections between seemingly esoteric theory and everyday practicalities (Doug Johnstone Independent on Sunday )

The rock star of science… In Quantum Universe they do a great job of bringing a difficult subject to life (Hannah Devlin The Times )

Breaks the rules of popular science writing…admirably shies away from dumbing down…the authors’ love for their subject-matter shines through the book (The Economist )

Admirably, Cox and Forshaw…treat topics that do not usually show up in popular books…readers will enjoy this engaging, ambitious and creative tour of our quantum universe (David Kaiser The Guardian )

By explaining theories about the world, Cox and Forshaw show that the workings of the universe can be understood by us all (Fanny Blake Woman & Home )

Further Reading

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