Just Finished Reading: Atom by Piers Bizony (FP: 2007) [194pp] 

The transition between the 19th and 20th centuries was an odd time in many ways. One of the strangest, and in hindsight one of the most amusing, was in the realm of Physics. As the 19th century ended students who expressed an interest in physics as a career were told that they were wasting their time and that most everything that could be discovered already had been at that anyone left in the profession would spend their, presumably bored, time finishing off a few left-over details. One of those ‘details’ was the structure of atoms. 

No one really knew very much about atomic structure in the Edwardian period. The prevailing ‘theory’ was that atoms (along with their electrons – then of disputed existence) existed in a kind of ‘cake-mix’ blob with the electrons playing the part of chocolate chips. As investigation progressed (using incredibly primitive and home-made equipment) it quickly became apparent that things were far more complex and that a ‘solar system’ model with electrons ‘orbiting’ the nucleus of the atom was a better representation of reality. But that idea created problems of its own. Such a model might work for Hydrogen but more complex atoms had multiple electrons in various ‘orbits’. How did the system maintain itself for more than a vanishingly short period without collapse? How did chemical reactions happen? The more they investigated the more complex and the more frankly bizarre it all became. We were moving into the age of Quantum Mechanics (QM). 

Anyone with even the barest ‘knowledge’ of QM will know how strange it is. In fact, the word ‘strange’ just doesn’t cover it. QM is honestly CRAZY. Albert Einstein himself – who was, to be honest, at least partially responsible for creating the field – never accepted the theory and spent a good deal of his life in opposition to it. Yet, time and time again, QM has been shown in theory, in experiments and in practice as being fundamentally correct – there's just a few little things presently unexplained that need to be cleared up...    

I’m not sure what I was expecting from this, maybe a quick refresher read and nothing more. Pleasantly it was rather more than that. This was FUN. Not only did the author have a very readable style he also managed to explain some very complex ideas that only once or twice pushed up against my ability to wrap my head around them – and for a book on QM that’s quite something! Another thing I really liked about this was the focus on the scientists doing the work and their portrayal as human beings – odd though many of them were. This grounded the experience at a human level. Looking at the beginnings of the ideas surrounding the atom, moving on to the race to create the atom bomb, debates on how stars burn for so long, the creation of heavy atoms in supernova, the Big Bang and much besides this was a great way into the worlds of the vanishing small and the cosmically BIG. If you’ve ever wondered what the fuss was all about but either didn’t know where to start or were afraid that reading up on the subject would fry your brain, this is the book for you. With barely an equation to be seen and very good explanations of the issues raised and their resolutions this will give you a good basic grounding on the subject and might even get you interested in reading further. Definitely recommended.