Conceptual Developments of 20th Century Field Theories Review

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Conceptual Developments of 20th Century Field Theories ReviewIf you are not an expert in quantum field theory, or if you are such an expert, you should read this book from cover to cover about a dozen times at least. Cao of Boston University does for quantum theory what investigative reporters do for political or social/behavioral problems. As a renowned philosopher and quantum physicist, he gives the whole picture and nothing but the whole picture. It is even doubtful if many theoretical physicists know the whole story as it is elaborated by Cao. M. Jammer's 1974 volume gave the story of quantum mechanics and its philosophical basis from the beginning until 1974, and Cao continues this from 1974 until 1997. The astonishing changes in quantum theory from the mechanistic to the geometric to the field theory to the gauge field theory to the effective gauge field theory, as largely inspired by and created by Steven Weinberg (the Nobel Laureate), pass before you in these pages, together with the arguments with other physicists and the experimental and theoretical problems, anomalies, and philosophical difficulties. Einstein's field theory is shown to now be incorporated into quantum field theory, and we see Weinberg's final disgust with the problems that plague quantum field theory (even though he invented effective gauge quantum field theory, the latest theory) and his abandonment of field theory for string theory. Weinberg may have overstepped his intuition here, since string theory has difficult philosophical foundations as Cao points out, and in my opinion string theory is at most an approximation to reality. But Weinberg was probably correct in being fed up with quantum field theory and seeking some other direction, as he usually has been correct about everything else. The prolific roles of P. Dirac and P. Jordan, often overlooked, are well documented by Cao (Dirac seems to be at the Weinberg level of creativity and intuition, although he has gone in so many different directions that he even arouses the ire of Cao). The collapse of complementarity is thoroughly documented as well by Cao.Conceptual Developments of 20th Century Field Theories OverviewThis volume provides a broad synthesis of conceptual developments of twentieth century field theories, from the general theory of relativity to quantum field theory and gauge theory.The book traces the foundations and evolution of these theories within a historio-critical context. Theoretical physicists and students of theoretical physics will find this a valuable account of the foundational problems of their discipline that will help them understand the internal logic and dynamics of theoretical physics. Itwill also provide professional historians and philosophers of science, particularly philosophers of physics, with a conceptual basis for further historical, cultural and sociological analysis of the theories discussed. Finally, the scientifically qualified general reader will find in this book a deeper analysis of contemporary conceptions of the physical world than can be found in popular accounts of the subject.

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