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Foreword

by David Toback

Preface

PART ONE: DISCOVERY AND UNDERSTANDING (1900–1927)

Chapter 1. Introduction to Parts One and Two

Chapter 2. Planck, Einstein, Bohr—Experiments and Early Ideas

Chapter 3. Heisenberg, Dirac, Schrödinger—Quantum Mechanics and the Quantum Atom

Chapter 4. Application—Six Hundred Million Watts!

PART TWO: INTERPRETATION AND MIND-BOGGLING IMPLICATIONS (1916–2016)

Chapter 5. The Essential Features of Quantum Mechanics

Chapter 6. Clash of Titans—What Is Real? Uncertainty, Entanglement, John Bell, and Many Worlds

Chapter 7. What Does It All Mean?—Quantum Mechanics, Mathematics, and the Nature of Science

Chapter 8. Applications—Quantum Computing, Code Cracking, Teleportation, and Encryption

PART THREE: OUR WORLD OF RELATIVITY AND THE QUANTUM, FROM THE BIG BANG TO THE GALAXIES

Chapter 9. Galaxies, Black Holes, Gravity Waves, Matter, the Forces of Nature, the Higgs Boson, Dark Matter, Dark Energy, and String Theory

Section I: Obtaining a Map of the Universe (Basically an Introduction to Understanding the Universe in Which Our Trip Takes Place)

Section II: Sightseeing (A Quick Tour through the Evolving Universe, from the Big Bang and the Very Small to the Present and the Very Large, with Stops Afterward to Explore Particular Sights, including Those Topics in the Title to This Chapter)

Section III: Key Aspects of the Big Bang Model

Section IV: Approaching the Big Bang (Creating the Conditions of the Hot “Quark Soup” just after the Big Bang, to Explore the Fundamental “Building Block” Particles of Nature and the Particles That Convey Nature's Forces)

PART FOUR: THE MANY-ELECTRON ATOM AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF CHEMISTRY AND MATERIALS SCIENCE

Chapter 10. Introduction to Part Four

Chapter 11. Energy, Momentum, and the Spatial States of the Electron in the Hydrogen Atom

Chapter 12. Spin and Magnetism

Chapter 13. Exclusion and the Periodic Table

Chapter 14. The Physics Underlying the Chemistry of the Elements

Chapter 15. A Few Types of Chemical Bonds, for Example

Chapter 16. The Makeup of Solid Materials

Chapter 17. Insulators and Electrical Conduction in Normal Metals and Semiconductors

PART FIVE: QUANTUM WONDERS IN MATERIALS AND DEVICES, LARGE AND SMALL

Chapter 18. Nanotechnology and Introduction to Part Five

Chapter 19. Superconductors I—Definition and Applications in Transportation, Medicine, and Computing

Chapter 20. Fusion for Electrical Power, and Lasers Also for Defense

Chapter 21. Magnetism, Magnets, Magnetic Materials, and Their Applications

Chapter 22. Graphene, Nanotubes, and One “Dream” Application

Chapter 23. Semiconductors and Electronic Applications

Chapter 24. Superconductors II—Large-Scale Applications in Science, Power Generation, and Transmission

Acknowledgments

Appendix A: The Nature and Spectrum of Electromagnetic Waves

Appendix B: Empirical Development of the Periodic Table of the Elements

Appendix C: Quantum Computer Development

Appendix D: The Atomic Sizes and Chemistries of the Elements

Appendix E: The Production of X-Rays

Notes

Glossary

References and Recommended Reading

Index