From Dualism to Unity in Quantum Physics

Originally published in 1960, and written by the renowned German-American physicist Alfred Landé (1888?1976), this book challenges the view that the principles of wave-particle duality, complementarity and uncertainty are fundamental to micro-mechanics. Instead, the text sets out to reduce dualistic quantum phenomena to still more elementary general principles, such as symmetry, invariance and continuity. It thus develops the Bohr-Heisenberg account, resting on Born's statistical interpretation, into a unitary theory. Appendices are included. This book will be of value to anyone with an interest in quantum physics and the history of science.

Preface; Introduction; 1. Causality, chance, continuity; 2. States, observables, probabilities; 3. The metric law of probabilities; 4. Quantum dynamics; 5. Quantum fact and fiction; Retrospect. From dualism to unity, from positivism to realism; Appendix 1. Survey of elementary postulates; Appendix 2. Two problems of uniqueness; References; Index.