J.P. MCEVOY

An ideal introduction [to Stephen Hawking] - IndependentAstonishingly comprehensive - clearer than Hawking himself - Focus Stephen Hawking was a world-famous physicist with a cameo in The Simpsons on his CV, but outside of his academic field his work was little understood. To the public he was a tragic figure - a brilliant scientist and author of the 9 million-copy-selling A Brief History of Time, and yet spent the majority of his life confined to a wheelchair and almost completely paralysed. Hawkings major contribution to science was to integrate the two great theories of 20th-century physics: Einsteins General Theory of Relativity and Quantum Mechanics. J.P. McEvoy and Oscar Zarates brilliant graphic guide explores Hawkings life, the evolution of his work from his days as a student, and his breathtaking discoveries about where these fundamental laws break down or overlap, such as on the edge of a Black Hole or at the origin of the Universe itself.

Quantum theory confronts us with bizarre paradoxes which contradict the logic of classical physics. At the subatomic level, one particle seems to know what the others are doing, and according to Heisenbergs "uncertainty principle", there is a limit on how accurately nature can be observed. And yet the theory is amazingly accurate and widely applied, explaining all of chemistry and most of physics.Introducing Quantum Theory takes us on a step-by-step tour with the key figures, including Planck, Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg and Schrodinger. Each contributed at least one crucial concept to the theory. The puzzle of the wave-particle duality is here, along with descriptions of the two questions raised against Bohrs "Copenhagen Interpretation" - the famous "dead and alive cat" and the EPR paradox. Both remain unresolved.