Real Quanta

It sounds alien and esoteric, but quantum mechanics is very real, and a crucial part of what makes the modern world possible. In Real Quanta, Martijn van Calmthout makes quantum “magic” clearer, and shows how it fits into our world, and how its discoverers would be amazed by all that it has accomplished.

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Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr walk into the famous Hotel Métropole and sit down at the author’s table to discuss the state of quantum mechanics today.


Particles that exist in two places at once, consequences that occur without a cause, objects that exist only if you look at them — quantum mechanics proves that all of this is possible, and not just in dark science labs. Look no further than your smartphone or tablet for technology made conceivable by quantum theory.

From quantum computers to “teleporting” data, medicine to photosynthesis and the quantum compass in some migratory birds, Martijn van Calmthout plainly explains — to his readers and to an astounded Einstein and Bohr — how Quantum 2.0 is increasingly part of everyone’s daily life. Rather than being the exceptional domain, Van Calmthout shows how quantum mechanics is actually part of our tangible world, and may even be the very crux of our existence.