Reviewed by Patricia Simms-Reeve
One hunderd years ago, scientists thought that their equations explained the world of physics. These were simple and elegant and science believed they provided a description of the world that surrounds us. They recognised gravity, magnetism and electricity and thence their effect.
In the twentieth century, the development of quantum physics opened up an entirely new world, made possible, to a degree, by powerful electron microscopes. The minute particles subsequently explored make possible, lasers, MRIs, and transistors that are part of the pulse of modern society.
Although science has investigated the field for just over a century, it is now believed that the laws of quantum physics may have shaped life on earth over billions of years. Besides presently increasing our knowledge of the world, it helps to shape the future….
Danni Holmes is highly qualified to conduct this exploration of the minute particles of the quantum world. Degrees from Cambridge, a doctorate from Melbourne University and a post-doctoral researcher, she is presently attached to UNSW’s School of Electrical Engineering.
In her book she has made challenging and often difficult concepts able to be grasped by the curious reader by using clear everyday illustrations. Tennis balls are very useful in distinguishing fermions and bosons, for instance, with their differing occupancy of space.
This really assisted my decades old year 12 science – when that curriculum dictated many facts now superseded. We were told then that the law of Conservation of Energy….stated ‘energy could neither be created nor destroyed’!
In just 200 pages, Danni alludes to the depth and significance of this absorbing world… The very formation of the earth’s surface, the maintenance of its temperature, the stars that shine for billions of years all result from quantum physics, which she explains in a deceptively simple way. The enormity of many of the concepts involved is beyond comprehension to an inquiring lay person, yet does not fail to be staggeringly ‘mind boggling’.
A chapter which focuses on how we know the age of the universe is laden with a convincing explanation and reassurance that we have at least 5 billion years before our sun becomes a ‘red giant’. By then, Venus and Mercury will be engulfed and Earth would be ‘pretty toasty’. Life as we know it would have long vanished.
Plants and photosynthesis are fascinating in the complexity of the process and how vital it is to the balance of life continuing to exist. There is a suggestion plants use quantum physics to increase their chance of survival and studying them could lead to more efficient solar cells. Plants’ ability could have been seriously underrated!
The book’s chapters are diverse in the subjects that are featured. What makes it so worthwhile to a person lacking in the scholarship is that Danni Holmes very cleverly condenses the essential data into accessible form. This is brilliantly achieved in the chapter on the migration of birds. The information is fascinating. It is now believed birds may be able to see the behaviour of entangled electrons and therefore visualise magnetic fields.
My science schoolroom rarely was a place that was riveting because of the subject in hand, but Wonders of the Quantum World not only lives up to its title but is so exciting in the knowledge imparted, that one longs to learn more of this ‘brave’ and brilliant new world.
This could be perhaps the best book related to science published this year. Thank you to the author and publishers. You have made it possible to peer into a world which is thrilling to explore, with a future in the wilder realms of science fiction but actually staggering in its possibilities.
Wonders of the Quantum World
[2026]
by Danni Holmes
MUP
ISBN: 978 0 5228 8242 1
$29.99; 216pp