Solvay Spirit: How One Industrialist's Dream Brought About The Quantum Revolution

The years 2025 to 2027 will mark the two-year celebration of the first centenary of quantum mechanics and the myriad of ensuing discoveries that have turned our world upside down.Its complexity required twenty-five years of gestation to take shape between the ears of the world's brightest minds. But none of the fathers of quantum mechanics could have done it alone; above all, the slow process took place while discussing, debating and developing the fine details of the theory in the lecture halls, gardens, hotel lobbies and dining rooms of Brussels during the triennial Solvay Conferences in Physics.Blending personal anecdotes and correspondence with unseen archive material and the compelling history of the Solvay dynasty, Quantum Chronicles intricately relays the adventure of quantum mechanics and the colourful cast of characters involved, highlighting the enormous influence of one man's philanthropy, ambition and passion for his 'fifth child' in fostering this emerging science.Over the years, the Solvay Conferences provided a stage upon which the scientific elite built a conceptual edifice at the cutting edge of scientific progress — notably the development of quantum theory, the exploration of the atom, the invention of crystallography, breakthroughs in nuclear physics, the discovery of the structure of DNA, and the establishment of the Big Bang theory.Quantum Chronicles is a fly-on-the-wall account that strips away the shimmering perfection of science and its lofty practitioners to reveal the contortions that were necessary to bring modern physics into being. This ode to the unshakeable nature of the scientific spirit and the human foibles that have marked the evolution of science provides an exemplary response to the questions we ask today about the inner workings of scientific discoveries.