Breakfast with Einstein

Without quantum physics, your breakfast - and so many other things we take for granted - wouldn't be possible... international bestselling author and physicist Chad Orzel shows us why

A Sunday Times Book of the YearFrom the author of the international bestseller How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your DogYour humble alarm clock, digital cameras, the smell of coffee, the glow of a grill, fibre broadband, smoke detectors... all hold secrets about quantum physics.Beginning at sunrise, Chad Orzel reveals the extraordinary science that underpins the simplest activities we all do every day, from making toast to shopping online. It's all around us, the wonderful weirdness of quantum - you just have to know where to look.

Auteur
Chad Orzel is an associate professor at the department of physics and astronomy at Union College. He has written for Forbes, the Daily Mail and Physics World, and has spoken at numerous TED talks. His previous books have been translated into more than a dozen languages. He lives in Niskayuna, New York.

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A Sunday Times Book of the Year

From the author of the international bestseller How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog

Exciting physics doesn't just show up in billion-dollar experiments like the Large Hadron Collider or in extreme astrophysical environments like black holes. It's to be found all around us, just beneath the surface of our normal everyday lives.

An ordinary morning routine depends on some of the weirdest phenomena ever discovered. Did you know for instance that even the humble alarm clock holds secrets about quantum mechanics or that classical physics couldn't explain why your toaster's heating element glows orange? Or that the sensor your phone uses to take pictures of your kids or cats is, at a fundamental level, quantum mechanical, relying as it does on the particle nature of light?

In Breakfast with Einstein, Chad Orzel elevates the everyday by showing the wonder and amazement that can be found in even the simplest activities. Quantum physics is one of the great intellectual triumphs of human civilisation, and it's all around us, everyday - if you just know where to look.

Résumé
Without quantum physics, your breakfast and so many other things we take for granted wouldn't be possible international bestselling author and physicist Chad Orzel shows us why