Abstract

In the long history of science there is nothing quite like the famous dialogue which ensued between Albert Einstein and Neils Bohr about the validity and meaning of the new quantum theory. By 1927 when the first public debate took place, both men stood at the top of their profession. Einstein was the creator of the Special and General theories of relativity and also had made major contributions to atomic theory. Bohr had developed the successful model of the hydrogen atom in 1913 and his two principles of correspondence and complementarity had established the relationship between classical physics and the new physics of the atom. MacKinnon treats this Bohr-Einstein dialogue as the centerpiece and climax of his book on the history of Atomism from a philosophical perspective. It is a carefully written and closely argued discussion of the contributions of significant scientists and philosophers of science to the perennial question about nature: is it made up of discrete nonreducible parts or is it continuous and infinitely divisible?