How the Hippies Saved Physics: Science, Counterculture, and the Quantum Revival

“Meticulously researched and unapologetically romantic, How the Hippies Saved Physics makes the history of science fun again.” ―Science

In the 1970s, an eccentric group of physicists in Berkeley, California, banded together to explore the wilder side of science. Dubbing themselves the “Fundamental Fysiks Group,” they pursued an audacious, speculative approach to physics, studying quantum entanglement in terms of Eastern mysticism and psychic mind reading. As David Kaiser reveals, these unlikely heroes spun modern physics in a new direction, forcing mainstream physicists to pay attention to the strange but exciting underpinnings of quantum theory.

46 illustrations