The Many Worlds of Hugh Everett III Multiple Universes, Mutual Assured Destruction, and the Meltdown of a Nuclear Family

Peter Byrne tells the story of Hugh Everett III (1930-1982) who invented a theory of multiple universes that has had a profound impact on physics and philosophy. Everett strove to bring a "rational" order to the interlacing worlds of nuclear war and physics, even as his personal world disintegrated because of his indulgent lifestyle. Using Everett's unpublished papers and dozens of interviews, the book paints a detailed portrait of a man who influencedfoundational thinking in quantum mechanics by inventing a way of viewing the universe from inside (known as the universal wave function).The papers on which this book is based create a fascinating record of his life, including correspondence with the leading scientific minds of the day, that illuminates theoften bitter struggle over the interpretation of the mystery of measurement at the heart of quantum mechanics.