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Description: This is a new publication of Niels Bohr's book Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature (1934).Since this book on the origin of quantum mechanics and on how this scientific revolution affected our description and understanding of Nature is written for a wide audience by one of the founding fathers of quantum physics (Nobel Prize in Physics 1922), it will undoubtedly be of interest not only to researchers and students of physics and philosophy of science, but also to everyone interested in science and its philosophical implications for our view of the world. The book is of both scientific and historical value despite that Bohr's articles, included here, had been written before 1934 since by that time the foundations of quantum mechanics had been already established. Bohr himself provides another reason in the Preface for the value of his articles: "Even if the old articles, which are here reprinted, thus contain utterances which now may be formulated in a more precise manner, acquaintance with the early discussions might, however, be helpful for a full appreciation of the new situation in natural philosophy with which the modern development of physics has confronted us." Following Minkowski Institute Press' tradition, here is a notable quote from the book: "Besides, the fact that consciousness, as we know it, is inseparably connected with life ought to prepare us for finding that the very problem of the distinction between the living and the dead escapes comprehension in the ordinary sense of the word. That a physicist touches upon such questions may perhaps be excused on the ground that the new situation in physics has so forcibly reminded us of the old truth that we are both onlookers and actors in the great drama of existence."
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