Following John Bell’s heartfelt request for a realism-based, intuitively understandable, and application orientated quantum mechanics textbook in his 1990 article Against ‘Measurement’, this textbook is designed to teach the basic physics required to understand much of modern science and technology, including atoms, molecules, semiconductors, transistors and integrated circuits, lasers, light-emitting diodes, solar cells, all areas of chemistry, and molecular biology.

Presented from a realist standpoint that treats the wavefunction as a physical field, the concepts in this paradox-free textbook coincide with those in quantum field theory. With only advanced-placement calculus as a prerequisite, this textbook will be a valuable support for quantum mechanics courses aimed at freshman and sophomore STEM students.

After receiving his PhD degree in physics from Columbia University in 1985, C. Julian Chen joined the Physical Sciences Department of IBM’s T. J. Watson Research Center as a Research Staff Member. In 1993, he published Introduction to Scanning Tunneling Microscopy, which has since become a standard reference book and textbook. After retiring from IBM in January 2004, he became a visiting professor at the Department of Physics of Hamburg University. He joined Columbia University in January 2007 and has been teaching physics-related courses since then. In addition to the third edition of Introduction to Scanning Tunneling Microscopy (Oxford Science Publications and Oxford Scholarship Online, 2021) he has authored Elements of Human Voice (World Scientific, 2016) and the second edition of Physics of Solar Energy and Energy Storage (Wiley, 2024).