Isaac Asimov's 3 Laws of Robotics (Later, I believe it was amended to
the 4 Laws of Robotics).  Also where can I find the text of Asimov's
explanation of Schroeder's Cat, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle
and the non-gradual leaps of protons? from one orbit to another.

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Request for Question Clarification by pinkfreud-ga on 02 Oct 2005 11:25 PDT

I'll be glad to point you toward an excellent online reference source
which gives info on Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics (plus the
additional Law).

However, I have not found an online text of Asimov's discussion of the
physics questions that you mention (Schrödinger's cat, the Heisenberg
Uncertainty Principle, quantum leaps). For these, you will probably
need to refer to one of Asimov's books. I believe I know which book by
Asimov is likely to contain material that covers these areas.

If links to the online information about the Laws of Robotics, plus
the name and purchase information for the Asimov book, will be fully
satisfactory, I'll be glad to post an official Answer for you. Please
let me know.

---

Clarification of Question by bunisan-ga on 02 Oct 2005 12:13 PDT

Sold.

BUNI-San

Here you'll find a summary of Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, plus
the additional Law. For more info, please click the link (below) to
the Wikipedia article on the Laws of Robotics, which is quite
thorough.

"In science fiction, the Three Laws of Robotics are a set of three
laws written by Isaac Asimov, which most robots appearing in his
fiction have to obey. First introduced in his short story 'Runaround'
(1942), they state the following:

1. A robot may not harm a human being, or, through inaction, allow a
human being to come to harm.

2. A robot must obey the orders given to it by human beings, except
where such orders would conflict with the First Law.

3. A robot must protect its own existence, as long as such protection
does not conflict with the First or Second Law."

The additional Law, rather than being the Fourth Law, was rather
whimsically called the 'Zero-th' Law, since its scope is considered to
be greater than that of the higher-numbered laws:

"Asimov once added a 'Zeroth Law', so named to continue the pattern of
lower-numbered laws superseding in importance the higher-numbered
laws. The character R. Daneel Olivaw is the first to give the Law a
name, in the novel Robots and Empire; however, Susan Calvin
articulates the concept in the short story 'The Evitable Conflict'. In
Robots and Empire, R. Giskard Reventlov was the first robot to act
according to the Zeroth Law, although it proved destructive to his
positronic brain, as he was not certain as to whether his choice would
turn out to be for the ultimate good of humanity or not. R. Daneel,
over the course of many thousand years, was able to adapt himself to
be able to fully obey the Zeroth Law. As Daneel formulated it, the
Zeroth Law reads

0. A robot may not injure humanity, or, through inaction, allow
humanity to come to harm.

A condition stating that the Zeroth Law must not be broken was added
to the original Laws."

Source:

Wikipedia: Three Laws of Robotics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Three_Laws_of_Robotics

======================================================================

I believe you will find answers to your physics questions
(Schrödinger's cat, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, and quantum
leaps) in "Asimov's New Guide to Science." This is a wonderful book.
Asimov was a master at tackling complex topics and making them
intelligible to the layman.

Amazon: Asimov's New Guide to Science (hardback)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0465004733

Amazon: Asimov's New Guide to Science (paperback)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0140172130 

======================================================================

In case you are interested in non-Asimovian discussions of these
topics, I recommend Wikipedia's articles:

Wikipedia: Schrödinger's cat
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schr%C3%B6dinger's_cat

Wikipedia: Uncertainty principle
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heisenberg's_uncertainty_principle

Wikipedia: Mathematical formulation of quantum mechanics
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mathematical_formulation_of_quantum_mechanics

======================================================================

My Google search strategy:

Google Web Seach: site:en.wikipedia.org asimov laws robotics
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Aen.wikipedia.org+asimov+laws+robotics

Google Web Search: site:en.wikipedia.org schrödinger cat
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Aen.wikipedia.org+schr%C3%B6dinger+cat

Google Web Search: site:en.wikipedia.org heisenberg uncertainty principle
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Aen.wikipedia.org+heisenberg+uncertainty+principle

Google Web Search: site:en.wikipedia.org quantum leap
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=site%3Aen.wikipedia.org+quantum+leap

======================================================================

I hope this is helpful! If anything is unclear or incomplete, please
request clarification; I'll be glad to offer further assistance before
you rate my answer.

Best regards,
pinkfreud

PinkFreud has scored a bullseye with his answers.  Very complete too.

That would be electrons that "leap" from one "orbit" to another.

regards, mathtalk-ga

Thank you very much for the five stars and the tip!

~pinkfreud