Quantum Generations: A History of Physics in the Twentieth Century - Rilegato

Kragh, Helge

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 0691012067 ISBN 13: 9780691012063

Casa editrice: Princeton Univ Dept of Art &, 1999

Riassunto

A lively history of physics in the twentieth century follows the rise of a host of disciplines--including quantum mechanics, relativity, cosmology, particle physics, and solid-state physics--and tracing their impact on our understanding of time and space.

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Recensione:

"A readable and enormously valuable book."--Graham Farmelo, Nature

"An ambitious one-volume history: the first comprehensive textbook to address most of the significant aspects in the intellectual history of 20th-century physics. Kragh's achievement . . . is quite remarkable. . . . For physicists who want to 'humanize' their courses, or brush up on their professional past, for those who teach the history of modern science, and for anyone fascinated with physics, I can recommend this book as an indispensable resource."--Diana Barkan, Physics World

"Neither a specialized academic work nor a mere popularization, Kragh's tome [is a] synthetic, deeply detailed and carefully explained survey. . . An impressive reference work, and a serious award-winning read."--Publisher's Weekly

"A sweeping survey of the development of modern physics . . . wide-ranging, studiously researched, and comprehensive."--The Economist

"Within a century we've seen the rise of new physics, which has, however haltingly, at last begun to answer the big questions. . . . Taken together, they're an embarrassment of riches, and Kragh has had to pare the story down severely. But he's equal to the task, and manages to cover the pantheon of 20th-century physics."--New Scientist

"It is a thrilling story, full of excitement, danger, surprise and beauty, and it is told with lucidity and scholarship by Helge Kragh. What he gives us in this absorbing account is the story of what could be mankind's greatest intellectual adventure to date."--Financial Times

"Kragh does an exceptional job of trying to cover in a single volume one of the most prolific sciences of this century."--Library Journal

"Compared with the popular interest books on physics . . . Kragh presents appreciably more technical detail, and his estimable overview will appeal better to the active physics student."--Booklist

"A fine new study. . . . Mr. Kragh manages to cover this vast canvas in less than 500 pages, leaving very little of importance out. It is amazing how concise one can be if once knows what one is talking about."--Jeremy Bernstein, Washington Times

"An excellent guide to the historical literature on almost any subject in the history of twentieth-century physics."--Laurie M. Brown, Physics Today

Contenuti:

Preface xi
PART ONE: FROM CONSOLIDATION TO REVOLUTION 1
CHAPTER ONE Fin-de-Siecle Physics: A World Picture in Flux 3
CHAPTER TWO The World of Physics 13
Personnel and Resources 13
Physics Journals 19
A Japanese Look at European Physics 22
CHAPTER THREE Discharges in Gases and What Followed 27
A New Kind of Rays 28
From Becquerel Rays to Radioactivity 30
Spurious Rays, More or Less 34
The Electron before Thomson 38
The First Elementary Particle 40
CHAPTER FOUR Atomic Architecture 44
The Thomson Atom 44
Other Early Atomic Models 48
Rutherford's Nuclear Atom 51
A Quantum Theory of Atomic Structure 53
CHAPTER FIVE The Slow Rise of Quantum Theory 58
The Law of Blackbody Radiation 58
Early Discussions of the Quantum Hypothesis 63
Einstein and the Photon 66
Specific Heats and the Status of Quantum Theory by 1913 68
CHAPTER SIX Physics at Low Temperatures 74
The Race Toward Zero 74
Kammerlingh Onnes and the Leiden Laboratory 76
Superconductivity 80
CHAPTER SEVEN Einstein's Relativity, and Others' 87
The Lorentz Transformations 87
Einsteinian Relativity 90
From Special to General Relativity 93
Reception 98
CHAPTER EIGHT A Revolution that Failed 105
The Concept of Electromagnetic Mass 105
Electron Theory as a Worldview 108
Mass Variation Experiments 111
Decline of a Worldview 114
Unified Field Theories 116
CHAPTER NINE Physics in Industry and War 120
Industrial Physics 120
Electrons at Work, I. Long-Distance Telephony 123
Electrons at Work, II: Vacuum Tubes 126
Physics in the Chemists' War 130
PART TWO: FROM REVOLUTION TO CONSOLIDATION 137
CHAPTER TEN Science and Politics in the Weimar Republic 139
Science Policy and Financial Support 139
International Relations 143
The Physics Community 148
Zeitgeist and the Physical Worldview 151
CHAPTER ELEVEN Quantum Jumps 155
Quantum Anomalies 155
Heisenberg'S Quantum Mechanics 161
Schrodinger's Equation 163
Dissemination and Receptions 168
CHAPTER TWELVE The Rise of Nuclear Physics 174
The Electron-Proton Model 174
Quantum Mechanics and the Nucleus 177
Astrophysical Applications 182
1932, Annus Mirabilis 184
CHAPTER THIRTEEN From Two to Many Particles 190
Antiparticles 190
Surprises from the Cosmic Radiation 193
Crisis in Quantum Theory 196
Yukawas Heavy Quantum 201
CHAPTER FOURTEEN Philosophical Implications of Quantum Mechanics 206
Uncertainty and Complementarity 206
Against the Copenhagen Interpretation 212
Is Quantum Mechanics Complete? 215
CHAPTER FIFTEEN Eddington's Dream and Other Heterodoxies 218
Eddington's Fundamentalism 218
Cosmonumerology and Other Speculations 221
Milne and Cosmophysics 223
The Modem Aristotelians 226
CHAPTER SIXTEEN Physics and the New Dictatorships 230
In the Shadow of the Swastika 230
Aryan Physics 236
Physics in Mussolini's Italy 238
Physics, Dialectical Materialism, and Stalinism 240
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN Brain Drain and Brain Gain 245
American Physics in the 1930s 245
Intellectual Migrations 249
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN From Uranium Puzzle to Hiroshima 257
The Road to Fission 257
More than Moonshine 261
Toward the Bomb 265
The Death of Two Cities 269
PART THREE: PROGRESS AND PROBLEMS 277
CHAPTER NINETEEN Nuclear Themes 279
Physics of Atomic Nuclei 279
Modem Alchemy 283
Hopes and Perils of Nuclear Energy 285
Controlled Fusion Energy 290
CHAPTER TWENTY Militarization and Megatrends 293
Physics-A Branch of the Military? 295
Big Machines 302
A European Big Science Adventure 308
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE Particle Discoveries 312
Mainly Mesons 312
Weak Interactions 317
Quarks 321
The Growth of Particle Physics 325
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO Fundamental Theories 332
The Ups and Downs of Field Theory 336
Gauge Fields and Electroweak Unification 339
Quantum Chromodynamics 344
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE Cosmology and the Renaissance of Relativity 349
Toward the Big Bang Universe 349
The Steady State Challenge 354
Cosmology after 1960 357
The Renaissance of General Relativity 361
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR Elements of Solid State Physics 366
The Solid State Before 1940 366
Semiconductors and the Rise of the Solid State Community 370
Breakthroughs in Superconductivity 375
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE Engineering Physics and Quantum Electronics 382
It Started with the Transistor 382
Microwaves, the Laser and Quantum Optics 386
Optical Fibers 391
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX Science under Attack--Physics in Crisis? 394
Signs of Crisis 394
A Revolt against Science 401
The End of Physics? 405
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN Unifications and Speculations 409
The Problem of Unity 409
Grand Unified Theories 411
Superstring Theory 415
Quantum Cosmology 419
PART FOUR: A LOOK BACK 425
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT Nobel Physics 427
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE A Century of Physics in Retrospect 440
Growth and Progress 440
Physics and the Other Sciences 444
Conservative Revolutions 447
APPENDIX Further Reading 453
Bibliography 461
Index 481

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Princeton Univ Dept of Art &
• Data di pubblicazione: 1999
• ISBN 10: 0691012067
• ISBN 13: 9780691012063
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 494