This book is a critical analysis, based on a broad physical, historical, and philosophical study, of how empirical phenomena led to the renunciation of classical physics and how experimental research -- combined with mathematical thought and philosophical speculation -- opened entirely novel perspective. It offers a thorough, detailed exposition of the various phases of the development of quantum theory, analyzes the logical dependence of each stage on those preceding it, and leads the reader from the very beginning of this intellectual process to the front line positions of current foundational research in physics. "... the only full history of the Quantum Theory." -- Dr. F. Hund, Institute for Theoretical Physics, Gottingen University.

Presents problems and simple experiments illustrating the laws of physics with regard to motion, gravity, heat and cold, and light

Intended for a first year graduate course in quantum mechanics, this collection of topics can also be considered as a set of self-contained ``monographs for pedestrians'' on the Mouml;ssbauer effect, many-body quantum mechanics, kaon physics, scattering theory, Feynman diagrams, symmetries and relativistic quantum mechanics. An unusual feature of the book is the introduction of many interesting physical problems and mathematical techniques at a much earlier level than in conventional texts. This approach enables the student to see the physical implications and useful applications of quantum theory before he has mastered the formalism in detail. It provides him with new mathematical tools at an earlier stage for use in subsequent problems. It also presents the active research physicist with a ``pedestrian'' treatment of many topics without the necessity of learning the formalism.

Hilary Putnam's unceasing self-criticism has led to the frequent changes of mind he is famous for, but his thinking is also marked by considerable continuity. A simultaneous interest in science and ethics - unusual in the current climate of contention - has long characterized his thought. In "Philosophy in an Age of Science", Putnam collects his papers for publication - his first volume in almost two decades. Mario De Caro and David Macarthur's introduction identifies central themes to help the reader negotiate between Putnam past and Putnam present: his critique of logical positivism; his enduring aspiration to be realist about rational normativity; his anti-essentialism about a range of central philosophical notions; his reconciliation of the scientific worldview and the humanistic tradition; and his movement from reductive scientific naturalism to liberal naturalism. Putnam returns here to some of his first enthusiasms in philosophy, such as logic, mathematics, and quantum mechanics. The reader is given a glimpse, too, of ideas currently in development on the subject of perception. Putnam's work, contributing to a broad range of philosophical inquiry, has been said to represent a "history of recent philosophy in outline."

A Nobel Laureate who is committed to scientific literacy, Glashow brings his intelligence and vast understanding of the subject to a text geared to liberal arts students. Combining fascinating literary and historical references with a vigorous, whimsical, and often humorous writing style, Glashow traces the evolution of physics and chemistry from ancient to modern times and explains not only what we know about matter and the universe, but how we came to know it, and why it is important.

Known to physicists as the "miracle year," 1932 saw the discovery of the neutron and the first artificially induced nuclear transmutation. However, while physicists celebrated these momentous discoveries--which presaged the era of big science and nuclearbombs--Europe was moving inexorably toward totalitarianism and war. In April of that year, about forty of the world's leading physicists--including Werner Heisenberg, Lise Meitner, and Paul Dirac--came to Niels Bohr's Copenhagen Institute for their annual informal meeting about the frontiers of physics. Physicist Gino Segráe brings to life this historic gathering, which ended with a humorous skit based on Goethe's Faust--little knowing the Faustian bargains they would face in the near future. Capturing the interplay between the great scientists as well as the discoveries they discussed and debated, Segráe evokes the moment when physics--and the world--was about to lose its innocence.--From publisher description.

"People like myself, who truly feel at home in several countries, are not strictly at home anywhere," writes Abraham Pais, one of the world's leading theoretical physicists, near the beginning of this engrossing chronicle of his life on two continents. The author of an immensely popular biography of Einstein, Subtle Is the Lord, Pais writes engagingly for a general audience. His "tale" describes his period of hiding in Nazi-occupied Holland (he ended the war in a Gestapo prison) and his life in America, particularly at the newly organized Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, then directed by the brilliant and controversial physicist Robert Oppenheimer. Pais tells fascinating stories about Oppenheimer, Einstein, Bohr, Sakharov, Dirac, Heisenberg, and von Neumann, as well as about nonscientists like Chaim Weizmann, George Kennan, Erwin Panofsky, and Pablo Casals. His enthusiasm about science and life in general pervades a book that is partly a memoir, partly a travel commentary, and partly a history of science. Pais's charming recollections of his years as a university student become somber with the German invasion of the Netherlands in 1940. He was presented with an unusual deadline for his graduate work: a German decree that July 14, 1941, would be the final date on which Dutch Jews could be granted a doctoral degree. Pais received the degree, only to be forced into hiding from the Nazis in 1943, practically next door to Anne Frank. After the war, he went to the Institute of Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen to work with Niels Bohr. 1946 began his years at the Institute for Advanced Study, where he worked first as a Fellow and then as a Professor until his move to Rockefeller University in 1963. Combining his understanding of disparate social and political worlds, Pais comments just as insightfully on Oppenheimer's ordeals during the McCarthy era as he does on his own and his European colleagues' struggles during World War II. Originally published in 1997. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These paperback editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Nobel Laureate's brilliant early treatise on Einstein's theory consists of his original 1921 text plus retrospective comments 35 years later. Concise and comprehensive, it pays special attention to unified field theories.

This book develops a consistent macroscopic theory of electromagnetism and discusses the relation between circuit theory and field theory. The theory is developed in successive steps from the Lorentz force, the integral form of Maxwell's equations in free space, and suitable macroscopic models of polarized and magnetized matter. Special features * Covers the electromagnetism of moving bodies and the process of electromechanical energy conversion * Introduces a power-series technique for analyzing quasi-static fields and quasi-stationary systems * Emphasizes the synthesis of fields as opposed to the analysis of fields * Presents, in an appendix, the four-dimensional relativistic formulation of macroscopic electrodynamics recently developed by one of the authors (L. J. Chu)

Gold, gold, gold for Australia's mega-selling scientist's 27th book... 'Nullius in verba', the Royal Society's motto, roughly translated, means 'take nobody's word for it'. Why not do the experiment for yourself and see the reality of nature. Don't trust authority - trust nature.Does cranberry juice cure urinary tract infections? Is the hookah really a safer way to smoke? Will the Large Hadron Collider destroy the Earth and the Universe? Is the purpose of the peacock's tail to attract females? And in the unlikely event of a plane crash, are some seats safer than others?the human hand has 27 bones; Uranus has 27 moons; 27 is a perfect cube, being 3 x 3 x 3; and in this, Dr Karl's 27th book, he takes us on another exploration of the dazzling world of science.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Professor Buchdahl presents a systematic exposition of classical thermodynamics, against a background of general physical theory and on a purely phenomenological (i.e. non-statistical) level. Although particular attention is paid to the meaning of the various concepts introduced, Professor Buchdahl is not afraid of making simplifications where these are likely to enhance the reader's understanding of the subject and the relationships between the principal and ancillary laws. The emphasis throughout is on meaning and physical significance. Specific applications of the general theory are discussed in two final chapters. This book, first published in 1966, is intended for the student who has taken a first course in analytical, though not axiomatic, development of the subject. It will supplement rather than replace, the many familiar introductory treatments of thermodynamics.

Respected among scientists and spiritual leaders alike for his pioneering work combining scientific and spiritual thought, Fred Alan Wolf (aka Dr. Quantum) is, as Deepak Chopra states, "one of the most important pioneers in the field of consciousness." Featured in the word-of-mouth indie hit, What the Bleep Do We Know?!, Dr. Wolf is a physicist who knows how to put complex science-based ideas into terms that even science-phobes can understand. With clarity and a sense of humor, Dr. Quantum presents Big Ideas in the form of both short quotes and longer excerpts and covers topics ranging from the construction of our everyday reality to our relationship to one another. Dr. Quantum's Little Book of Big Ideas is a perfect gift for anyone interested in the realm where science meets spirit.

This volume contains some of Professor Wigner's more popular papers, which, in their diversity of subject and clarity of style, reflect the author's deep analytical powers and the remarkable scope of his interests. Included are articles on the nature of physical symmetry, invariance and conservation principles, the structure of solid bodies and of the compound nucleus, the theory of nuclear fission, the effects of radiation on solids, and epistemological problems of quantum mechanics. Other articles deal with the story of the first man-made nuclear chain reaction, the long-term prospects of nuclear energy, the problems of Big Science, and the role of mathematics in the natural sciences. In addition, the book contains statements of Wigner's convictions and beliefs, as well as memoirs of his friends, Enrico Fermi and John von Neumann.

First published in English in 1935, this classic treatment is well-known to students and teachers of physics around the world. Since its original publication, Professor Born (Nobel Laureate, 1954) continually updated the book to incorporate new developments in all branches of physics, particularly in the field of elementary particles. For this eighth edition he also wrote a new chapter on the quantum theory of solids.

Dart nun, bei den Heiden, bei diesen wirkiich vorbild- haften Menschen erscheint uns das Interesse fiir die Person, fiir den Namen, fiir Gesicht und Gebiirde er- iaubt und natiiriich. H. Hesse, "Das Giasperienspiel" In 1979 the world celebrates the centenary of Albert Einstein's birth. This offers an occasion to review his life and his scientific work in retrospect, to survey his importance for our time, and to look forward to future years of scientific research. Undoubtedly, Einstein was one of the key-figures in the intellectual history of our century. He influenced physics and philosophy, as well as politics. The creation of general relativity is one of the greatest scientific achievements of our time, as well as the apex of Einsteins's scientific work. Its full implications for the other fields of physics have become clear only in recent years. The technological possibilities offered by space research have enabled mankind to survey the universe for the first time unhindered by the earth's atmosphere. This has led to new discoveries and has shown that even some of the far-reaching conclusions derived from Einstein's theory are borne out by observation. General relativity, which has for a long time been viewed as an outsider among physical theories because of its mathematical difficulty and complexity, is considered now to be the prototype of theories in the fields of elementary particle physics and even solid state physics.

A unique text and reference for pure and applied mathematicians, engineers, physicists, and chemists, this book was a landmark in the literature of computational methods in mathematical physics in the twentieth century. The treatment remains of great interest because of its thoroughness and scope. A valuable historic source for methods and approaches to problems of mathematical physics, this text is enhanced by many detailed, worked-out examples. Topics include methods based on the representation of the solution as an infinite series, the approximate solution of the integral equations of Swedish mathematician Erik Ivar Fredholm, the method of nets, and variational methods. Additional subjects include the conformal transformation of regions, principles of the application of conformal transformation to the solution of the fundamental problems for canonical regions, and Polish mathematician Dr. Hermann Schwarz's method.