Great Physicists: The Life and Times of Leading Physicists from Galileo to HawkingHere is a lively history of modern physics, as seen through the lives of thirty men and women from the pantheon of physics. William H. Cropper vividly portrays the life and accomplishments of such giants as Galileo and Isaac Newton, Marie Curie and Ernest Rutherford, Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr, right up to contemporary figures such as Richard Feynman, Murray Gell-Mann, and Stephen Hawking. We meet scientists--all geniuses--who could be gregarious, aloof, unpretentious, friendly, dogged, imperious, generous to colleagues or contentious rivals. As Cropper captures their personalities, he also offers vivid portraits of their great moments of discovery, their bitter feuds, their relations with family and friends, their religious beliefs and education. In addition, Cropper has grouped these biographies by discipline--mechanics, thermodynamics, particle physics, and others--each section beginning with a historical overview. Thus in the section on quantum mechanics, readers can see how the work of Max Planck influenced Niels Bohr, and how Bohr in turn influenced Werner Heisenberg. Our understanding of the physical world has increased dramatically in the last four centuries. With Great Physicists, readers can retrace the footsteps of the men and women who led the way. |
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Page 15
... called a punto, was equivalent to 0.094 centimeter. This was the distance between the finest divisions on a brass rule. For measurements of time he collected and weighed water flowing from a container at a constant rate of about three ...
... called a punto, was equivalent to 0.094 centimeter. This was the distance between the finest divisions on a brass rule. For measurements of time he collected and weighed water flowing from a container at a constant rate of about three ...
Page 16
... called “vectors,” could be resolved into rectangular components. I have mentioned, but not emphasized, another building block of Galileo's mechanics, what is now called the “inertia principle.” In one version, Galileo put it this way ...
... called “vectors,” could be resolved into rectangular components. I have mentioned, but not emphasized, another building block of Galileo's mechanics, what is now called the “inertia principle.” In one version, Galileo put it this way ...
Page 22
... called “differentials” in the terminology of calculus, are comparatively very small. We have equation (1) for time t at the beginning of the instant. Now write the equation for time t dt at the end of the instant, with the ball at s ds ...
... called “differentials” in the terminology of calculus, are comparatively very small. We have equation (1) for time t at the beginning of the instant. Now write the equation for time t dt at the end of the instant, with the ball at s ds ...
Page 23
... called a “derivative,” and the equation, like any ds dt other containing a derivative, is called a “differential equation.” In mathematical physics, differential equations are ubiquitous. Most of the theories mentioned in this book rely ...
... called a “derivative,” and the equation, like any ds dt other containing a derivative, is called a “differential equation.” In mathematical physics, differential equations are ubiquitous. Most of the theories mentioned in this book rely ...
Page 37
... called Journal to Stella. Voltaire gossiped: “I thought . . . that Newton made his fortune by his merit. . . . No such thing. Isaac Newton had a very charming niece . . . who made a conquest of Minister Halifax [Montague]. Fluxions and ...
... called Journal to Stella. Voltaire gossiped: “I thought . . . that Newton made his fortune by his merit. . . . No such thing. Isaac Newton had a very charming niece . . . who made a conquest of Minister Halifax [Montague]. Fluxions and ...
Contents
41 | |
Historical Synopsis | 135 |
Historical Synopsis | 177 |
Historical Synopsis | 201 |
Historical Synopsis | 229 |
Historical Synopsis | 293 |
Historical Synopsis | 363 |
Historical Synopsis | 421 |
Chronology of the Main Events | 464 |
Glossary | 469 |
Invitation to More Reading | 478 |
Index | 485 |
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acceleration astronomer atomic became Berlin Bohr Bohr’s Boltzmann calculation called Cambridge Carnot’s Chandra charge chemical chemistry Clausius Clausius’s colleagues concept constant Curie Dirac discovery effect Einstein electric electromagnetic electron elements energy entropy experimental experiments Faraday Faraday’s Fermi Feynman field fission force function galaxy Galileo Gell-Mann Gibbs Gibbs energy Gibbs’s Glenlair Gošttingen gravitational Hahn Hawking heat engine Heisenberg Helmholtz Hubble Hubble’s hydrogen isospin Joule Joule’s laboratory later Laura Fermi lecture light Lise Meitner magnetic Marie mass mathematical mathematician matrix mechanics Maxwell Maxwell’s Mayer measured Meitner molecular molecules motion Nernst neutron Newton nuclear nucleus observed paper particles Pauli photons physicists Planck principle problem professor published quantum mechanics quantum number quantum theory quark radiation radioactive radium rays reaction Richard Feynman Rutherford Schrošdinger scientific scientists speed statistical statistical mechanics temperature theoretical physics theorists thermodynamics Thomson tion University uranium wave writes wrote