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. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 27
Page 6
... acceleration of gravity.) He defined the laws of projected motion with a controlled version of the Tower experiment in which a ball rolled down an inclined plane on a table, then left the table horizontally or obliquely and dropped to ...
... acceleration of gravity.) He defined the laws of projected motion with a controlled version of the Tower experiment in which a ball rolled down an inclined plane on a table, then left the table horizontally or obliquely and dropped to ...
Page 13
... accelerated motion; here a few are presented and then “modernized” through translation into the language of algebra. The first theorem concerns uniform motion: If a moving particle, carried uniformly at constant speed, traverses two ...
... accelerated motion; here a few are presented and then “modernized” through translation into the language of algebra. The first theorem concerns uniform motion: If a moving particle, carried uniformly at constant speed, traverses two ...
Page 14
... accelerated motion, both in free fall and down inclined planes. “Uniformly” here means that the speed changes by equal amounts in equal time intervals. If the uniform acceleration is represented by a, the change in the speed v in time t ...
... accelerated motion, both in free fall and down inclined planes. “Uniformly” here means that the speed changes by equal amounts in equal time intervals. If the uniform acceleration is represented by a, the change in the speed v in time t ...
Page 15
... accelerated motion are to each other as the squares of the time intervals employed in traversing these distances. Our modernized proof of the theorem begins by writing the free-fall equation twice, 2 2 gt gt 1 2 s and s , 1 2 2 2 and ...
... accelerated motion are to each other as the squares of the time intervals employed in traversing these distances. Our modernized proof of the theorem begins by writing the free-fall equation twice, 2 2 gt gt 1 2 s and s , 1 2 2 2 and ...
Page 16
... acceleration, usually that of gravity. In our view, the theorems that define his mechanics are based on the equations v gt and , but Galileo did not write these, or any other, al2 gt s 2 gebraic equations; for his numerical calculations ...
... acceleration, usually that of gravity. In our view, the theorems that define his mechanics are based on the equations v gt and , but Galileo did not write these, or any other, al2 gt s 2 gebraic equations; for his numerical calculations ...
Contents
xi | |
3 | |
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 Go¨ttingen 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 Schro¨dinger scientific scientists speed statistical statistical mechanics temperature theoretical physics theorists thermodynamics Thomson tion University uranium wave writes wrote