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
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Page 6
... mathematician. Galileo now aimed for the recently vacated chair of mathematics at the University of Padua, and his chief backer in Padua was Gianvincenzio Pinelli, a powerful influence in the cultural and intellectual life of Padua ...
... mathematician. Galileo now aimed for the recently vacated chair of mathematics at the University of Padua, and his chief backer in Padua was Gianvincenzio Pinelli, a powerful influence in the cultural and intellectual life of Padua ...
Page 7
... mathematician and philosopher for the grand duke of Tuscany. In Venice and Padua, Galileo left behind envy and bitterness. Florence. and. Rome. Again the gregarious and witty Galileo found intellectual companions among the nobility. Most ...
... mathematician and philosopher for the grand duke of Tuscany. In Venice and Padua, Galileo left behind envy and bitterness. Florence. and. Rome. Again the gregarious and witty Galileo found intellectual companions among the nobility. Most ...
Page 8
... mathematicians at the Jesuit Collegio Romano, who reported doubts that the telescope really revealed mountains on the Moon, but more importantly, trusted the telescope's evidence for the phases of Venus and the motion of Jupiter's moons ...
... mathematicians at the Jesuit Collegio Romano, who reported doubts that the telescope really revealed mountains on the Moon, but more importantly, trusted the telescope's evidence for the phases of Venus and the motion of Jupiter's moons ...
Page 22
... mathematician than as a physicist. Like that of Huygens, his physics was limited by a mechanistic philosophy. In mathematics he made two major contributions, an independent (after Newton's) invention of calculus, and an early ...
... mathematician than as a physicist. Like that of Huygens, his physics was limited by a mechanistic philosophy. In mathematics he made two major contributions, an independent (after Newton's) invention of calculus, and an early ...
Page 23
... mathematician will volunteer, this is far from a rigorous account of the workings of calculus.) This result has a simple physical meaning. It calculates the instantaneous speed of the ball at time t. Recall that speed is always ...
... mathematician will volunteer, this is far from a rigorous account of the workings of calculus.) This result has a simple physical meaning. It calculates the instantaneous speed of the ball at time t. Recall that speed is always ...
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