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 iv
... –5 1. Physicists—Biography. I. Title. QC15 .C76 2001 530'.092'2—dc21 [B] 2001021611 987654321 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xi I. Mechanics Historical Synopsis 3.
... –5 1. Physicists—Biography. I. Title. QC15 .C76 2001 530'.092'2—dc21 [B] 2001021611 987654321 Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Contents Preface ix Acknowledgments xi I. Mechanics Historical Synopsis 3.
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... paper” and attached them to the tails of kites. According to Stukely, this stunt “Wonderfully affrighted all the neighboring inhabitants for some time, and caus'd not a little discourse on market days, among the country people, when ...
... paper” and attached them to the tails of kites. According to Stukely, this stunt “Wonderfully affrighted all the neighboring inhabitants for some time, and caus'd not a little discourse on market days, among the country people, when ...
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... paper to Oldenburg expounding this theory. The paper was read at a meeting of the Royal Society, to an enthusiastically favorable response. Newton was then still unknown as a scientist, so Oldenburg innocently took the additional step ...
... paper to Oldenburg expounding this theory. The paper was read at a meeting of the Royal Society, to an enthusiastically favorable response. Newton was then still unknown as a scientist, so Oldenburg innocently took the additional step ...
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... papers but could not find it, but he promised him to renew it, & then send it to him. A few months later Halley received the promised paper, a short, but remarkable, treatise, with the title De motu corporum in gyrum (On the Motion of ...
... papers but could not find it, but he promised him to renew it, & then send it to him. A few months later Halley received the promised paper, a short, but remarkable, treatise, with the title De motu corporum in gyrum (On the Motion of ...
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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 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