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 16
... writes, “Galileo, perhaps more than any single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science ... write these, or any other, al2 gt s 2 gebraic equations; for his numerical calculations he invoked ratios and proportionality. He ...
... writes, “Galileo, perhaps more than any single person, was responsible for the birth of modern science ... write these, or any other, al2 gt s 2 gebraic equations; for his numerical calculations he invoked ratios and proportionality. He ...
Page 27
... writes, “arguably the most advanced product of seventeenth-century chemistry.” It presaged the modern theory of “chemical affinities,” which will be addressed in chapter 10. For Newton, the attraction forces he saw in his crucibles were ...
... writes, “arguably the most advanced product of seventeenth-century chemistry.” It presaged the modern theory of “chemical affinities,” which will be addressed in chapter 10. For Newton, the attraction forces he saw in his crucibles were ...
Page 30
... writes, “[Newton's] life [was] a virtual blank except for the Principia.” By April 1686, books 1 and 2 were completed, and Halley began a campaign for their publication by the Royal Society. Somehow (possibly with Halley exceeding his ...
... writes, “[Newton's] life [was] a virtual blank except for the Principia.” By April 1686, books 1 and 2 were completed, and Halley began a campaign for their publication by the Royal Society. Somehow (possibly with Halley exceeding his ...
Page 44
... writes Gillispie, “was to specify in a completely general way the optimal conditions for the operation of machines of every sort.” Instead of probing the many detailed elements of machinery design, as was customary at the time, he ...
... writes Gillispie, “was to specify in a completely general way the optimal conditions for the operation of machines of every sort.” Instead of probing the many detailed elements of machinery design, as was customary at the time, he ...
Page 67
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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 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