Great Physicists The Life and Times of Leading Physicists from Galileo to Hawking

by Cropper, William H.

• ISBN13: 9780195173246
• ISBN10: 0195173244
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-09-16
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

Here 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 NielsBohr, 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--eachsection 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.

Author Biography

William H. Cropper is Professor Emeritus of Chemistry at St. Lawrence University. He lives in Saugerties, New York.

Table of Contents

Preface	ix
Acknowledgments	xi
I. Mechanics
Historical Synopsis	3	(2)
How the Heavens Go	5	(13)
Galileo Galilei
A Man Obsessed	18	(25)
Isaac Newton
II. Thermodynamics
Historical Synopsis	41	(2)
A Tale of Two Revolutions	43	(8)
Sadi Carnot
On the Dark Side	51	(8)
Robert Mayer
A Holy Undertaking	59	(12)
James Joule
Unities and a Unifier	71	(7)
Hermann Helmholtz
The Scientist as Virtuoso	78	(15)
William Thomson
The Road to Entropy	93	(13)
Rudolf Clausius
The Greatest Simplicity	106	(18)
Willard Gibbs
The Last Law	124	(13)
Walther Nernst
III. Electromagnetism
Historical Synopsis	135	(2)
A Force of Nature	137	(17)
Michael Faraday
The Scientist as Magician	154	(25)
James Clerk Maxwell
IV. Statistical Mechanics
Historical Synopsis	177	(2)
Molecules and Entropy	179	(24)
Ludwig Boltzmann
V. Relativity
Historical Synopsis	201	(2)
Adventure in Thought	203	(28)
Albert Einstein
VI. Quantum Mechanics
Historical Synopsis	229	(2)
Reluctant Revolutionary	231	(11)
Max Planck
Science by Conversation	242	(14)
Niels Bohr
The Scientist as Critic	256	(7)
Wolfgang Pauli
Matrix Mechanics	263	(12)
Werner Heisenberg
Wave Mechanics	275	(20)
Erwin Schrodinger
Louis de Broglie
VII. Nuclear Physics
Historical Synopsis	293	(2)
Opening Doors	295	(13)
Marie Curie
On the Crest of a Wave	308	(22)
Ernest Rutherford
Physics and Friendships	330	(14)
Lise Meitner
Complete Physicist	344	(21)
Enrico Fermi
VIII. Particle Physics
Historical Synopsis	363	(2)
iγ·∂Ψ = mΨ	365	(11)
Paul Dirac
What Do You Care?	376	(27)
Richard Feynman
Telling the Tale of the Quarks	403	(20)
Murray Gell-Mann
IX. Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Cosmology
Historical Synopsis	421	(2)
Beyond the Galaxy	423	(15)
Edwin Hubble
Ideal Scholar	438	(14)
Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar
Affliction, Fame, and Fortune	452	(12)
Stephen Hawking
Chronology of the Main Events	464	(5)
Glossary	469	(9)
Invitation to More Reading	478	(7)
Index	485