The Story of Quantum Mechanics

by Guillemin, Victor

• ISBN13: 9780486428741
• ISBN10: 0486428745
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-03-16
• Publisher: Dover Publications

Summary

Written by a renowned Harvard physicist, this introduction to the evolution of quantum physics also explores the subject's philosophical implications. Topics include the development of physics from antiquity onward, research pertaining to elementary particles, and the relationship between physical science and issues of philosophy and religion. 48 illustrations. 1968 edition.

Author Biography

Mathematician Victor Guillemin is a leader in the field of symplectic geometry who has also made fundamental contributions to mathematical physics, spectral theory, and microlocal analysis. The author of many textbooks and monographs, he is a tenured Professor in MIT's Department of Mathematics, where he has supervised more than 40 doctoral students.

Table of Contents

The Science of Motion	3	(10)
Newtonian Mechanics	4	(4)
The Experimental-Deterministic Philosophy	8	(1)
The Twentieth Century	9	(4)
The History of Atomism	13	(11)
Origins of the Atomic Concept	13	(1)
The Chemical Atoms	14	(3)
The Molecules of the Physicists	17	(2)
The Coming of the Atomic Age	19	(5)
Atomic Structure	24	(16)
Size, Mass and Motion	24	(2)
Discovery of the Electron	26	(3)
The Atom Models of Thomson and Rutherford	29	(5)
The Bohr Atom Model	34	(6)
Radiant Energy	40	(21)
Light Waves	40	(6)
Interference of Light Waves	46	(2)
Light Particles	48	(7)
The Bohr Theory of Atomic Radiation	55	(6)
Consequences of the Wave-Photon Concept	61	(9)
Waves and Particles	61	(5)
Causality and Probability	66	(4)
Matter Waves	70	(21)
A New Mechanics	70	(9)
Particles and Waves	79	(2)
Waves and Atoms	81	(10)
The Principle of Uncertainty	91	(12)
Wave Packets	91	(4)
Precision of Measurement	95	(6)
Further Implications of Quantum Mechanics	101	(2)
Applications and Conclusions	103	(17)
The Particle in a Box	103	(5)
Natural Radioactivity	108	(6)
The Solid State	114	(3)
Seeing with de Broglie Waves	117	(1)
Out of the Atomic Substratum	118	(2)
Elementary Particles	120	(19)
Transmutation of Elements	120	(5)
Particles and More Particles	125	(2)
Discovering Particles	127	(3)
Particle Accelerators	130	(6)
Studying Particles	136	(3)
Organization of Particles	139	(10)
A Table of Particles	139	(2)
The Leptons	141	(3)
The Mesons	144	(1)
The Baryons	144	(1)
Antiparticles	145	(4)
Particle Characteristics	149	(24)
Forces	149	(3)
Conservation Laws and Stability	152	(8)
Conservation Laws and Probabilities	160	(1)
Strangeness and Isotopic Spin	161	(4)
Resonances	165	(4)
Summary of Particle Experiments	169	(4)
Ideas and Theories	173	(11)
Quantum Field Theory	173	(4)
The Electrostatic Field	177	(2)
The Strong-Force Field	179	(2)
Action at a Distance	181	(3)
Symmetries	184	(14)
Symmetries and Conservation Laws	184	(3)
The Nonconservation of Parity	187	(4)
Group Theory	191	(4)
Quarks	195	(3)
More Theories	198	(20)
S-Matrix Theory	198	(1)
Feynman Diagrams	199	(5)
Particle Energy Levels	204	(4)
Space and Time	208	(6)
Summary of Particle Theories	214	(4)
Philosophical Implications of the New Physics	218	(30)
Science and Philosophy	218	(3)
Spiritual Values in the Old and the New Physics	221	(27)
Causality	248	(16)
Causality in Philosophy	248	(6)
Causality in Classical Science	254	(10)
Free Will	264	(25)
The Free Will Problem	264	(8)
The Nature of the Will	272	(8)
Free Will and Causality	280	(6)
Ethical Problems	286	(3)
Determinism, Free Will and the New Physics	289	(14)
Laplace versus the Uncertainty Principle	289	(6)
Diverse Interpretations	295	(2)
Criticisms	297	(6)
Glossary of Scientific Terms	303	(12)
For Additional Reading	315	(6)
Index	321