The Tiger and the Shark: Empirical Roots of Wave-Particle Dualism

by Bruce R. Wheaton , Foreword by Thomas S. Kuhn

• ISBN13: 9780521358927
• ISBN10: 0521358922
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1991-07-26
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Summary

This study grew out of concerns first raised while I was a student of physics. This inadequacy of most textbook discussions of historical and epistemological issues led me back to original papers and then to the literature on history of science.

Table of Contents

Foreword Thomas S. Kuhn

Preface

Notes on sources

1. Introduction

Part II. The Introduction of Temporal Discontinuity, 1896-1905: 2. The electromagnetic impulse hypothesis of X-rays

3. The analogy between y-rays and X-rays

Part II. Ionization and the Recognition of Paradox, 1906-1910: 4. Secondary rays: British attempts to retain mechanism

5. The appeal in Germany to the quantum theory

Part III. Seeking an Electrodynamic Solution, 1907-1912: 6. Localized energy in spreading impulses

7. Problems with visible light

Part IV. Interference of X-Rays and the Corrobation of Paradox, 1912-1922: 8. Origins of X-ray spectroscopy

9. Quantum transformation experiments

Part V. The Conceptual Origins of Wave-Particle Dualism, 1921-1925: 10. Synthesis of matter and light

Epilogue: The tiger and the shark

Bibliography

Index.