Ten Days in Physics that Shook the World

Ten Days in Physics that Shook the World PDF Author: Brian Clegg
Publisher: Icon Books
ISBN: 1785787489
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 214

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Book Description
The breakthroughs that have had the most transformative practical impacts, from thermodynamics to the Internet. Physics informs our understanding of how the world works – but more than that, key breakthroughs in physics have transformed everyday life. We journey back to ten separate days in history to understand how particular breakthroughs were achieved, meet the individuals responsible and see how each breakthrough has influenced our lives. It is a unique selection. Focusing on practical impact means there is no room for Stephen Hawking's work on black holes, or the discovery of the Higgs boson. Instead we have the relatively little-known Rudolf Clausius (thermodynamics) and Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (superconductivity), while Albert Einstein is included not for his theories of relativity but for the short paper that gave us E=mc2 (nuclear fission). Later chapters feature transistors, LEDs and the Internet.

Ten Days in Physics that Shook the World

Ten Days in Physics that Shook the World PDF Author: Brian Clegg
Publisher: Icon Books
ISBN: 1785787489
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 214

Get Book Here

Book Description
The breakthroughs that have had the most transformative practical impacts, from thermodynamics to the Internet. Physics informs our understanding of how the world works – but more than that, key breakthroughs in physics have transformed everyday life. We journey back to ten separate days in history to understand how particular breakthroughs were achieved, meet the individuals responsible and see how each breakthrough has influenced our lives. It is a unique selection. Focusing on practical impact means there is no room for Stephen Hawking's work on black holes, or the discovery of the Higgs boson. Instead we have the relatively little-known Rudolf Clausius (thermodynamics) and Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (superconductivity), while Albert Einstein is included not for his theories of relativity but for the short paper that gave us E=mc2 (nuclear fission). Later chapters feature transistors, LEDs and the Internet.

Ten Days that Shook the World

Ten Days that Shook the World PDF Author: John Reed
Publisher: Books Explorer
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 440

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Book Description
Account of the November Revolution in Russia.

Eruptions that Shook the World

Eruptions that Shook the World PDF Author: Clive Oppenheimer
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1139496395
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 409

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Book Description
What does it take for a volcanic eruption to really shake the world? Did volcanic eruptions extinguish the dinosaurs, or help humans to evolve, only to decimate their populations with a super-eruption 73,000 years ago? Did they contribute to the ebb and flow of ancient empires, the French Revolution and the rise of fascism in Europe in the 19th century? These are some of the claims made for volcanic cataclysm. Volcanologist Clive Oppenheimer explores rich geological, historical, archaeological and palaeoenvironmental records (such as ice cores and tree rings) to tell the stories behind some of the greatest volcanic events of the past quarter of a billion years. He shows how a forensic approach to volcanology reveals the richness and complexity behind cause and effect, and argues that important lessons for future catastrophe risk management can be drawn from understanding events that took place even at the dawn of human origins.

The Year I Stopped to Notice

The Year I Stopped to Notice PDF Author: Miranda Keeling
Publisher: Icon Books
ISBN: 1785787977
Category : Reference
Languages : en
Pages : 192

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Book Description
'This book is a delight ... the world is full of little surprises, momentary little fountains of pleasure and beauty, that could be visible to all of us if we learned to stop and notice as Miranda Keeling does.' Philip Pullman 'An odd, beautiful book ... Buy an extra copy to give to someone you love.' Neil Gaiman January: A man walking along Caledonian Road falls over onto the huge roll of bubble wrap he is hugging, perhaps for just this sort of situation. Inspired by her popular Twitter account, The Year I Stopped to Notice brings together Miranda Keeling's observations of the magic, humour, strangeness and beauty in ordinary life. Through the changing seasons, on city streets and on buses, in parks and cafes, Miranda notices things: moments between friends, the interactions of strangers, children delighting in the world around them, the quiet melancholy of lost items on the pavement. Accompanied by stunning watercolour illustrations from Luci Power, Miranda's poetic vignettes take us on journeys of discovery and share with us the joy of stopping to notice. September: On a sweltering, packed rush-hour train, my arm suddenly feels lovely and cool, and I look down to see a shopping bag held by the woman beside me - full of just-bought cartons of milk.

Thirty Years that Shook Physics

Thirty Years that Shook Physics PDF Author: George Gamow
Publisher: Courier Corporation
ISBN: 0486135160
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 271

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Book Description
Lucid, accessible introduction to the influential theory of energy and matter features careful explanations of Dirac's anti-particles, Bohr's model of the atom, and much more. Numerous drawings. 1966 edition.

Great Physicists

Great Physicists PDF Author: William H. Cropper
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199832080
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 512

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Book Description
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 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.

Plastic Fantastic

Plastic Fantastic PDF Author: Eugenie Samuel Reich
Publisher: Macmillan
ISBN: 9780230224674
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
Discusses the scientific scandal that arose when researchers at Bell Laboratories discovered that wunderkind physicist Jan Hendrik Schön falsified his data to prove that he had discovered a simpler way to make transistors, which would have drastically improved energy technology.

Seven Ideas that Shook the Universe

Seven Ideas that Shook the Universe PDF Author: Nathan Spielberg
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 276

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Book Description
Is there an objective world, or is everything relative? Do matter, time and space change, or do they remain constant everywhere in the universe? Is there always a relationship between cause and effect, or do some things "just happen?" Many of our basic ideas about the world have been shaped by science—but seldom are such discoveries accepted easily or willingly. Here are seven of the most important ideas in physics—ideas that shattered the assumptions of dogmatists, philosophers and scientists—explained simply and elegantly. And you don’t need a background in mathematics or science to enjoy this fascinating book. Seven Ideas That Shook the Universe explores the history of seven important themes in physics: Copernican astronomy, Newtonian mechanics, energy and entropy, relativity, quantum theory, and conservation principles and symmetries. Together these discoveries form the foundation of our understanding of the physical world. Nathan Spielberg and Bryon Anderson explain each concept in a simple, straightforward narrative style, considering each in the context of its times and assessing its impact on the way we think about time, space, matter, even existence itself. For the science lover and the intellectually curious, Seven Ideas That Shook the Universe brings the drama of scientific discovery to vivid life.

Boltzmanns Atom

Boltzmanns Atom PDF Author: David Lindley
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1501142674
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 266

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Book Description
In 1900 many eminent scientists did not believe atoms existed, yet within just a few years the atomic century launched into history with an astonishing string of breakthroughs in physics that began with Albert Einstein and continues to this day. Before this explosive growth into the modern age took place, an all-but-forgotten genius strove for forty years to win acceptance for the atomic theory of matter and an altogether new way of doing physics. Ludwig Boltz-mann battled with philosophers, the scientific establishment, and his own potent demons. His victory led the way to the greatest scientific achievements of the twentieth century. Now acclaimed science writer David Lindley portrays the dramatic story of Boltzmann and his embrace of the atom, while providing a window on the civilized world that gave birth to our scientific era. Boltzmann emerges as an endearingly quixotic character, passionately inspired by Beethoven, who muddled through the practical matters of life in a European gilded age. Boltzmann's story reaches from fin de siècle Vienna, across Germany and Britain, to America. As the Habsburg Empire was crumbling, Germany's intellectual might was growing; Edinburgh in Scotland was one of the most intellectually fertile places on earth; and, in America, brilliant independent minds were beginning to draw on the best ideas of the bureaucratized old world. Boltzmann's nemesis in the field of theoretical physics at home in Austria was Ernst Mach, noted today in the term Mach I, the speed of sound. Mach believed physics should address only that which could be directly observed. How could we know that frisky atoms jiggling about corresponded to heat if we couldn't see them? Why should we bother with theories that only told us what would probably happen, rather than making an absolute prediction? Mach and Boltzmann both believed in the power of science, but their approaches to physics could not have been more opposed. Boltzmann sought to explain the real world, and cast aside any philosophical criteria. Mach, along with many nineteenth-century scientists, wanted to construct an empirical edifice of absolute truths that obeyed strict philosophical rules. Boltzmann did not get on well with authority in any form, and he did his best work at arm's length from it. When at the end of his career he engaged with the philosophical authorities in the Viennese academy, the results were personally disastrous and tragic. Yet Boltzmann's enduring legacy lives on in the new physics and technology of our wired world. Lindley's elegant telling of this tale combines the detailed breadth of the best history, the beauty of theoretical physics, and the psychological insight belonging to the finest of novels.

When We Cease to Understand the World

When We Cease to Understand the World PDF Author: Benjamin Labatut
Publisher: New York Review of Books
ISBN: 1681375664
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 193

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Book Description
One of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of 2021 Shortlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize and the 2021 National Book Award for Translated Literature A fictional examination of the lives of real-life scientists and thinkers whose discoveries resulted in moral consequences beyond their imagining. When We Cease to Understand the World is a book about the complicated links between scientific and mathematical discovery, madness, and destruction. Fritz Haber, Alexander Grothendieck, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger—these are some of luminaries into whose troubled lives Benjamín Labatut thrusts the reader, showing us how they grappled with the most profound questions of existence. They have strokes of unparalleled genius, alienate friends and lovers, descend into isolation and insanity. Some of their discoveries reshape human life for the better; others pave the way to chaos and unimaginable suffering. The lines are never clear. At a breakneck pace and with a wealth of disturbing detail, Labatut uses the imaginative resources of fiction to tell the stories of the scientists and mathematicians who expanded our notions of the possible.