A Brief History Of Physics

Author : Edited by: Kisak
Publisher : Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Page : 192 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2015-11-08
Category : Electronic
ISBN : 151919837X

Get Book

A Brief History of Physics by Edited by: Kisak Pdf

Physics is the fundamental branch of science that developed out of the study of nature and philosophy known, until around the end of the 19th century, as "natural philosophy." Today, physics is ultimately defined as the study of matter, energy and the relationships between them. Physics is, in some senses, the oldest and most basic pure science; its discoveries find applications throughout the natural sciences, since matter and energy are the basic constituents of the natural world. The other sciences are generally more limited in their scope and may be considered branches that have split off from physics to become sciences in their own right. Physics today may be divided loosely into classical physics and modern physics. Elements of what became physics were drawn primarily from the fields of astronomy, optics, and mechanics, which were methodologically united through the study of geometry. These mathematical disciplines began in antiquity with the Babylonians and with Hellenistic writers such as Archimedes and Ptolemy. Ancient philosophy, meanwhile - including what was called "physics" - focused on explaining nature through ideas such as Aristotle's four types of "cause."

Author : Howard T. Milhorn
Publisher : Virtualbookworm Publishing
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 43,9 Mb
Release : 2008
Category : Science
ISBN : 1602642028

Get Book

The History of Physics by Howard T. Milhorn Pdf

The history of physics ranges from antiquity to modern string theory. Since early times, human beings have sought to understand the workings of nature--why unsupported objects drop to the ground, why different materials have different properties, and so forth. The emergence of physics as a science, distinct from natural philosophy, began with the scientific revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries when the scientific method came into vogue. Speculation was no longer acceptable; research was required. The beginning of the 20th century marks the start of a more modern physics. Physicists began to study the atom, with its electrons and its nucleus. Then they began to look at the fundamental question of the forces that hold the nucleus together and the particles that account for the natural forces. This book approaches the history of physics from a biographical point of view, considering people to be more interesting than things, and the combination of the two more interesting than the sum of the individual parts. After a brief overview of classical and modern physics, 336 one-page biographies of individuals who have made significant contributions to the field of physics are presented.

Author : Karoly Simonyi
Publisher : CRC Press
Page : 644 pages
File Size : 52,5 Mb
Release : 2012-01-25
Category : Mathematics
ISBN : 9781439865118

Get Book

A Cultural History of Physics by Karoly Simonyi Pdf

While the physical sciences are a continuously evolving source of technology and of understanding about our world, they have become so specialized and rely on so much prerequisite knowledge that for many people today the divide between the sciences and the humanities seems even greater than it was when C. P. Snow delivered his famous 1959 lecture,

Author : David C. Cassidy
Publisher : Harvard University Press
Page : 225 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 2013-09-02
Category : History
ISBN : 9780674725829

Get Book

A Short History of Physics in the American Century by David C. Cassidy Pdf

As the twentieth century ended, computers, the Internet, and nanotechnology were central to modern American life. Yet the physical advances underlying these applications are poorly understood and underappreciated by U.S. citizens. In this overview, Cassidy views physics through America's engagement with the political events of a tumultuous century.

Author : Jed Z. Buchwald,Robert Fox
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 956 pages
File Size : 55,7 Mb
Release : 2013-10
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780199696253

Get Book

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Physics by Jed Z. Buchwald,Robert Fox Pdf

Presents a history of physics, examining the theories and experimental practices of the science.

Author : J. L. Heilbron
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 193 pages
File Size : 42,9 Mb
Release : 2018
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780199684120

Get Book

The History of Physics by J. L. Heilbron Pdf

Originally published in 2015 as: Physics: a short history from quintessence to quarks.

Author : Helge Kragh
Publisher : Princeton University Press
Page : 514 pages
File Size : 46,8 Mb
Release : 2002-03-24
Category : History
ISBN : 0691095523

Get Book

Quantum Generations by Helge Kragh Pdf

At the end of the nineteenth century, some physicists believed that the basic principles underlying their subject were already known, and that physics in the future would only consist of filling in the details. They could hardly have been more wrong. The past century has seen the rise of quantum mechanics, relativity, cosmology, particle physics, and solid-state physics, among other fields. These subjects have fundamentally changed our understanding of space, time, and matter. They have also transformed daily life, inspiring a technological revolution that has included the development of radio, television, lasers, nuclear power, and computers. In Quantum Generations, Helge Kragh, one of the world's leading historians of physics, presents a sweeping account of these extraordinary achievements of the past one hundred years. The first comprehensive one-volume history of twentieth-century physics, the book takes us from the discovery of X rays in the mid-1890s to superstring theory in the 1990s. Unlike most previous histories of physics, written either from a scientific perspective or from a social and institutional perspective, Quantum Generations combines both approaches. Kragh writes about pure science with the expertise of a trained physicist, while keeping the content accessible to nonspecialists and paying careful attention to practical uses of science, ranging from compact disks to bombs. As a historian, Kragh skillfully outlines the social and economic contexts that have shaped the field in the twentieth century. He writes, for example, about the impact of the two world wars, the fate of physics under Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin, the role of military research, the emerging leadership of the United States, and the backlash against science that began in the 1960s. He also shows how the revolutionary discoveries of scientists ranging from Einstein, Planck, and Bohr to Stephen Hawking have been built on the great traditions of earlier centuries. Combining a mastery of detail with a sure sense of the broad contours of historical change, Kragh has written a fitting tribute to the scientists who have played such a decisive role in the making of the modern world.

Author : James Owen Weatherall
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Page : 309 pages
File Size : 55,9 Mb
Release : 2013
Category : Business & Economics
ISBN : 9780547317274

Get Book

The Physics of Wall Street by James Owen Weatherall Pdf

A young scholar tells the story of the physicists and mathematicians who created the models that have become the basis of modern finance and argues that these models are the "solution" to--not the source of--our current economic woes.

Author : Clifford A. Pickover
Publisher : Union Square + ORM
Page : 1054 pages
File Size : 53,8 Mb
Release : 2011-11-01
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781402790997

Get Book

The Physics Book by Clifford A. Pickover Pdf

“A thrilling, fast-paced excursion through the history of physical discovery . . . from silly putty to string theory” (Dr. Paul Halpern, author of Collider). Following his previous volumes, The Science Book and The Math Book, acclaimed science writer Clifford Pickover returns with a richly illustrated chronology of physics, containing 250 short, entertaining, and thought-provoking entries. In addition to exploring such engaging topics as dark energy, parallel universes, the Doppler effect, the God particle, and Maxwells demon, The Physics Book extends back billions of years to the hypothetical Big Bang and forward trillions of years to a time of “quantum resurrection.” Like the previous titles in this series, The Physics Book offers a lively and accessible account of major concepts without getting bogged down in complex details.

Author : J. L. Heilbron
Publisher : Oxford University Press
Page : 384 pages
File Size : 40,7 Mb
Release : 2005-06-03
Category : Science
ISBN : 9780195171983

Get Book

The Oxford Guide to the History of Physics and Astronomy by J. L. Heilbron Pdf

"The entries follow an elaborate organizational plan, which amounts to a new classification of knowledge, its institutional settings, and its applications. This plan is reprinted in the opening pages of the Guide." "Thoroughly cross-referenced, and accented with attractive black and white artwork, no other source is as systematic and authoritative or as informative and inviting in its coverage of physics, astronomy and planetary science."--BOOK JACKET.

Author : J. L. Heilbron
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
Page : 246 pages
File Size : 50,6 Mb
Release : 2015
Category : Electronic book
ISBN : 9780198746850

Get Book

Physics by J. L. Heilbron Pdf

How does the physics we know today - a highly professionalised enterprise, inextricably linked to government and industry - link back to its origins as a liberal art in Ancient Greece? John Heilbron's crisp and witty book tells the 2500-year story and highlights the implications for humankind's self-understanding.

Author : John Desmond Bernal
Publisher : Barnes & Noble Publishing
Page : 326 pages
File Size : 49,8 Mb
Release : 1997
Category : Physics
ISBN : 0760706018

Get Book

A History of Classical Physics by John Desmond Bernal Pdf

Author : S. D'Agostino
Publisher : Springer Science & Business Media
Page : 406 pages
File Size : 53,9 Mb
Release : 2012-12-06
Category : Science
ISBN : 9789401090346

Get Book

A History of the Ideas of Theoretical Physics by S. D'Agostino Pdf

This book presents a perspective on the history of theoretical physics over the past two hundreds years. It comprises essays on the history of pre-Maxwellian electrodynamics, of Maxwell's and Hertz's field theories, and of the present century's relativity and quantum physics. A common thread across the essays is the search for and the exploration of themes that influenced significant con ceptual changes in the great movement of ideas and experiments which heralded the emergence of theoretical physics (hereafter: TP). The fun. damental change involved the recognition of the scien tific validity of theoretical physics. In the second half of the nine teenth century, it was not easy for many physicists to understand the nature and scope of theoretical physics and of its adept, the theoreti cal physicist. A physicist like Ludwig Boltzmann, one of the eminent contributors to the new discipline, confessed in 1895 that, "even the formulation of this concept [of a theoretical physicist] is not entirely without difficulty". 1 Although science had always been divided into theory and experiment, it was only in physics that theoretical work developed into a major research and teaching specialty in its own right. 2 It is true that theoretical physics was mainly a creation of tum of-the century German physics, where it received full institutional recognition, but it is also undeniable that outstanding physicists in other European countries, namely, Ampere, Fourier, and Maxwell, also had an important part in its creation.

Author : Chad Orzel
Publisher : BenBella Books
Page : 337 pages
File Size : 41,8 Mb
Release : 2022-01-25
Category : Science
ISBN : 9781953295606

Get Book

A Brief History of Timekeeping by Chad Orzel Pdf

2022 NATIONAL INDIE EXCELLENCE AWARDS WINNER — HISTORY: GENERAL ". . . inherently interesting, unique, and highly recommended addition to personal, professional, community, college, and academic library Physics of Time & Scientific Measurement history collections, and supplemental curriculum studies lists.” —Midwest Book Review "A wonderful look into understanding and recording time, Orzel’s latest is appropriate for all readers who are curious about those ticks and tocks that mark nearly every aspect of our lives." —Booklist “A thorough, enjoyable exploration of the history and science behind measuring time.” —Foreword Reviews It’s all a matter of time—literally. From the movements of the spheres to the slipperiness of relativity, the story of science unfolds through the fascinating history of humanity’s efforts to keep time. Our modern lives are ruled by clocks and watches, smartphone apps and calendar programs. While our gadgets may be new, however, the drive to measure and master time is anything but—and in A Brief History of Timekeeping, Chad Orzel traces the path from Stonehenge to your smartphone. Predating written language and marching on through human history, the desire for ever-better timekeeping has spurred technological innovation and sparked theories that radically reshaped our understanding of the universe and our place in it. Orzel, a physicist and the bestselling author of Breakfast with Einstein and How to Teach Quantum Physics to Your Dog continues his tradition of demystifying thorny scientific concepts by using the clocks and calendars central to our everyday activities as a jumping-off point to explore the science underlying the ways we keep track of our time. Ancient solstice markers (which still work perfectly 5,000 years later) depend on the basic astrophysics of our solar system; mechanical clocks owe their development to Newtonian physics; and the ultra-precise atomic timekeeping that enables GPS hinges on the predictable oddities of quantum mechanics. Along the way, Orzel visits the delicate negotiations involved in Gregorian calendar reform, the intricate and entirely unique system employed by the Maya, and how the problem of synchronizing clocks at different locations ultimately required us to abandon the idea of time as an absolute and universal quantity. Sharp and engaging, A Brief History of Timekeeping is a story not just about the science of sundials, sandglasses, and mechanical clocks, but also the politics of calendars and time zones, the philosophy of measurement, and the nature of space and time itself. For those interested in science, technology, or history, or anyone who’s ever wondered about the instruments that divide our days into moments: the time you spend reading this book may fly, and it is certain to be well spent.

Author : Isaac Asimov
Publisher : Walker & Company
Page : 762 pages
File Size : 50,7 Mb
Release : 1984
Category : Science
ISBN : 0802707513

Get Book

The History of Physics by Isaac Asimov Pdf

A history of the development of physics from the ancient world to the present includes discussions of motion, gravitation, electrons, and radioactivity