The Oxford Guide To The History Of Physics And Astronomy
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The Oxford Guide to the History of Physics and Astronomy by John L. Heilbron Pdf
With over 150 alphabetically arranged entries about key scientists, concepts, discoveries, technological innovations, and learned institutions, the Oxford Guide to Physics and Astronomy traces the history of physics and astronomy from the Renaissance to the present. For students, teachers, historians, scientists, and readers of popular science books such as Galileo's Daughter, this guide deciphers the methods and philosophies of physics and astronomy as well as the historical periods from which they emerged. Meant to serve the lay reader and the professional alike, this book can be turned to for the answer to how scientists learned to measure the speed of light, or consulted for neat, careful summaries of topics as complicated as quantum field theory and as vast as the universe. The entries, each written by a noted scholar and edited by J. L. Heilbron, Professor of History and Vice Chancellor, Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley, reflect the most up-to-date research and discuss the applications of the scientific disciplines to the wider world of religion, law, war, art and literature. No other source on these two branches of science is as informative or as inviting. Thoroughly cross-referenced and accented by dozens of black and white illustrations, the Oxford Guide to Physics and Astronomy is the source to turn to for anyone looking for a quick explanation of alchemy, x-rays and any type of matter or energy in between.
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.
The Oxford Handbook of the History of Modern Cosmology by Helge Kragh,Malcolm Longair Pdf
Scientific and popular literature on modern cosmology is very extensive; however, scholarly works on the historical development of cosmology are few and scattered. The Oxford Handbook of the History of Modern Cosmology offers a comprehensive and authoritative account of the history of cosmology from the late nineteenth century to the early twenty-first century. It provides historical background to what we know about the universe today, including not only the successes but also the many false starts. Big Bang theory features prominently, but so does the defunct steady state theory. The book starts with a chapter on the pre-Einstein period (1860-1910) and ends with chapters on modern developments such as inflation, dark energy and multiverse hypotheses. The chapters are organized chronologically, with some focusing on theory and others more on observations and technological advances. A few of the chapters discuss more general ideas, relating to larger contexts such as politics, economy, philosophy and world views.
Reader's Guide to the History of Science by Arne Hessenbruch Pdf
The Reader's Guide to the History of Science looks at the literature of science in some 550 entries on individuals (Einstein), institutions and disciplines (Mathematics), general themes (Romantic Science) and central concepts (Paradigm and Fact). The history of science is construed widely to include the history of medicine and technology as is reflected in the range of disciplines from which the international team of 200 contributors are drawn.
Adolphe Quetelet, Social Physics and the Average Men of Science, 1796–1874 by Kevin Donnelly Pdf
Adolphe Quetelet was an influential scientist whose controversial work was condemned by John Stuart Mill and Charles Dickens. He was in contact with many Victorian elite, including Babbage, Herschel and Faraday. This is the first scholarly biography of Quetelet, exploring his contribution to quantitative reasoning and place in intellectual history.
This Book provides new foundations for modern physics and natural philosophy. In the past 100+ years, modern physics has been based on Quantum Concept, Einstein’s Relativity Theory, and three equations (Schroedinger Equation, Klein-Gordon Equation, and Dirac Equation). Relativity Theory not only is melted into the bones of modern sciences, it has also deeply infiltrated liberal arts and philosophical thoughts of several generations. As such, Einstein was regarded world’s greatest scientist in human history. While modern physics has splendid achievements in the past 100 years, it is now at a dead pass, unable to solve many fundamental problems like graviton, strong force, double slit experiments, quantum entanglement, etc.. Worse, the latest astronomical discoveries by the Webb Telescope has brought strong evidences against the Big Bang Theory that is based on General Relativity. As such, the whole modern physics is at jeopardy. Through lifetime pondering and research, the author has found that modern physics is on many shaky grounds and finally rebuilt physics without them. This book is the culmination of his lifetime work, most of its contents are published for the firs time. Chapter 1 provides a brief history of human cognition, and discusses the criteria for discerning truth and fallacy. Chapter 2 rigorously invalidates both Special Relativity and General Relativity from four different grounds, pulling down all existing “evidences” that were claimed to support Relativity Theory. Chapter 3 reviews the fundamental concepts in physics and natural philosophy and makes necessary corrections. Chapter 4 gives a new theory on gravity and gravitons. Chapter 5 re-studies electromagnetics, provides a complex set of Maxwell Equations and a new theory on electromagnetic wave. Chapter 6 provides a new photon theory, which not only satisfies all existing knowledge about photon, but solves the problems of double slit experiment and quantum entanglement successfully. Chapter 7 derives Schroedinger Equation from two basic physics principles and prove that the Schroedinger Wave Function does not represent particle state probability, but its complex electric and magnetic field energies. Error-prong modern physics methods are also criticized. Chapter 8 provides a new particle theory, which not only solves the mystery of proton and neutron, but can successfully construct atoms of large atomic numbers. The new theory also reveals the secrets of strong force and weak force, as well as chemical bonds. Chapter 9 also rebuilds the foundation of thermodynamics by redefining entropy explicitly, so to greatly simplifies the basic thermodynamics equations. Many well-known results in thermodynamic and statistical physics are invalidated. Chapter 10 also rebuilds the foundation of astrophysics. First, the main cause of star’s light spectrum redshift is finally discovered. Second, the basic pressure and temperature equations inside stars are corrected. Third, new theories about stars, galaxies, and universe are provided which are consistent with observations and new physics theories in this book. Fourth, the true energy source in nuclear fission and fusion is discovered. Chapter 11 discusses a few important things about life. Chapter 12 discusses a few things that face human in the near future. Appendix provides a comprehensive discussion on redshifts of star light spectrum, and finally prove that quantum loss redshift is the main cause of star light spectrum redshift. Appendix B proves that if Special Relativity is correct, then General Relativity is not. It also provides a simple, closed form solution for photon’s motion in gravity field. While the author cannot guarantee correctness of everything in the book, the new theories overcome the contradictions of existing ones and explain many more things that existing ones could not. The most important thing is all the theories in the book are mutually consistent and therefore re-enforce each other. As such, the author thinks that the GUT and TOE problems that physicists have dreamed along are now closed.
Mechanics and Thermodynamics by Wolfgang Demtröder Pdf
This introduction to classical mechanics and thermodynamics provides an accessible and clear treatment of the fundamentals. Starting with particle mechanics and an early introduction to special relativity this textbooks enables the reader to understand the basics in mechanics. The text is written from the experimental physics point of view, giving numerous real life examples and applications of classical mechanics in technology. This highly motivating presentation deepens the knowledge in a very accessible way. The second part of the text gives a concise introduction to rotational motion, an expansion to rigid bodies, fluids and gases. Finally, an extensive chapter on thermodynamics and a short introduction to nonlinear dynamics with some instructive examples intensify the knowledge of more advanced topics. Numerous problems with detailed solutions are perfect for self study.
The study of Astrophysics -- understanding the universe in which we live -- has been an exciting field of exploration for centuries. How big is the Universe? How did it start and what is its fate? What's out there in deep space? What are the stars and galaxies made of? What makes them shine? How many planets orbit other stars, and what are their properties? These fundamental questions have occupied peoples' thoughts for generations in an attempt to uncover the mysteries of the Universe. Remarkable discoveries have been made in astrophysics in recent time ranging from the Big Bang and the early Universe, to the Cosmic Microwave Background and its fluctuation spectrum, to measurements of the large-scale structure in the Universe, the existence of Dark Matter and Dark Energy, the discovery of Supermassive Black Holes, and the discovery of planets around other stars. These discoveries have provided some answers to these fundamental questions. Among others, the data revealed a strange Universe dominated by a yet mysterious Dark Energy (~70% by mass) that causes the expansion rate of the Universe to accelerate, followed by a yet undetected exotic (non-baryonic) Dark Matter particles (~25%), with only the remaining ~5% of the universe made up by normal baryonic matter (i.e., stars, galaxies, and gas). New discoveries have also spurred new fundamental questions: What is the nature of the Dark Matter and the Dark Energy? How do planets form around stars? How does life form on planets (the new field of Astro-biology)? How do supermassive black holes form? Observations needed to probe the universe and answer these questions are carried out mostly with telescopes, not only the familiar ones sensitive to optical light rays, but also with instruments designed to receive radio waves, X-rays, and Gamma-rays. Within the solar system, astronomers use space probes. The vast amount of observational detail obtained with these techniques is then interpreted by means of the basic laws of physics. Especially in recent decades, the new tools of radio telescopes on the ground and X-ray, optical, and ultraviolet telescopes in space have permitted us to make the startling discoveries about the heavens mentioned above. In addition, we now know, for example, of dense stars that consist almost entirely of neutrons, with the same amount of material as in the Sun compressed into a sphere only a few miles in diameter, with a resultant density of millions of tons packed into each cubic inch. We find even smaller, more massive, objects -- black holes -- whose gravitational attraction is so great that any light waves from the surface cannot escape but are attracted back. We find that most galaxies contain a supermassive black hole, of many millions or even billions solar masses, at their cores. Gigantic explosions of stars within individual galaxies -- supernovae and gamma-ray bursts -- have been found to radiate as much light as billions of suns. Such explosions have been detected in systems as far out as nearly the edge of the accessible Universe, where stellar systems are moving away from us at close to the speed of light, and from which the light rays we now see were emitted billions of years ago when the Universe was much younger. The Cosmic Microwave Background radiation -- a 3K degree radiation that is a remnant of the hot Big Bang some 14 billion years ago -- has been measured in detail. This radiation is remarkably uniform. However, on top of this highly uniform distribution, the tiny fluctuations that provided the seeds for galaxy and structure formation in the early universe have been detected and carefully mapped, a discovery of great importance for understanding how the structure we see today formed. While such discoveries are fascinating in their own right, they cast light on the fundamental questions that people have been asking since the dawn of mankind about the hidden nature of our Universe.
Considering the development of life on Earth, the existence of life in extreme environments and the potential for life elsewhere in the Universe, this book gives a fascinating insight into our place in the Universe. Chris Impey leads the reader through the history, from the Copernican revolution to the emergence of the field of astrobiology – the study of life in the cosmos. He examines how life on Earth began, exploring its incredible variety and the extreme environments in which it can survive. Finally, Impey turns his attention to our Solar System and the planets beyond, discussing whether there may be life elsewhere in the Universe. Written in non-technical language, this book is ideal for anyone wanting to know more about astrobiology and how it is changing our views of life and the Universe. An accompanying website available at www.cambridge.org/9780521173841 features podcasts, articles and news stories on astrobiology.
The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy by James Evans Pdf
The History and Practice of Ancient Astronomy combines new scholarship with hands-on science to bring readers into direct contact with the work of ancient astronomers. While tracing ideas from ancient Babylon to sixteenth-century Europe, the book places its greatest emphasis on the Greek period, when astronomers developed the geometric and philosophical ideas that have determined the subsequent character of Western astronomy. The author approaches this history through the concrete details of ancient astronomical practice. Carefully organized and generously illustrated, the book can teach readers how to do real astronomy using the methods of ancient astronomers. For example, readers will learn to predict the next retrograde motion of Jupiter using either the arithmetical methods of the Babylonians or the geometric methods of Ptolemy. They will learn how to use an astrolabe and how to design sundials using Greek and Roman techniques. The book also contains supplementary exercises and patterns for making some working astronomical instruments, including an astrolabe and an equatorium. More than a presentation of astronomical methods, the book provides a critical look at the evidence used to reconstruct ancient astronomy. It includes extensive excerpts from ancient texts, meticulous documentation, and lively discussions of the role of astronomy in the various cultures. Accessible to a wide audience, this book will appeal to anyone interested in how our understanding of our place in the universe has changed and developed, from ancient times through the Renaissance.
In this study, Richard Stachurski chronicles the amazing tale of discoveries made by American scientists as they worked to solve the life-threatening quandry faced by mariners of having accurate navigational charts, and to develop a precise method of measuring longitude.