Robert J. Matthys
- Published in print:
- 2004
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198529712
- eISBN:
- 9780191712791
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198529712.001.0001
- Subject:
- Physics, History of Physics
The Shortt clock, made in the 1920s, is the most famous accurate clock pendulum ever known, having an accuracy of one second per year when kept at nearly constant temperature. Almost all of a ...
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The Shortt clock, made in the 1920s, is the most famous accurate clock pendulum ever known, having an accuracy of one second per year when kept at nearly constant temperature. Almost all of a pendulum clock's accuracy resides in its pendulum. If the pendulum is accurate, the clock will be accurate. This book describes many scientific aspects of pendulum design and operation in simple terms with experimental data, and little mathematics. It has been written, looking at all the different parts and aspects of the pendulum in great detail, chapter by chapter, reflecting the degree of attention necessary for making a pendulum run accurately. The topics covered include the dimensional stability of different pendulum materials, good and poor suspension spring designs, the design of mechanical joints and clamps, effect of quartz on accuracy, temperature compensation, air drag of different bob shapes and making a sinusoidal electromagnetic drive. One whole chapter is devoted to simple ways of improving the accuracy of ordinary low-cost pendulum clocks, which have a different construction compared to the more expensive designs of substantially well-made ones. This book will prove invaluable to anyone who wants to know how to make a more accurate pendulum or pendulum clock.Less
The Shortt clock, made in the 1920s, is the most famous accurate clock pendulum ever known, having an accuracy of one second per year when kept at nearly constant temperature. Almost all of a pendulum clock's accuracy resides in its pendulum. If the pendulum is accurate, the clock will be accurate. This book describes many scientific aspects of pendulum design and operation in simple terms with experimental data, and little mathematics. It has been written, looking at all the different parts and aspects of the pendulum in great detail, chapter by chapter, reflecting the degree of attention necessary for making a pendulum run accurately. The topics covered include the dimensional stability of different pendulum materials, good and poor suspension spring designs, the design of mechanical joints and clamps, effect of quartz on accuracy, temperature compensation, air drag of different bob shapes and making a sinusoidal electromagnetic drive. One whole chapter is devoted to simple ways of improving the accuracy of ordinary low-cost pendulum clocks, which have a different construction compared to the more expensive designs of substantially well-made ones. This book will prove invaluable to anyone who wants to know how to make a more accurate pendulum or pendulum clock.
Olivier Darrigol
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- March 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198816171
- eISBN:
- 9780191853661
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198816171.001.0001
- Subject:
- Physics, Atomic, Laser, and Optical Physics, History of Physics
One of the pillars of modern science, statistical mechanics, owes much to one man, the Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann (1844–1906). As a result of his unusual working and writing styles, his ...
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One of the pillars of modern science, statistical mechanics, owes much to one man, the Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann (1844–1906). As a result of his unusual working and writing styles, his enormous contribution remains little read and poorly understood. The purpose of this book is to make the Boltzmann corpus more accessible to physicists, philosophers, and historians, and so give it new life. The means are introductory biographical and historical materials, detailed and lucid summaries of every relevant publication, and a final chapter of critical synthesis. Special attention is given to Boltzmann’s theoretical tool-box and to his patient construction of lofty formal systems, even before their full conceptual import could be known. This constructive tendency largely accounts for his lengthy style, for the abundance of new constructions, for the relative vagueness of their object, and for the puzzlement of commentators. This book will help the reader cross the stylistic barrier and see how ingeniously Boltzmann combined atoms, mechanics, and probability to invent new bridges between the micro- and macro-worlds.Less
One of the pillars of modern science, statistical mechanics, owes much to one man, the Austrian physicist Ludwig Boltzmann (1844–1906). As a result of his unusual working and writing styles, his enormous contribution remains little read and poorly understood. The purpose of this book is to make the Boltzmann corpus more accessible to physicists, philosophers, and historians, and so give it new life. The means are introductory biographical and historical materials, detailed and lucid summaries of every relevant publication, and a final chapter of critical synthesis. Special attention is given to Boltzmann’s theoretical tool-box and to his patient construction of lofty formal systems, even before their full conceptual import could be known. This constructive tendency largely accounts for his lengthy style, for the abundance of new constructions, for the relative vagueness of their object, and for the puzzlement of commentators. This book will help the reader cross the stylistic barrier and see how ingeniously Boltzmann combined atoms, mechanics, and probability to invent new bridges between the micro- and macro-worlds.
Michael Silberstein, W.M. Stuckey, and Timothy McDevitt
- Published in print:
- 2018
- Published Online:
- March 2018
- ISBN:
- 9780198807087
- eISBN:
- 9780191844850
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oso/9780198807087.001.0001
- Subject:
- Physics, Theoretical, Computational, and Statistical Physics, History of Physics
Theoretical physics and foundations of physics have not made much progress in the last few decades. There is no consensus among researchers on how to approach unifying general relativity and quantum ...
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Theoretical physics and foundations of physics have not made much progress in the last few decades. There is no consensus among researchers on how to approach unifying general relativity and quantum field theory (quantum gravity), explaining so-called dark energy and dark matter (cosmology), or the interpretation and implications of quantum mechanics and relativity. In addition, both fields are deeply puzzled about various facets of time including, above all, time as experienced. This book argues that this impasse is the result of the “dynamical universe paradigm,” the idea that reality fundamentally comprises physical entities that evolve in time from some initial state according to dynamical laws. Thus, in the dynamical universe, the initial conditions plus the dynamical laws explain everything else going exclusively forward in time. In cosmology, for example, the initial conditions reside in the Big Bang and the dynamical law is supplied by general relativity. Accordingly, the present state of the universe is explained exclusively by its past. A completely new paradigm (called Relational Blockworld) is offered here whereby the past, present, and future co-determine each other via “adynamical global constraints,” such as the least action principle. Accordingly, the future is just as important for explaining the present as the past is. Most of the book is devoted to showing how Relational Blockworld resolves many of the current conundrums of both theoretical physics and foundations of physics, including the mystery of time as experienced and how that experience relates to the block universe.Less
Theoretical physics and foundations of physics have not made much progress in the last few decades. There is no consensus among researchers on how to approach unifying general relativity and quantum field theory (quantum gravity), explaining so-called dark energy and dark matter (cosmology), or the interpretation and implications of quantum mechanics and relativity. In addition, both fields are deeply puzzled about various facets of time including, above all, time as experienced. This book argues that this impasse is the result of the “dynamical universe paradigm,” the idea that reality fundamentally comprises physical entities that evolve in time from some initial state according to dynamical laws. Thus, in the dynamical universe, the initial conditions plus the dynamical laws explain everything else going exclusively forward in time. In cosmology, for example, the initial conditions reside in the Big Bang and the dynamical law is supplied by general relativity. Accordingly, the present state of the universe is explained exclusively by its past. A completely new paradigm (called Relational Blockworld) is offered here whereby the past, present, and future co-determine each other via “adynamical global constraints,” such as the least action principle. Accordingly, the future is just as important for explaining the present as the past is. Most of the book is devoted to showing how Relational Blockworld resolves many of the current conundrums of both theoretical physics and foundations of physics, including the mystery of time as experienced and how that experience relates to the block universe.
István Hargittai and Magdolna Hargittai
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- April 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198719076
- eISBN:
- 9780191788420
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198719076.001.0001
- Subject:
- Physics, History of Physics
This guidebook introduces the reader—the scientific tourist and others—to the visible memorabilia of science and scientists in Budapest—statues, busts, plaques, buildings, and other artefacts. ...
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This guidebook introduces the reader—the scientific tourist and others—to the visible memorabilia of science and scientists in Budapest—statues, busts, plaques, buildings, and other artefacts. According to the Hungarian–American Nobel laureate Albert Szent-Györgyi, this metropolis at the crossroads of Europe has a special atmosphere of respect for science. It has been the venue of numerous scientific achievements and the cradle, literally, of many individuals who in Hungary, and even more beyond its borders became world-renowned contributors to science and culture. Six of the eight chapters of the book cover the Hungarian Nobel laureates, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the university, the medical school, agricultural sciences, and technology and engineering. One chapter is about selected gimnáziums from which seven Nobel laureates (Szent-Györgyi, de Hevesy, Wigner, Gabor, Harsanyi, Olah, and Kertész) and the five “Martians of Science” (von Kármán, Szilard, Wigner, von Neumann, and Teller) had graduated. The concluding chapter is devoted to scientist martyrs of the Holocaust. A special feature in surveying Hungarian science is the contributions of scientists that left their homeland before their careers blossomed and made their seminal discoveries elsewhere, especially in Great Britain and the United States. The book covers the memorabilia referring to both émigré scientists and those that remained in Hungary.Less
This guidebook introduces the reader—the scientific tourist and others—to the visible memorabilia of science and scientists in Budapest—statues, busts, plaques, buildings, and other artefacts. According to the Hungarian–American Nobel laureate Albert Szent-Györgyi, this metropolis at the crossroads of Europe has a special atmosphere of respect for science. It has been the venue of numerous scientific achievements and the cradle, literally, of many individuals who in Hungary, and even more beyond its borders became world-renowned contributors to science and culture. Six of the eight chapters of the book cover the Hungarian Nobel laureates, the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, the university, the medical school, agricultural sciences, and technology and engineering. One chapter is about selected gimnáziums from which seven Nobel laureates (Szent-Györgyi, de Hevesy, Wigner, Gabor, Harsanyi, Olah, and Kertész) and the five “Martians of Science” (von Kármán, Szilard, Wigner, von Neumann, and Teller) had graduated. The concluding chapter is devoted to scientist martyrs of the Holocaust. A special feature in surveying Hungarian science is the contributions of scientists that left their homeland before their careers blossomed and made their seminal discoveries elsewhere, especially in Great Britain and the United States. The book covers the memorabilia referring to both émigré scientists and those that remained in Hungary.
George Basalla
- Published in print:
- 2006
- Published Online:
- September 2007
- ISBN:
- 9780195171815
- eISBN:
- 9780199786862
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780195171815.001.0001
- Subject:
- Physics, History of Physics
This book records the long scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Although philosophical speculation about alien civilizations dates to antiquity, the invention of the telescope ...
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This book records the long scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Although philosophical speculation about alien civilizations dates to antiquity, the invention of the telescope in the 17th century inspired scientists like Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, René Descartes, and Christiaan Huygens to consider the possibility of intelligent creatures living on the Moon or on the planets of our solar system. By the late 19th century, Mars became the focus of attention for astronomers searching for civilized life near the earth. The belief that Mars contained a superior civilization capable of building a global system of irrigation canals on the planet was supported by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli and the American Percival Lowell. In the 1960s and 1970s, data gathered by Soviet and American spacecraft challenged the assumption that Mars was the habitat for life of any sort. As the hunt for alien civilizations in the solar system waned, a new search began for signs of intelligent life in remote parts of the universe. This search used radio telescopes to scan the skies for any messages transmitted to earth by advanced extraterrestrial civilizations. Distinguished modern astronomers and physicists — Frank Drake, Philip Morrison, Carl Sagan — were convinced that electronic technology would allow contact with civilizations located many light years from earth. Unfortunately, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence was compromised by anthropomorphism (attributing human qualities to alien life and culture) and by an unconscious religious outlook that the superior beings living in outer space would help solve pressing social, economic, and technological problems.Less
This book records the long scientific search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI). Although philosophical speculation about alien civilizations dates to antiquity, the invention of the telescope in the 17th century inspired scientists like Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, René Descartes, and Christiaan Huygens to consider the possibility of intelligent creatures living on the Moon or on the planets of our solar system. By the late 19th century, Mars became the focus of attention for astronomers searching for civilized life near the earth. The belief that Mars contained a superior civilization capable of building a global system of irrigation canals on the planet was supported by the Italian astronomer Giovanni Schiaparelli and the American Percival Lowell. In the 1960s and 1970s, data gathered by Soviet and American spacecraft challenged the assumption that Mars was the habitat for life of any sort. As the hunt for alien civilizations in the solar system waned, a new search began for signs of intelligent life in remote parts of the universe. This search used radio telescopes to scan the skies for any messages transmitted to earth by advanced extraterrestrial civilizations. Distinguished modern astronomers and physicists — Frank Drake, Philip Morrison, Carl Sagan — were convinced that electronic technology would allow contact with civilizations located many light years from earth. Unfortunately, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence was compromised by anthropomorphism (attributing human qualities to alien life and culture) and by an unconscious religious outlook that the superior beings living in outer space would help solve pressing social, economic, and technological problems.
Jagdish Mehra and Kimball Milton
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- February 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198527459
- eISBN:
- 9780191709593
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198527459.001.0001
- Subject:
- Physics, History of Physics
Julian Schwinger was one of the leading theoretical physicists of the 20th century. His contributions are as important, and as pervasive, as those of Richard Feynman, with whom he shared the 1965 ...
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Julian Schwinger was one of the leading theoretical physicists of the 20th century. His contributions are as important, and as pervasive, as those of Richard Feynman, with whom he shared the 1965 Nobel Prize for Physics (along with Sin-itiro Tomonaga). Yet, while Feynman is universally recognised as a cultural icon, Schwinger is little known to many even within the physics community. In his youth, Schwinger was a nuclear physicist, turning to classical electrodynamics after World War II. In the years after the war, he was the first to renormalise quantum electrodynamics. Subsequently, he presented the most complete formulation of quantum field theory and laid the foundations for the electroweak synthesis of Sheldon Glashow, Steven Weinberg, and Abdus Salam, and he made fundamental contributions to the theory of nuclear magnetic resonance as well as many-body theory and quantum optics. Schwinger also developed a unique approach to quantum mechanics, measurement algebra, and a general quantum action principle. His discoveries include ‘Feynman's’ parameters and ‘Glauber's’ coherent states; in later years he also developed an alternative to operator quantum field theory which he called source theory, reflecting his profound phenomenological bent. His late work on the Thomas-Fermi model of atoms and on the Casimir effect continues to be an inspiration to a new generation of physicists. This first full-length biography describes the many strands of his research life, while tracing the personal life of this private and gentle genius.Less
Julian Schwinger was one of the leading theoretical physicists of the 20th century. His contributions are as important, and as pervasive, as those of Richard Feynman, with whom he shared the 1965 Nobel Prize for Physics (along with Sin-itiro Tomonaga). Yet, while Feynman is universally recognised as a cultural icon, Schwinger is little known to many even within the physics community. In his youth, Schwinger was a nuclear physicist, turning to classical electrodynamics after World War II. In the years after the war, he was the first to renormalise quantum electrodynamics. Subsequently, he presented the most complete formulation of quantum field theory and laid the foundations for the electroweak synthesis of Sheldon Glashow, Steven Weinberg, and Abdus Salam, and he made fundamental contributions to the theory of nuclear magnetic resonance as well as many-body theory and quantum optics. Schwinger also developed a unique approach to quantum mechanics, measurement algebra, and a general quantum action principle. His discoveries include ‘Feynman's’ parameters and ‘Glauber's’ coherent states; in later years he also developed an alternative to operator quantum field theory which he called source theory, reflecting his profound phenomenological bent. His late work on the Thomas-Fermi model of atoms and on the Casimir effect continues to be an inspiration to a new generation of physicists. This first full-length biography describes the many strands of his research life, while tracing the personal life of this private and gentle genius.
Gordon Fraser
- Published in print:
- 2008
- Published Online:
- September 2008
- ISBN:
- 9780199208463
- eISBN:
- 9780191708954
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199208463.001.0001
- Subject:
- Physics, History of Physics
This book presents a biography of Abdus Salam, the first Muslim to win a Nobel Prize for Science (Physics 1979), who was nevertheless excommunicated and branded as a heretic in his own country. His ...
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This book presents a biography of Abdus Salam, the first Muslim to win a Nobel Prize for Science (Physics 1979), who was nevertheless excommunicated and branded as a heretic in his own country. His achievements are often overlooked, even besmirched. Realizing that the whole world had to be his stage, he pioneered the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, a vital focus of Third World science which remains as his monument. A staunch Muslim, he was ashamed of the decline of science in the heritage of Islam, and struggled doggedly to restore it to its former glory. Undermined by his excommunication, these valiant efforts were doomed.Less
This book presents a biography of Abdus Salam, the first Muslim to win a Nobel Prize for Science (Physics 1979), who was nevertheless excommunicated and branded as a heretic in his own country. His achievements are often overlooked, even besmirched. Realizing that the whole world had to be his stage, he pioneered the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, a vital focus of Third World science which remains as his monument. A staunch Muslim, he was ashamed of the decline of science in the heritage of Islam, and struggled doggedly to restore it to its former glory. Undermined by his excommunication, these valiant efforts were doomed.
A.M. Glazer and Patience Thomson (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198744306
- eISBN:
- 9780191805721
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198744306.001.0001
- Subject:
- Physics, Crystallography, History of Physics
This book takes you behind the scenes in the life of one of the most prominent scientists of the twentieth century, William Lawrence Bragg (WLB). He was an innovative genius who, together with his ...
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This book takes you behind the scenes in the life of one of the most prominent scientists of the twentieth century, William Lawrence Bragg (WLB). He was an innovative genius who, together with his father, William Henry Bragg, founded and developed X-ray crystallography and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1915. The main body of the book contains the hitherto unpublished autobiographies of both WLB and his wife, Alice, who was a public figure in her own right as Mayor of Cambridge and as National Chairman of Marriage Guidance, among other roles. She and WLB were as different as chalk and cheese. Together, their autobiographies give a rounded picture of the real personalities behind their public appearance. They write of their travels, their family life, their friends and their joys and sorrows; but, most of all, they write about each other. The first chapter, written by their younger daughter, uses anecdotes and vignettes to bring her parents to life and includes extracts from previously unpublished letters and from articles which Alice Bragg (née Hopkinson) wrote for national newspapers.Less
This book takes you behind the scenes in the life of one of the most prominent scientists of the twentieth century, William Lawrence Bragg (WLB). He was an innovative genius who, together with his father, William Henry Bragg, founded and developed X-ray crystallography and was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1915. The main body of the book contains the hitherto unpublished autobiographies of both WLB and his wife, Alice, who was a public figure in her own right as Mayor of Cambridge and as National Chairman of Marriage Guidance, among other roles. She and WLB were as different as chalk and cheese. Together, their autobiographies give a rounded picture of the real personalities behind their public appearance. They write of their travels, their family life, their friends and their joys and sorrows; but, most of all, they write about each other. The first chapter, written by their younger daughter, uses anecdotes and vignettes to bring her parents to life and includes extracts from previously unpublished letters and from articles which Alice Bragg (née Hopkinson) wrote for national newspapers.
Trevor H. Levere and Gerard L'E Turner (eds)
- Published in print:
- 2002
- Published Online:
- January 2010
- ISBN:
- 9780198515302
- eISBN:
- 9780191705694
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198515302.001.0001
- Subject:
- Physics, History of Physics
This book contains an edition of the Minutes of the Coffee House Philosophical Society 1780-1787, as transcribed by William Nicholson, the secretary to the society. The 1780s were exciting years for ...
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This book contains an edition of the Minutes of the Coffee House Philosophical Society 1780-1787, as transcribed by William Nicholson, the secretary to the society. The 1780s were exciting years for science and its applications, and experimental philosophy and industrial development were closely interwoven. This coffee house society gave a group of natural philosophers the opportunity to discuss the topics that most interested them. The minutes themselves, unique in their completeness, constitute a continuous record of the fortnightly meetings of a group of leading natural philosophers, instrument makers, physicians, and industrialist entrepreneurs. In addition to a fully edited edition of the Minute book, and brief biographies of all the members, the book includes essays by Jan Golinski on the members' discussion about phlogiston and other issues relating to the chemical revolution, and by Larry Stewart on the reforming, radical, and industrial contexts of the networks to which the members belonged. One standard criticism of English science in the late 18th century is its isolation from the rest of Europe. These minutes offer a very different picture. The members, with Irish chemist Richard Kirwan taking the most active role, discussed current issues in science and reported on scientific and industrial advances from across Europe, and even from Hudson's Bay, showing early English awareness of the latest developments. The Minute book gives a sense of history at a particular period, and is invaluable to all historians, whatever their specialism.Less
This book contains an edition of the Minutes of the Coffee House Philosophical Society 1780-1787, as transcribed by William Nicholson, the secretary to the society. The 1780s were exciting years for science and its applications, and experimental philosophy and industrial development were closely interwoven. This coffee house society gave a group of natural philosophers the opportunity to discuss the topics that most interested them. The minutes themselves, unique in their completeness, constitute a continuous record of the fortnightly meetings of a group of leading natural philosophers, instrument makers, physicians, and industrialist entrepreneurs. In addition to a fully edited edition of the Minute book, and brief biographies of all the members, the book includes essays by Jan Golinski on the members' discussion about phlogiston and other issues relating to the chemical revolution, and by Larry Stewart on the reforming, radical, and industrial contexts of the networks to which the members belonged. One standard criticism of English science in the late 18th century is its isolation from the rest of Europe. These minutes offer a very different picture. The members, with Irish chemist Richard Kirwan taking the most active role, discussed current issues in science and reported on scientific and industrial advances from across Europe, and even from Hudson's Bay, showing early English awareness of the latest developments. The Minute book gives a sense of history at a particular period, and is invaluable to all historians, whatever their specialism.
Jennifer Coopersmith
- Published in print:
- 2015
- Published Online:
- August 2015
- ISBN:
- 9780198716747
- eISBN:
- 9780191800955
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198716747.001.0001
- Subject:
- Physics, Particle Physics / Astrophysics / Cosmology, History of Physics
Energy is explained through its history. Newton missed ‘energy’, Leibniz defined kinetic energy, and potential energy emerged from ideas about stored ‘live force’, the concept of ‘work’, analyses of ...
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Energy is explained through its history. Newton missed ‘energy’, Leibniz defined kinetic energy, and potential energy emerged from ideas about stored ‘live force’, the concept of ‘work’, analyses of vibrating strings, the figure of the Earth, and so forth. The Principles of Virtual Work, Least Action, and D’Alembert underpinned Lagrange’s Analytical Mechanics. Daniel Bernoulli appreciated energy-in-the-round, and quantified the ‘live force’ in coal. Rumford’s experiments on canon-boring showed an ‘inexhaustible’ source of frictional heating, but didn’t immediately topple caloric theory. Clairaut, Laplace, and Green founded potential function theory. Hamilton brought in the ‘Hamiltonian’, and his approach led into Schrödinger’s wave mechanics. Carnot defined an ideal heat-engine (Carnot cycle) and realized temperature was the parameter. Watt’s steam engine started the Industrial Revolution, but why was it discovered in just one place, at one time? Mayer and Joule crossed the ‘category error’, merging mechanics and heat. Helmholtz invoked Kantian ‘cause equals effect’ to justify conservation of ‘energy’. Maxwell was the first to use probability theory in physics; Boltzmann posited discrete energy levels. The Maxwell–Boltzmann kinetic theory brought in a deeper understanding of energy. Clausius and Thomson (Kelvin) discovered the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics. Einstein’s Principle of Relativity led to the famous E = mc2. The force and energy views are compared, and difficult questions are examined: why are there two forms of energy–kinetic and potential–and is one more fundamental? Why does kinetic energy have the form 1/2mv2? What are action, temperature, and the Hamiltonian? What is energy?Less
Energy is explained through its history. Newton missed ‘energy’, Leibniz defined kinetic energy, and potential energy emerged from ideas about stored ‘live force’, the concept of ‘work’, analyses of vibrating strings, the figure of the Earth, and so forth. The Principles of Virtual Work, Least Action, and D’Alembert underpinned Lagrange’s Analytical Mechanics. Daniel Bernoulli appreciated energy-in-the-round, and quantified the ‘live force’ in coal. Rumford’s experiments on canon-boring showed an ‘inexhaustible’ source of frictional heating, but didn’t immediately topple caloric theory. Clairaut, Laplace, and Green founded potential function theory. Hamilton brought in the ‘Hamiltonian’, and his approach led into Schrödinger’s wave mechanics. Carnot defined an ideal heat-engine (Carnot cycle) and realized temperature was the parameter. Watt’s steam engine started the Industrial Revolution, but why was it discovered in just one place, at one time? Mayer and Joule crossed the ‘category error’, merging mechanics and heat. Helmholtz invoked Kantian ‘cause equals effect’ to justify conservation of ‘energy’. Maxwell was the first to use probability theory in physics; Boltzmann posited discrete energy levels. The Maxwell–Boltzmann kinetic theory brought in a deeper understanding of energy. Clausius and Thomson (Kelvin) discovered the First and Second Laws of Thermodynamics. Einstein’s Principle of Relativity led to the famous E = mc2. The force and energy views are compared, and difficult questions are examined: why are there two forms of energy–kinetic and potential–and is one more fundamental? Why does kinetic energy have the form 1/2mv2? What are action, temperature, and the Hamiltonian? What is energy?
“A Gentleman and an Officer”
‘A Nation of Beggars’?
The A Priori in Philosophy
A. J. Appasamy and his Reading of Rāmānuja
A. J. Tomlinson
Aaron Hill
The Abbey Theatre, 1899-1999
The Abbots and Priors of Late Medieval and Reformation England
Abelard and Heloise
