Gustav Robert Kirchhoff's Treatise "On The Theory Of Light Rays" (1882): English Translation, Analysis And Commentary
Gustav Robert Kirchhoff's Treatise

Author: Klaus Hentschel

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2016-08-25

Total Pages: 166

ISBN-13: 9813147164

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'Although the editors admit that they cannot present an unequivocal explanation for the strange resilience of Kirchhoff’s flawed theory, their book is an admirable effort to meet this challenge … It is a concerted effort to resolve a persistent riddle in the history of physics — and an example of how expert knowledge from different specialties may be focused on a target of common interest.'ISIS JournalThe 1882 paper by the mathematical physicist Gustav Robert Kirchhoff on diffraction theory is still being discussed to this day, but has never been translated into English. This volume contains the first English translation of the Kirchhoff treatise, as well as background and commentary on it. Included are a biographical introduction to Kirchhoff's life, an analysis of the reception to Kirchhoff's paper through the ages, a discussion on why Kirchhoff's theory manages to produce accurate predictions in spite of being 'wrong', and views on the theory as well as its predecessor and subsequent developments. This anthology will make all English-speaking scientists, engineers, historians, and interested laymen aware of the great fecundity of Kirchhoff's thought and historical context.

Gustav Robert Kirchhoff's Treatise "On the Theory of Light Rays" (1882)
Gustav Robert Kirchhoff's Treatise

Author: G. Kirchhoff

Publisher: World Scientific Publishing Company

Published: 2016-08-25

Total Pages: 155

ISBN-13: 9789813147133

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The 1882 paper by the mathematical physicist Gustav Robert Kirchhoff on diffraction theory is still being discussed to this day, but has never been translated into English. This volume contains the first English translation of the Kirchhoff treatise, as well as background and commentary on it. Included are a biographical introduction to Kirchhoff's life, an analysis of the reception to Kirchhoff's paper through the ages, a discussion on why Kirchhoff's theory manages to produce accurate predictions in spite of being "wrong," and views on the theory as well as its predecessor and subsequent developments. This anthology will make all English-speaking scientists, engineers, historians, and interested laymen aware of the great fecundity of Kirchhoff's thought and historical context.

The Human Cosmos
The Human Cosmos

Author: Jo Marchant

Publisher: Penguin

Published: 2021-09-07

Total Pages: 401

ISBN-13: 0593183045

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A Best Book of 2020 (NPR) A Best Book of 2020 (The Economist) A Top Ten Best Science Book of 2020 (Smithsonian) A Best Science and Technology Book of 2020 (Library Journal) A Must-Read Book to Escape the Chaos of 2020 (Newsweek) Starred review (Booklist) Starred review (Publishers Weekly) A historically unprecedented disconnect between humanity and the heavens has opened. Jo Marchant's book can begin to heal it. For at least 20,000 years, we have led not just an earthly existence but a cosmic one. Celestial cycles drove every aspect of our daily lives. Our innate relationship with the stars shaped who we are—our art, religious beliefs, social status, scientific advances, and even our biology. But over the last few centuries we have separated ourselves from the universe that surrounds us. It's a disconnect with a dire cost. Our relationship to the stars and planets has moved from one of awe, wonder and superstition to one where technology is king—the cosmos is now explored through data on our screens, not by the naked eye observing the natural world. Indeed, in most countries, modern light pollution obscures much of the night sky from view. Jo Marchant's spellbinding parade of the ways different cultures celebrated the majesty and mysteries of the night sky is a journey to the most awe-inspiring view you can ever see: looking up on a clear dark night. That experience and the thoughts it has engendered have radically shaped human civilization across millennia. The cosmos is the source of our greatest creativity in art, in science, in life. To show us how, Jo Marchant takes us to the Hall of the Bulls in the caves at Lascaux in France, and to the summer solstice at a 5,000-year-old tomb at Newgrange, Ireland. We discover Chumash cosmology and visit medieval monks grappling with the nature of time and Tahitian sailors navigating by the stars. We discover how light reveals the chemical composition of the sun, and we are with Einstein as he works out that space and time are one and the same. A four-billion-year-old meteor inspires a search for extraterrestrial life. The cosmically liberating, summary revelation is that star-gazing made us human.

Photons
Photons

Author: Klaus Hentschel

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2018-08-16

Total Pages: 239

ISBN-13: 3319952528

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This book focuses on the gradual formation of the concept of ‘light quanta’ or ‘photons’, as they have usually been called in English since 1926. The great number of synonyms that have been used by physicists to denote this concept indicates that there are many different mental models of what ‘light quanta’ are: simply finite, ‘quantized packages of energy’ or ‘bullets of light’? ‘Atoms of light’ or ‘molecules of light’? ‘Light corpuscles’ or ‘quantized waves’? Singularities of the field or spatially extended structures able to interfere? ‘Photons’ in G.N. Lewis’s sense, or as defined by QED, i.e. virtual exchange particles transmitting the electromagnetic force? The term ‘light quantum’ made its first appearance in Albert Einstein’s 1905 paper on a “heuristic point of view” to cope with the photoelectric effect and other forms of interaction of light and matter, but the mental model associated with it has a rich history both before and after 1905. Some of its semantic layers go as far back as Newton and Kepler, some are only fully expressed several decades later, while others initially increased in importance then diminished and finally vanished. In conjunction with these various terms, several mental models of light quanta were developed—six of them are explored more closely in this book. It discusses two historiographic approaches to the problem of concept formation: (a) the author’s own model of conceptual development as a series of semantic accretions and (b) Mark Turner’s model of ‘conceptual blending’. Both of these models are shown to be useful and should be explored further. This is the first historiographically sophisticated history of the fully fledged concept and all of its twelve semantic layers. It systematically combines the history of science with the history of terms and a philosophically inspired history of ideas in conjunction with insights from cognitive science.

The Routledge Handbook of Scientific Realism
The Routledge Handbook of Scientific Realism

Author: Juha Saatsi

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-11-22

Total Pages: 456

ISBN-13: 1351362917

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Scientific realism is a central, long-standing, and hotly debated topic in philosophy of science. Debates about scientific realism concern the very nature and extent of scientific knowledge and progress. Scientific realists defend a positive epistemic attitude towards our best theories and models regarding how they represent the world that is unobservable to our naked senses. Various realist theses are under sceptical fire from scientific antirealists, e.g. empiricists and instrumentalists. The different dimensions of the ensuing debate centrally connect to numerous other topics in philosophy of science and beyond. The Routledge Handbook of Scientific Realism is an outstanding reference source – the first collection of its kind – to the key issues, positions, and arguments in this important topic. Its thirty-four chapters, written by a team of international experts, are divided into five parts: Historical development of the realist stance Classic debate: core issues and positions Perspectives on contemporary debates The realism debate in disciplinary context Broader reflections In these sections, the core issues and debates presented, analysed, and set into broader historical and disciplinary contexts. The central issues covered include motivations and arguments for realism; challenges to realism from underdetermination and history of science; different variants of realism; the connection of realism to relativism and perspectivism; and the relationship between realism, metaphysics, and epistemology. The Routledge Handbook of Scientific Realism is essential reading for students and researchers in philosophy of science. It will also be very useful for anyone interested in the nature and extent of scientific knowledge.

Progress in Physics, vol. 3/2008
Progress in Physics, vol. 3/2008

Author: Dmitri Rabounski

Publisher: Infinite Study

Published:

Total Pages: 97

ISBN-13:

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Progress in Physics has been created for publications on advanced studies in theoretical and experimental physics, including related themes from mathematics.

To Light Such a Candle
To Light Such a Candle

Author: Keith James Laidler

Publisher:

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 410

ISBN-13:

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In To light such a candle, renowned chemist and science historian Keith Laidler examines the progress of science and technology over the centuries, tracing the often separate paths of these pursuits, showing how they have ultimately worked together to transform everyday life. Faraday's pure research on electricity, for example, had immense technological implications, while Maxwell's theory of electromagnetic radiation led directly to the discovery of radio transmission, something of which Maxwell himself had no conception. Conversely, the early steam engines were by no means science-based, but they led directly to the science of thermodynamics, one of the most fundamental branches of pure science. Illuminated by many fascinating stories from the history of science, this book provides a powerful argument for the relevance of pure research, and gives the general reader and scientist alike an idea of the nature and importance of the links between science and technology.

Understanding Inconsistent Science
Understanding Inconsistent Science

Author: Peter Vickers

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2013-08-22

Total Pages: 286

ISBN-13: 0199692025

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Peter Vickers examines 'inconsistent theories' in the history of science—theories which, though contradictory, are held to be extremely useful. He argues that these 'theories' are actually significantly different entities, and warns that the traditional goal of philosophy to make substantial, general claims about how science works is misguided.