``Nuclear Physics'' deals with Bohr's work on nuclear physics which began in the pre-1932 days with his thinking deeply, but inconclusively about the seeming contradictions then presented by the evidence about the nucleus. In 1936, Bohr recognised and described the insights provided by neutron scattering experiments; the excitement of this new understanding and its extension and consolidation occupied much of the subsequent years. In 1939, he was again first in understanding the essential features of the newly discovered phenomenon of fission, applying successfully the point of view of nuclear reactions which he had developed over the past three years. Later, in 1949-50, he was impressed by the success of the nuclear shell model, which on the face of it seemed hard to reconcile with the picture of the closely interacting nucleons which he had pioneered in 1936. Bohr put much effort into clarifying this paradox.
This book is a collection of the major scientific papers of Sir Rudolf Peierls (1907-95), including the Peierls-Frisch Memoranda of 1940 on the feasibility, and the predicted human effects, of an atomic bomb made of uranium-235. His papers range widely in topic. They include much on the fundamentals of solid state physics, the thermal and electric conductivity of materials as a function of temperature T (especially T→0), the interpretation of the de Haas-van Alphen effect observed for a metal in a magnetic field, and the basics of transport theory. Many are on problems in statistical mechanics, including his constructive paper demonstrating the existence of a phase transition for Ising's model for a two-dimensional ferromagnet. In nuclear physics, they include the first calculations (with Bethe) on the photo-disintegration of the deuteron (made in response to a challenge by Chadwick), the Kapur-Peierls theory of resonance phenomena in nuclear reactions, the Bohr-Peierls-Placzek continuum model for complex nuclei (which first explained the narrow resonances observed for low energy neutrons incident on very heavy nuclei), and the Peierls-Thouless variational approach to collective phenomena in nuclei. Several of Peierls's wartime papers, now declassified, are here published for the first time.Brief commentaries on most of the papers in this book were added by Peierls, to indicate subsequent developments and their relationship with other work, or to correct errors found later on. A complete bibliography of his writings is given as an appendix.
This edition of the private and scientific correspondence of Sir Rudolf Peierls gives a unique insight into the life and work of one of the greatest theoretical physicists of the 20th century. Rudolf Peierls'' scientific work contributed to the early developments in quantum mechanics, and he is well known and much appreciated for his contributions to various disciplines, including solid state physics, nuclear physics, and particle physics. As an enthusiastic and devoted teacher, he passed on his knowledge and understanding and inspired the work of collaborators and students alike. As an effective administrator he was responsible, almost single-handedly, for the establishment of an outstanding successful centre of theoretical physics in Birmingham, and later contributed much to theoretical physics in Oxford.
This book is a collection of the major scientific papers of Sir Rudolf Peierls (1907-95), including the Peierls-Frisch Memoranda of 1940 on the feasibility, and the predicted human effects, of an atomic bomb made of uranium-235. His papers range widely in topic. They include much on the fundamentals of solid state physics, the thermal and electric conductivity of materials as a function of temperature T (especially T→0), the interpretation of the de Haas-van Alphen effect observed for a metal in a magnetic field, and the basics of transport theory. Many are on problems in statistical mechanics, including his constructive paper demonstrating the existence of a phase transition for Ising's model for a two-dimensional ferromagnet. In nuclear physics, they include the first calculations (with Bethe) on the photo-disintegration of the deuteron (made in response to a challenge by Chadwick), the Kapur-Peierls theory of resonance phenomena in nuclear reactions, the Bohr-Peierls-Placzek continuum model for complex nuclei (which first explained the narrow resonances observed for low energy neutrons incident on very heavy nuclei), and the Peierls-Thouless variational approach to collective phenomena in nuclei. Several of Peierls's wartime papers, now declassified, are here published for the first time.Brief commentaries on most of the papers in this book were added by Peierls, to indicate subsequent developments and their relationship with other work, or to correct errors found later on. A complete bibliography of his writings is given as an appendix.
This edition of the private and scientific correspondence of Sir Rudolf Peierls gives a unique insight into the life and work of one of the greatest theoretical physicists of the 20th century. Rudolf Peierls' scientific work contributed to the early developments in quantum mechanics, and he is well known and much appreciated for his contributions to various disciplines, including solid state physics, nuclear physics, and particle physics. As an enthusiastic and devoted teacher, he passed on his knowledge and understanding and inspired the work of collaborators and students alike. As an effective administrator he was responsible, almost single-handedly, for the establishment of an outstanding successful centre of theoretical physics in Birmingham, and later contributed much to theoretical physics in Oxford.A meticulous collector of correspondence, Sir Rudolf left a fascinating collection of letters, in some cases spanning more than seven decades. This collection includes correspondence with his parents, his wife, the Russian-born physicist Genia Kannegieser, life-long friends such as Hans Bethe, and many great physicists, including Wolfgang Pauli, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Lev Landau, and George Placzek, to name but a few.The second volume, which covers the years 1945 to 1995, contains fascinating documents from the early postwar period, when Peierls, like many of his colleagues elsewhere, attempted to rebuild academic life in the aftermath of the Second World War. Materials from the 1950s provide evidence for the significance of the research undertaken by Peierls' group at Birmingham, and for the positive impact of his determined implementation of international exchange on the development of theoretical physics. Later documents illustrate the role played by Peierls in nuclear disarmament, and as a link between East and West through his own personal contacts and within international organisations such as the Pugwash Movement. The extensive apparatus provides an invaluable background which allows the reader to put the documents into their multi-faceted social, political and scientific context.
On the fiftieth anniversary of Hiroshima, Nobel-winning physicist Hans Bethe called on his fellow scientists to stop working on weapons of mass destruction. What drove Bethe, the head of Theoretical Physics at Los Alamos during the Manhattan Project, to renounce the weaponry he had once worked so tirelessly to create? That is one of the questions answered by Nuclear Forces, a riveting biography of Bethe’s early life and development as both a scientist and a man of principle. As Silvan Schweber follows Bethe from his childhood in Germany, to laboratories in Italy and England, and on to Cornell University, he shows how these differing environments were reflected in the kind of physics Bethe produced. Many of the young quantum physicists in the 1930s, including Bethe, had Jewish roots, and Schweber considers how Liberal Judaism in Germany helps explain their remarkable contributions. A portrait emerges of a man whose strategy for staying on top of a deeply hierarchical field was to tackle only those problems he knew he could solve. Bethe’s emotional maturation was shaped by his father and by two women of Jewish background: his overly possessive mother and his wife, who would later serve as an ethical touchstone during the turbulent years he spent designing nuclear bombs. Situating Bethe in the context of the various communities where he worked, Schweber provides a full picture of prewar developments in physics that changed the modern world, and of a scientist shaped by the unprecedented moral dilemmas those developments in turn created.
Since the Niels Bohr centenary of 1985 there has been an astonishing international surge of scholarly analyses of Bohr's philosophy. Now for the first time in Niels Bohr and Contemporary Philosophy Jan Faye and Henry Folse have brought together sixteen of today's leading authors who have helped mould this new round of discussions on Bohr's philosophy. In fifteen entirely new, previously unpublished essays we discover a surprising variety of the different facets of Bohr as the natural philosopher whose `framework of complementarity' shaped the final phase of the quantum revolution and influenced two generations of the century's leading physicists. There is much on which the authors included here agree; but there are also polar disagreements, which assure us that the philosophical questions revolving around Bohr's `new viewpoint' will continue to be a subject of scholarly interest and discussion for years to come. This collection will interest all serious students of history and philosophy of science, and foundations of physics.
An unforgettable story of discovery and unimaginable destruction and a major biography of one of America’s most brilliant—and most divisive—scientists, Robert Oppenheimer: A Life Inside the Center vividly illuminates the man who would go down in history as “the father of the atomic bomb.” “Impressive. . . . An extraordinary story.”—The New York Times Book Review “Judicious, comprehensive and reliable. . . . By far the most thorough survey yet written of Oppenheimer’s physics."—Washington Post Oppenheimer’s talent and drive secured him a place in the pantheon of great physicists and carried him to the laboratories where the secrets of the universe revealed themselves. But they also led him to contribute to the development of the deadliest weapon on earth, a discovery he soon came to fear. His attempts to resist the escalation of the Cold War arms race—coupled with political leanings at odds with post-war America—led many to question his loyalties, and brought down upon him the full force of McCarthyite anti-communism. Digging deeply into Oppenheimer’s past to solve the enigma of his motivations and his complex personality, Ray Monk uncovers the extraordinary, charming, tortured man—and the remarkable mind—who fundamentally reshaped the world.
In this important volume, major events and personalities of 20th century physics are portrayed through recollections and historiographical works of one of the most prominent figures of European science. A former student of Enrico Fermi, and a leading personality of physical research and science policy in postwar Italy, Edoardo Amaldi devoted part of his career to documenting, both as witness and as historian, some significant moments of 20th century science. The focus of the book is on the European scene, ranging from nuclear research in Rome in the 1930s to particle physics at CERN, and includes biographies of physicists such as Ettore Majorana, Bruno Touschek and Fritz Houtermans.Edoardo Amaldi (Carpaneto, 1908 - Roma, 1989) was one of the leading figures in twentieth century Italian science. He was conferred his degree in physics at Rome University in 1929 and played an active role (as a member of the team of young physicists known as ?the boys of via Panisperna?) in the fundamental research on artificial induced radioactivity and the properties of neutrons, which won the group's leader Enrico Fermi the Nobel Prize for physics in 1938. Following Fermi's departure for the United States in 1938 and the disruption of the original group, Amaldi took upon himself the task of reorganising the research in physics in the difficult situation of post-war Italy. His own research went from nuclear physics to cosmic ray physics, elementary particles and, in later years, gravitational waves. Active research was for him always coupled to a direct involvement as a statesman of science and an organiser: he was the leading figure in the establishment of INFN (National Institute for Nuclear Physics) and has played a major role, as spokesman of the Italian scientific community, in the creation of CERN, the large European laboratory for high energy physics. He also actively supported the formation of a similar trans-national joint venture in space science, which gave birth to the European Space Agency. In these and several other scientific organisations, he was often entrusted with directive responsibilities. In his later years, he developed a keen interest in the history of his discipline. This gave rise to a rich production of historiographic material, of which a significant sample is collected in this volume.
