Fascinating, accessible study recounts the process of discovery, from atomism of the Greeks to quantum revolutions of the 1920s and the theories and conjectures of today. Topics include components of the atom, quantum mechanics, atomic landscape, atoms in isolation, more. "Lucid and entertaining." — The New York Times Book Review.
"The last four decades have witnessed a renaissance of atomic physics thanks to the spectacular theoretical and experimental achievements in atom cooling and trapping. These advancements have made major contributions to achieving complete control over single quantum systems. Applications such as atom lasers, quantum computers, optical tweezers, atomic conveyor belts, quantum simulators, among others, will be fundamental to future technologies. This book-whose author has been actively researching the field for about three decades-is the first to popularize the field of atomic physics and aims to help a broad audience fully appreciate the mentioned advancements. It provides the basic prerequisite knowledge, the historical and scientific roots of the field, and the most important applications. Taming the Atom is written for science students, science fans, educators, and science communicators. The rich bibliography makes it also useful for graduate students and researchers in the field"--
This book is a thoroughly modern and highly pedagogical graduate-level introduction to quantum optics, a subject which has witnessed stunning developments in recent years and has come to occupy a central role in the 'second quantum revolution'. The reader is invited to explore the fundamental role that quantum optics plays in the control and manipulation of quantum systems, leading to ultracold atoms, circuit QED, quantum information science, quantum optomechanics, and quantum metrology. The building blocks of the subject are presented in a sequential fashion, starting from the simplest physical situations before moving to increasingly complicated ones. This pedagogically appealing approach leads to quantum entanglement and measurement theory being introduced early on and before more specialized topics such as cavity QED or laser cooling. The final chapter illustrates the power of scientific cross-fertilization by surveying cutting-edge applications of quantum optics and optomechanics in gravitational wave detection, tests of fundamental physics, searches for dark matter, geophysical monitoring, and ultraprecise clocks. Complete with worked examples and exercises, this book provides the reader with enough background knowledge and understanding to follow the current journal literature and begin producing their own original research.
Edited by acclaimed science writer and physicist James Trefil, the Encyclopedia's 1000 entries combine in-depth coverage with a vivid graphic format to bring every facet of science, technology, and medicine into stunning focus. From absolute zero to the Mesozoic era to semiconductors to the twin paradox, Trefil and his co-authors have an uncanny ability to convey how the universe works and to show readers how to apply that knowledge to everyday problems.
This novel text structures a one-semester course of introductory physics around the question: "Why do we believe in atoms and their properties?" Its theme is thus much of 19th and 20th century physics, but it also connects these topics to classical physics. The treatment emphasizes quantitative reasoning and analysis: how are the ideas of physics inferred from the data, and how are the data acquired? After a brief review of the basic terminology of mechanics, the book begins by introducing the atoms of chemistry: elements, compounds, chemical reactions, valence. It then turns to the physicist's hard- sphere atoms: ideal gases, pressure, temperature, viscosity. The first hint of subatomic structure comes from the discovery of the electron, and the discussion thus turns to electricity, magnetism, light, and x- rays. This leads in turn to waves and relativity. The internal structure of the atom (i.e. the nucleus) was discovered in the early part of the 20th century, and the book concludes with the modern insights into the atom: photons radioactivity, the particle/wave duality, quantum mechanics, the Bohr model, and closes the circle back to the chemist's atom with Moseley's law and the periodic table. A large number of problems, some of them based on computer spreadsheets, as well as laboratory exercises serve to clarify students' understanding.
What is matter made of? Scientists have been trying to answer this question for thousands of years. The concept of the atom—the tiniest fragment of a substance that still retains the characteristics of that substance—goes back to the Greek philosopher Leucippus, who lived in about 450 b.c. In the mid-1600s, Robert Boyle provided experimental evidence that atoms did, indeed, exist. And in 1897, British physicist Joseph John Thomson discovered the first subatomic particle: the electron. Yet even the tiny components of the atom—protons, electrons, and neutrons—are not the smallest things in the universe. Subatomic particles are made up of still tinier objects called quarks and leptons. This book tells the story of how scientists unlocked the secrets of the atom and revolutionized the way we look at the world around us.
This book is the second collection of over 50 articles and essays authored by Sidney Perkowitz. Appearing in diverse outlets such as Discover, Washington Post, Aeon, Los Angeles Review of Books, Nautilus, Museum of the Moving Image, and Physics World, they represent the best of his writing about science and technology, and their links to culture and society, the arts and the media, and the humanities. Written for general readers, the pieces explore the outer and inner universes from cosmic space to the human mind, from the artistic use of science to the impact of technology and AI in the justice system, in medicine, and in dealing with COVID-19.
**Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, the National Book Award, and the National Book Critics Circle Award** The definitive history of nuclear weapons—from the turn-of-the-century discovery of nuclear energy to J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project—this epic work details the science, the people, and the sociopolitical realities that led to the development of the atomic bomb. This sweeping account begins in the 19th century, with the discovery of nuclear fission, and continues to World War Two and the Americans’ race to beat Hitler’s Nazis. That competition launched the Manhattan Project and the nearly overnight construction of a vast military-industrial complex that culminated in the fateful dropping of the first bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Reading like a character-driven suspense novel, the book introduces the players in this saga of physics, politics, and human psychology—from FDR and Einstein to the visionary scientists who pioneered quantum theory and the application of thermonuclear fission, including Planck, Szilard, Bohr, Oppenheimer, Fermi, Teller, Meitner, von Neumann, and Lawrence. From nuclear power’s earliest foreshadowing in the work of H.G. Wells to the bright glare of Trinity at Alamogordo and the arms race of the Cold War, this dread invention forever changed the course of human history, and The Making of The Atomic Bomb provides a panoramic backdrop for that story. Richard Rhodes’s ability to craft compelling biographical portraits is matched only by his rigorous scholarship. Told in rich human, political, and scientific detail that any reader can follow, The Making of the Atomic Bomb is a thought-provoking and masterful work.