When Physics Became King
Author: Iwan Rhys Morus
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2005-03
Total Pages: 320
ISBN-13: 9780226542010
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When Physics Became King
Author: Iwan Rhys Morus
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Published: 2009-10-27
Total Pages: 316
ISBN-13: 0226542009
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAs recently as two hundred years ago, physics as we know it today did not exist. Born in the early nineteenth century during the second scientific revolution, physics struggled at first to achieve legitimacy in the scientific community and culture at large. In fact, the term "physicist" did not appear in English until the 1830s. When Physics Became King traces the emergence of this revolutionary science, demonstrating how a discipline that barely existed in 1800 came to be regarded a century later as the ultimate key to unlocking nature's secrets. A cultural history designed to provide a big-picture view, the book ably ties advances in the field to the efforts of physicists who worked to win social acceptance for their research. Beginning his tale with the rise of physics from natural philosophy, Iwan Morus chronicles the emergence of mathematical physics in France and its later export to England and Germany. He then elucidates the links between physics and industrialism, the technology of statistical mechanics, and the establishment of astronomical laboratories and precision measurement tools. His tale ends on the eve of the First World War, when physics had firmly established itself in both science and society. Scholars of both history and physics will enjoy this fascinating and studied look at the emergence of a major scientific discipline.
Physics of Energy Sources
Author: George C. King
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Published: 2017-04-03
Total Pages: 706
ISBN-13: 1118698428
DOWNLOAD EBOOKPhysics of Energy Sourcesprovides readers with a balanced presentation of the fundamental physics needed to understand and analyze conventional and renewable energy sources including nuclear, solar, wind and water power. It also presents various ways in which energy can be stored for future use. The book is an informative and authoritative text for students in the physical sciences and engineering and is based on a lecture course given regularly by the author. With the ever increasing demand for sustainable, environmentally-friendly and reliable sources of energy, the need for scientists and engineers equipped to tackle the challenges of developing and improving upon commercially viable energy sources has never been more urgent. By focusing on the physical principles governing energy production, storage, and transmission, this book provides readers with a solid foundation in the science and technology of energy sources. Physics of Energy Sources features include: Analyses of conventional and renewable energy sources in terms of underlying physical principles Integrated application of a wide range of physics, from classical to quantum physics Coverage of nuclear, wind, wave, tidal, hydroelectric, geothermal and solar power, including many practical systems Consideration of efficiency for power production as well as energy storage and transportation Consideration of key environmental issues Worked examples in text, and problems & solutions to encourage understanding Derivation of formulae with a minimum of mathematical complexity
Seven Brief Lessons on Physics
Author: Carlo Rovelli
Publisher: Riverhead Books
Published: 2016-03
Total Pages: 95
ISBN-13: 0399184414
DOWNLOAD EBOOKAn introduction to modern physics by a founder of the loop quantum gravity theory shares seven succinct lessons on topics ranging from general relativity and quantum mechanics to elementary particles and black holes.
Physics and Psychics
Author: Richard Noakes
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 2019-10-17
Total Pages: 421
ISBN-13: 1107188547
DOWNLOAD EBOOKNoakes' revelatory analysis of Victorian scientists' fascination with psychic phenomena connects science, the occult and religion in intriguing new ways.
The Emperor's New Mind
Author: Roger Penrose
Publisher: Oxford Paperbacks
Published: 1999-03-04
Total Pages: 634
ISBN-13: 0192861980
DOWNLOAD EBOOKWinner of the Wolf Prize for his contribution to our understanding of the universe, Penrose takes on the question of whether artificial intelligence will ever approach the intricacy of the human mind. 144 illustrations.
Globalizing Physics
Author: Roberto Lalli
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Published: 2024-07-09
Total Pages: 337
ISBN-13: 0198878699
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThis is an open access book available under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International licence. It is free to read on the Oxford Academic platform and offered as a free PDF download from OUP and selected open access locations. Following the centenary of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics, this volume features contributions from leading science historians from around the world on the changing roles of the institution in international affairs from its foundation in 1922 to the present. The case studies presented in this volume show the multitude of functions that IUPAP had and how these were related to the changing international political contexts. The book is divided into three parts. The first discusses the interwar period demonstrating how the exclusion of communities of the Central Powers from international scientific institutions imposed by victorious allied countries made IUPAP ineffective until the end of World War II. The second part analyzes the changing roles assumed by IUPAP starting from its complete renovation after World War II. Case studies covering the role of IUPAP in physics education, in metrology, in joint commissions with other unions and in defining the complex relations between pure and applied physics provide examples of IUPAP's impact on the world of science. Part III squarely addresses the science diplomacy aspects of IUPAP during the Cold War highlighting the importance of IUPAP in furthering diplomatic goals and explaining the origin of the pursuit of the free circulation of scientists as the activity that characterized the main function of international unions during the Cold War. Highlighting how often scientific agendas and political imperatives were entangled in the activities of IUPAP, the book analyzes the work of the Union as exercises of science diplomacy, thus contributing to the current debate on the use of science and technology in international relations.
Physics on the Fringe
Author: Margaret Wertheim
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Published: 2011-11-01
Total Pages: 317
ISBN-13: 0802778739
DOWNLOAD EBOOKFor the past fifteen years, acclaimed science writer Margaret Wertheim has been collecting the works of "outsider physicists," many without formal training and all convinced that they have found true alternative theories of the universe. Jim Carter, the Einstein of outsiders, has developed his own complete theory of matter and energy and gravity that he demonstrates with experiments in his backyard,-with garbage cans and a disco fog machine he makes smoke rings to test his ideas about atoms. Captivated by the imaginative power of his theories and his resolutely DIY attitude, Wertheim has been following Carter's progress for the past decade. Centuries ago, natural philosophers puzzled out the laws of nature using the tools of observation and experimentation. Today, theoretical physics has become mathematically inscrutable, accessible only to an elite few. In rejecting this abstraction, outsider theorists insist that nature speaks a language we can all understand. Through a profoundly human profile of Jim Carter, Wertheim's exploration of the bizarre world of fringe physics challenges our conception of what science is, how it works, and who it is for.
Victorian Literature and the Physics of the Imponderable
Author: Sarah C. Alexander
Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press
Published: 2015-06-15
Total Pages: 309
ISBN-13: 0822981882
DOWNLOAD EBOOKThe Victorians are known for their commitment to materialism, evidenced by the dominance of empiricism in the sciences and realism in fiction. Yet there were other strains of thinking during the period in the physical sciences, social sciences, and literature that privileged the spacesbetweenthe material and immaterial. This book examines how the emerging language of the "imponderable" helped Victorian writers and physicists make sense of new experiences of modernity. As Sarah Alexander argues, while Victorian physicists were theorizing ether, energy and entropy, and non-Euclidean space and atom theories, writers such as Charles Dickens, William Morris, and Joseph Conrad used concepts of the imponderable to explore key issues of capitalism, imperialism, and social unrest.
The Grand Design
Author: Stephen W. Hawking
Publisher: Random House
Published: 2011
Total Pages: 258
ISBN-13: 0553819224
DOWNLOAD EBOOKRelativity physics.
