Robert Eugene Marshak (1916-92) devoted much of his life to helping other people carry out scientific research and gather to discuss their work. In addition to his scientific statesmanship, he was an extraordinarily gifted research scientist, and many of his scientific contributions have been prophetic. This book pays homage to his creativity and continuing work, with contributions from many of the people whose lives have been influenced by him.
Biographic Memoirs: Volume 76 contains the biographies of deceased members of the National Academy of Sciences and bibliographies of their published works. Each biographical essay was written by a member of the Academy familiar with the professional career of the deceased. For historical and bibliographical purposes, these volumes are worth returning to time and again.
Winner of the 2007 Pfizer Prize from the History of Science Society. Feynman diagrams have revolutionized nearly every aspect of theoretical physics since the middle of the twentieth century. Introduced by the American physicist Richard Feynman (1918-88) soon after World War II as a means of simplifying lengthy calculations in quantum electrodynamics, they soon gained adherents in many branches of the discipline. Yet as new physicists adopted the tiny line drawings, they also adapted the diagrams and introduced their own interpretations. Drawing Theories Apart traces how generations of young theorists learned to frame their research in terms of the diagrams—and how both the diagrams and their users were molded in the process. Drawing on rich archival materials, interviews, and more than five hundred scientific articles from the period, Drawing Theories Apart uses the Feynman diagrams as a means to explore the development of American postwar physics. By focusing on the ways young physicists learned new calculational skills, David Kaiser frames his story around the crafting and stabilizing of the basic tools in the physicist's kit—thus offering the first book to follow the diagrams once they left Feynman's hands and entered the physics vernacular.
Strangeness nuclear physics bears a broad impact on contemporary physics. This set of extensive lectures presents a balanced theoretical and experimental introduction to, and survey of, the field. It addresses topics such as the production and spectroscopy of strange nuclear systems, modern approaches to the hyperon-nucleon interaction, and weak decays of hypernuclei. This burgeoning research field is well served by this tutorial primer.
This book shows the usefulness of the nucleus as a laboratory for learning about basic symmetries and fundamental interactions. It is aimed at advanced graduate students and beginning researchers, but should be useful to advanced researchers as well. Nuclear and particle physicists will find it particularly useful.
On March 25, 2003 Professor Vernon Hughes of Yale University passed away in New Haven, Connecticut. His career in physics extended over more than 50 years, and his highly influential research work contributed invaluably to numerous fundamental questions in physics. This book comprises a compilation of articles covering talks given at the Vernon Willard Hughes Memorial Symposium, which took place at Yale University in November 2003. The fascinating contributions from many leading experimental and theoretical physicists cover topics in atomic, nuclear and particle physics, as well as include remarks made by Professor Alan Bromley at the symposium dinner. The book also features the Biographical Memoirs of Professor Hughes, written by Professor Robert Adair for the US National Academy of Sciences, and a complete list of Professor HughesOCOs publications. The proceedings have been selected for coverage in: . OCo Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings- (ISTP- / ISI Proceedings). OCo Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings (ISTP CDROM version / ISI Proceedings). OCo CC Proceedings OCo Engineering & Physical Sciences."
We could be on the threshold of a scientific revolution. Quantum mechanics is based on unique, finite, and discrete events. General relativity assumes a continuous, curved space-time. Reconciling the two remains the most fundamental unsolved scientific problem left over from the last century. The papers of H Pierre Noyes collected in this volume reflect one attempt to achieve that unification by replacing the continuum with the bit-string events of computer science. Three principles are used: physics can determine whether two quantities are the same or different; measurement can tell something from nothing; this structure (modeled by binary addition and multiplication) can leave a historical record consisting of a growing universe of bit-strings. This book is specifically addressed to those interested in the foundations of particle physics, relativity, quantum mechanics, physical cosmology and the philosophy of science.
We could be on the threshold of a scientific revolution. Quantum mechanics is based on unique, finite, and discrete events. General relativity assumes a continuous, curved space-time. Reconciling the two remains the most fundamental unsolved scientific problem left over from the last century. The papers of H Pierre Noyes collected in this volume reflect one attempt to achieve that unification by replacing the continuum with the bit-string events of computer science. Three principles are used: physics can determine whether two quantities are the same or different; measurement can tell something from nothing; this structure (modeled by binary addition and multiplication) can leave a historical record consisting of a growing universe of bit-strings. This book is specifically addressed to those interested in the foundations of particle physics, relativity, quantum mechanics, physical cosmology and the philosophy of science. Contents: Non-Locality in Particle Physics; On the Physical Interpretation and the Mathematical Structure of the Combinatorial Hierarchy (with T Bastin, J Amson & C W Kilmister); On the Construction of Relativistic Quantum Theory: A Progress Report; Foundations of a Discrete Physics (with D McGoveran); Comment on OC Statistical Mechanical Origin of the Entropy of a Rotating Charged Black HoleOCO Anti-Gravity: The Key to 21st Century Physics; Crossing Symmetry is Incompatible with General Relativity; Operationalism Revisited: Measurement Accuracy, Scale Invariance and the Combinatorial Hierarchy; Discrete Physics and the Derivation of Electromagnetism from the Formalism of Quantum Mechanics (with L H Kauffman); Are Partons Confined Tachyons?; A Short Introduction to Bit-String Physics; Process, System, Causality and Quantum Mechanics: A Psychoanalysis of Animal Faith (with T Etter); and other papers. Readership: Researchers interested in the foundations of particle physics, relativity, quantum mechanics, physical cosmology and the philosophy of science."
