The Night of the Physicists
The Night of the Physicists

Author: Richard von Schirach

Publisher: Haus Publishing

Published: 2015-02-01

Total Pages: 201

ISBN-13: 1908323868

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In the spring of 1945 the Allies arrested the physicists they believed had worked on the German nuclear programme. Interned in an English country house owned by MI6, their conversations were secretly recorded. Operation Epsilon sought to determine how close Nazi Germany had come to building an atomic bomb. It was in this quiet setting – Farm Hall, near Cambridge – that the interned physicists first heard of the attack on Hiroshima. Aside from changing the course of history, that night was also one of great shock and personal defeat for the physicists – they were under the assumption that they alone had discovered nuclear fission. This is the story of Nazi Germany’s hunt for a nuclear bomb. It is a tale of the genius and guilt of lauded, respected scientists.

The Night of the Physicists
The Night of the Physicists

Author: Richard Von Schirach

Publisher: Haus Pub

Published: 2015-02-01

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 9781908323859

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In the spring of 1945 the Allies arrested the physicists they believed had worked on the German nuclear programme. Interned in an English country house owned by MI6, their conversations were secretly recorded. Operation Epsilon sought to determine how close Nazi Germany had come to building an atomic bomb. It was in this quiet setting – Farm Hall, near Cambridge – that the interned physicists first heard of the attack on Hiroshima. Aside from changing the course of history, that night was also one of great shock and personal defeat for the physicists – they were under the assumption that they alone had discovered nuclear fission. This is the story of Nazi Germany’s hunt for a nuclear bomb. It is a tale of the genius and guilt of lauded, respected scientists.

Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist
Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist

Author: Russell McCormmach

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 1991

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 9780674624610

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

It is the end of an historical epoch, but to an old professor of physics, Victor Jakob, sitting in his unlighted study, eating dubious bread with jam made from turnips, it is the end of a way of thinking in his own subject. Younger men have challenged the classical world picture of physics and are looking forward to observational tests of Einstein's new theory of relativity as well as the creation of a quantum mechanics of the atom. It is a time of both apprehension and hope. In this remarkable book, the reader literally inhabits the mind of a scientist while Professor Jakob meditates on the discoveries of the past fifty years and reviews his own life and career--his scientific ambitions and his record of small successes. He recalls the great men who taught or inspired him: Helmholtz, Hertz, Maxwell, Planck, and above all Paul Drude, whose life and mind exemplified the classical virtues of proportion, harmony, and grace that Jakob reveres. In Drude's shocking and unexpected suicide, we see reflected Jakob's own bewilderment and loss of bearings as his once secure world comes to an end in the horrors of the war and in the cultural fragmentation wrought by twentieth-century modernism. His attempt to come to terms with himself, with his life in science, and with his spiritual legacy will affect deeply everyone who cares about the fragile structures of civilization that must fall before the onrush of progress.

Fly By Night Physics
Fly By Night Physics

Author: A. Zee

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2020-10-27

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 0691207739

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

The essential primer for physics students who want to build their physical intuition Presented in A. Zee's incomparably engaging style, this book introduces physics students to the practice of using physical reasoning and judicious guesses to get at the crux of a problem. An essential primer for advanced undergraduates and beyond, Fly by Night Physics reveals the simple and effective techniques that researchers use to think through a problem to its solution—or failing that, to smartly guess the answer—before starting any calculations. In typical physics classrooms, students seek to master an enormous toolbox of mathematical methods, which are necessary to do the precise calculations used in physics. Consequently, students often develop the unfortunate impression that physics consists of well-defined problems that can be solved with tightly reasoned and logical steps. Idealized textbook exercises and homework problems reinforce this erroneous impression. As a result, even the best students can find themselves completely unprepared for the challenges of doing actual research. In reality, physics is replete with back of the envelope estimates, order of magnitude guesses, and fly by night leaps of logic. Including exciting problems related to cutting-edge topics in physics, from Hawking radiation to gravity waves, this indispensable book will help students more deeply understand the equations they have learned and develop the confidence to start flying by night to arrive at the answers they seek. For instructors, a solutions manual is available upon request.

The Physicists
The Physicists

Author: Daniel J. Kevles

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 1995

Total Pages: 548

ISBN-13: 9780674666566

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

This magnificent account of the coming of age of physics in America has been heralded as the best introduction to the history of science in the United States. Unsurpassed in its breadth and literary style, Kevles's account portrays the brilliant scientists who became a powerful force in bringing the world into a revolutionary new era. The book ranges widely as it links these exciting developments to the social, cultural, and political changes that occurred from the post-Civil War years to the present. Throughout, Kevles keeps his eye on the central question of how an avowedly elitist enterprise grew and prospered in a democratic culture. In this new edition, the author has brought the story up to date by providing an extensive, authoritative, and colorful account of the Superconducting Super Collider, from its origins in the international competition and intellectual needs of high-energy particle physics, through its establishment as a multibillion-dollar project, to its termination, in 1993, as a result of angry opposition within the American physics community and the Congress.

The Night of Physicists
The Night of Physicists

Author: Richard von Schirach

Publisher:

Published: 2014-06

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9781908323569

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

In the spring of 1945 the Allies arrested the physicists who were believed to have worked on the German nuclear program. Interned in an English country house owned by MI6, their conversations were secretly recorded. "Operation Epsilon" sought to determine how close Nazi Germany had come to building an atomic bomb. It was in captivity that the interned physicists first heard of the attack on Hiroshima. That night was also one of great shock and personal defeat for the physicists—they assumed they alone had discovered nuclear fission. This is the story of Nazi Germany's hunt for an atomic bomb, and a tale of the genius, hubris, and guilt of lauded, respected scientists.

When We Cease to Understand the World
When We Cease to Understand the World

Author: Benjamin Labatut

Publisher: New York Review of Books

Published: 2021-09-28

Total Pages: 193

ISBN-13: 1681375664

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

One of The New York Times Book Review’s 10 Best Books of 2021 Shortlisted for the 2021 International Booker Prize and the 2021 National Book Award for Translated Literature A fictional examination of the lives of real-life scientists and thinkers whose discoveries resulted in moral consequences beyond their imagining. When We Cease to Understand the World is a book about the complicated links between scientific and mathematical discovery, madness, and destruction. Fritz Haber, Alexander Grothendieck, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger—these are some of luminaries into whose troubled lives Benjamín Labatut thrusts the reader, showing us how they grappled with the most profound questions of existence. They have strokes of unparalleled genius, alienate friends and lovers, descend into isolation and insanity. Some of their discoveries reshape human life for the better; others pave the way to chaos and unimaginable suffering. The lines are never clear. At a breakneck pace and with a wealth of disturbing detail, Labatut uses the imaginative resources of fiction to tell the stories of the scientists and mathematicians who expanded our notions of the possible.

The Disordered Cosmos
The Disordered Cosmos

Author: Chanda Prescod-Weinstein

Publisher: Bold Type Books

Published: 2021-03-09

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 1541724690

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

From a star theoretical physicist, a journey into the world of particle physics and the cosmos—and a call for a more liberatory practice of science. Winner of the 2021 Los Angeles Times Book Prize in Science & Technology A Finalist for the 2022 PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award A Smithsonian Magazine Best Science Book of 2021 A Symmetry Magazine Top 10 Physics Book of 2021 An Entropy Magazine Best Nonfiction Book of 2020-2021 A Publishers Weekly Best Nonfiction Book of the Year A Kirkus Reviews Best Nonfiction Book of 2021 A Booklist Top 10 Sci-Tech Book of the Year In The Disordered Cosmos, Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein shares her love for physics, from the Standard Model of Particle Physics and what lies beyond it, to the physics of melanin in skin, to the latest theories of dark matter—along with a perspective informed by history, politics, and the wisdom of Star Trek. One of the leading physicists of her generation, Dr. Chanda Prescod-Weinstein is also one of fewer than one hundred Black American women to earn a PhD from a department of physics. Her vision of the cosmos is vibrant, buoyantly nontraditional, and grounded in Black and queer feminist lineages. Dr. Prescod-Weinstein urges us to recognize how science, like most fields, is rife with racism, misogyny, and other forms of oppression. She lays out a bold new approach to science and society, beginning with the belief that we all have a fundamental right to know and love the night sky. The Disordered Cosmos dreams into existence a world that allows everyone to experience and understand the wonders of the universe.

Until the End of Time
Until the End of Time

Author: Brian Greene

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2020-02-18

Total Pages: 448

ISBN-13: 1524731684

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • A captivating exploration of deep time and humanity's search for purpose, from the world-renowned physicist and best-selling author of The Elegant Universe. "Few humans share Greene’s mastery of both the latest cosmological science and English prose." —The New York Times Until the End of Time is Brian Greene's breathtaking new exploration of the cosmos and our quest to find meaning in the face of this vast expanse. Greene takes us on a journey from the big bang to the end of time, exploring how lasting structures formed, how life and mind emerged, and how we grapple with our existence through narrative, myth, religion, creative expression, science, the quest for truth, and a deep longing for the eternal. From particles to planets, consciousness to creativity, matter to meaning—Brian Greene allows us all to grasp and appreciate our fleeting but utterly exquisite moment in the cosmos.

Copenhagen
Copenhagen

Author: Michael Frayn

Publisher: Samuel French, Inc.

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 138

ISBN-13: 9780573627521

DOWNLOAD EBOOK

An explosive re-imagining of the mysterious wartime meeting between two Nobel laureates to discuss the atomic bomb.