Bøger i History of Physics serien

This book provides a solution to the problem with the energy concept. This problem manifests itself in the fact that physicists clearly diverge regarding the question of what energy is. Some define it but others state that we do not know what it is. Although this is a problem for physicists who need to explain the concept, it is not a problem for physics that can be solved by laboratory means. Penetrating into the origin of the notion of energy, this book offers a clear idea of what was discovered and what was invented to interpret the findings.Following the development of the concept, it provides an explanation of the trends in contemporary textbooks. The author's repetition, in his "History and Philosophy of Physics Laboratory", of Joule¿s famous experiment ¿ the paddle wheel experiment ¿ with a calorimeter as originally used by Joule and with a calorimeter as proposed in textbooks, is presented, yielding new insight into the phenomenon. Thus, science teachers andstudents will benefit from reading the book as well as historians, philosophers, students of the history and philosophy of science, and all who are interested in knowing about what it is that we call energy.

The intention of this book is to shine a bright light on the intellectual context of Euler's contributions to physics and mathematical astronomy. Leonhard Euler is one of the most important figures in the history of science, a blind genius who introduced mathematical concepts and many analytical tools to help us understand and describe the universe. Euler also made a monumental contribution to astronomy and orbital mechanics, developing what he called astronomia mechanica. Orbital mechanics of artificial satellites and spacecraft is based on Euler's analysis of astromechanics. However, previous books have often neglected many of his discoveries in this field. For example, orbital mechanics texts refer to the five equilibrium points in the Sun-Earth-Moon system as Lagrange points, failing to credit Euler who first derived the differential equations for the general n-body problem and who discovered the three collinear points in the three-body problem of celestial mechanics. These equilibrium points are essential today in space exploration; the James Webb Space Telescope (successor to the Hubble), for example, now orbits the Sun near L2, one of the collinear points of the Sun-Earth-Moon system, while future missions to study the universe will place observatories in orbit around Sun-Earth and Earth-Moon equilibrium points that should be properly called Euler-Lagrange points. In this book, the author uses Euler's memoirs, correspondence, and other scholarly sources to explore how he established the mathematical groundwork for the rigorous study of motion in our Solar System. The reader will learn how he studied comets and eclipses, derived planetary orbits, and pioneered the study of planetary perturbations, and how, old and blind, Euler put forward the most advanced lunar theory of his time.

Our current concept of matter, one of scientific research¿s greatest successes, represents a long journey, from questions posed during the birth of philosophy in Ancient Greece to recent advances in physics and chemistry, including Quantum Physics. This book outlines that journey. The book has three parts, each detailing a phase of the journey. The first saw the development of a conception based on "classical" physics; the second saw the construction of the "old" quantum theory attempting to explain the mysterious properties of matter, resulting in formulation of the "new" quantum theory; the third saw the formation of the modern conception of matter, based on quantum mechanics. Along the way, various topics are discussed, including: rediscovery and appropriation of antiquity by Western culture in the modern era; the subsequent revision process in the 16th and 17th centuries and the new experiments and theories of the 18th; attempts to understand the mysterious properties of matterthat could not be explained by classical physics; the first quantization hypotheses; discovery of new purely "quantum-mechanical" properties of matter; and the ultimate clarification of atomic structure. This book is aimed at anyone who wants a clear picture of how we arrived at the modern conception of matter.

This book offers the first comprehensive and authoritative text on the history of physics in Italy¿s industrial and financial capital, from the foundation of the University of Milan¿s Institute of Physics in 1924 up to the early 1960s, when it moved to its current location. It includes biographies and a historical-scientific analysis of the main research topics investigated by world-renowned physicists such as Aldo Pontremoli, Giovanni Polvani, Giovanni Gentile Jr., Beppo Occhialini, and Piero Caldirola, highlighting their contributions to the development of Italian physics in a national and international context. Further, the book provides a historical perspective on the interplay of physics and politics in Italy during both the Fascist regime and the postwar reconstruction period, which led to the creation of the CISE (Centro Informazioni Studi Esperienze, a research center for applied nuclear physics, funded by private industries) in 1946, and of the Milan division of the National Institute of Nuclear Physics (INFN) in 1951.

Turbulence is a research field where high expectations have met with recurrent frustration. It is a common perception among physicists, mathematicians and engineers that there is a "big mystery" behind the phenomenon of turbulence. Its history has also remained anything but well researched. Unlike topics such as quantum theory, which began to attract physics historians as long as fifty years ago, turbulence has - until now - received only little professional historical investigation.In this book, which complements his earlier SpringerBrief "The Turbulence Problem", the author sketches the history of turbulence from the vantage point of its roots (Part I), the basic concepts (Part II) and the formation of a scientific community that regarded turbulence as a research field in its own right (Part III). From this perspective turbulence research appears to undertake an odyssey through uncharted territories. The book follows this development up until a conference in Marseille in theyear 1961, which marked the inauguration of turbulence in the words of its organizer as ¿a new science¿. The epilogue contains some observations about turbulence research since 1961. This book provides a rich source of information for all those interested in the history of this major field of basic and applied science.

This book aims to make Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) accessible to the modern reader by refashioning the great scientist's masterpiece "Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences" in today's language.Galileo Galilei stands as one of the most important figures in history, not simply for his achievements in astronomy, physics, and engineering and for revolutionizing science and the scientific method in general, but also for the role that he played in the (still ongoing) drama concerning entrenched power and its desire to stifle any knowledge that may threaten it. Therefore, it is important that today's readers come to understand and appreciate what Galilei accomplished and wrote. But the mindset that shapes how we see the world today is quite different from the mindset -- and language -- of Galilei and his contemporaries. Another obstacle to a full understanding of Galilei's writings is posed by the countless historical, philosophical, geometrical, and linguistic references he made, along with his often florid prose, with its blend of Italian and Latin. De Angelis' new rendition of the work includes translations of the original geometrical figures into algebraic formulae in modern notation and allows the non-specialist reader to follow the thread of Galileo's thought and in a way that was barely possible until now.

This book offers the first comprehensive and authoritative text on the history of physics in Italy's industrial and financial capital, from the foundation of the University of Milan's Institute of Physics in 1924 up to the early 1960s, when it moved to its current location.

This book presents key works of Boris Hessen, outstanding Soviet philosopher of science, available here in English for the first time. Quality translations are accompanied by an editors' introduction and annotations. Boris Hessen is known in history of science circles for his ¿Social and Economic Roots of Newton¿s Principiä presented in London (1931), which inspired new approaches in the West. As a philosopher and a physicist, he was tasked with developing a Marxist approach to science in the 1920s. He studied the history of physics to clarify issues such as reductionism and causality as they applied to new developments. With the philosophers called the ¿Dialecticians¿, his debates with the opposing ¿Mechanists¿ on the issue of emergence are still worth studying and largely ignored in the many recent works on this subject. Taken as a whole, the book is a goldmine of insights into both the foundations of physics and Soviet history.

Turbulence is a research field where high expectations have met with recurrent frustration. It is a common perception among physicists, mathematicians and engineers that there is a "big mystery" behind the phenomenon of turbulence. Its history has also remained anything but well researched. Unlike topics such as quantum theory, which began to attract physics historians as long as fifty years ago, turbulence has - until now - received only little professional historical investigation.In this book, which complements his earlier SpringerBrief "The Turbulence Problem", the author sketches the history of turbulence from the vantage point of its roots (Part I), the basic concepts (Part II) and the formation of a scientific community that regarded turbulence as a research field in its own right (Part III). From this perspective turbulence research appears to undertake an odyssey through uncharted territories. The book follows this development up until a conference in Marseille in the year 1961, which marked the inauguration of turbulence in the words of its organizer as ΓÇ£a new scienceΓÇ¥. The epilogue contains some observations about turbulence research since 1961. This book provides a rich source of information for all those interested in the history of this major field of basic and applied science.

This book offers a fresh perspective on some of the central experimental and theoretical works that laid the foundations for today's quantum mechanics: It traces the theoretical and mathematical development of the hypotheses that put forward to explain puzzling experimental results;

This book presents key works of Boris Hessen, outstanding Soviet philosopher of science, available here in English for the first time. Boris Hessen is known in history of science circles for his "Social and Economic Roots of Newton's Principia" presented in London (1931), which inspired new approaches in the West.

This book aims to make Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) accessible to the modern reader by refashioning the great scientist's masterpiece "Discourses and Mathematical Demonstrations Relating to Two New Sciences" in today's language.Galileo Galilei stands as one of the most important figures in history, not simply for his achievements in astronomy, physics, and engineering and for revolutionizing science and the scientific method in general, but also for the role that he played in the (still ongoing) drama concerning entrenched power and its desire to stifle any knowledge that may threaten it. Therefore, it is important that today's readers come to understand and appreciate what Galilei accomplished and wrote. But the mindset that shapes how we see the world today is quite different from the mindset -- and language -- of Galilei and his contemporaries. Another obstacle to a full understanding of Galilei's writings is posed by the countless historical, philosophical, geometrical, and linguistic references he made, along with his often florid prose, with its blend of Italian and Latin. De Angelis' new rendition of the work includes translations of the original geometrical figures into algebraic formulae in modern notation and allows the non-specialist reader to follow the thread of Galileo's thought and in a way that was barely possible until now.