A Selection of New Arrivals September 2017

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

A Selection of New Arrivals September 2017 A selection of new arrivals September 2017 Rare and important books & manuscripts in science and medicine, by Christian Westergaard. Flæsketorvet 68 – 1711 København V – Denmark Cell: (+45)27628014 www.sophiararebooks.com AMPERE, Andre-Marie. Mémoire. INSCRIBED BY AMPÈRE TO FARADAY AMPÈRE, André-Marie. Mémoire sur l’action mutuelle d’un conducteur voltaïque et d’un aimant. Offprint from Nouveaux Mémoires de l’Académie royale des sciences et belles-lettres de Bruxelles, tome IV, 1827. Bound with 18 other pamphlets (listed below). [Colophon:] Brussels: Hayez, Imprimeur de l’Académie Royale, 1827. $38,000 4to (265 x 205 mm). Contemporary quarter-cloth and plain boards (very worn and broken, with most of the spine missing), entirely unrestored. Preserved in a custom cloth box. First edition of the very rare offprint, with the most desirable imaginable provenance: this copy is inscribed by Ampère to Michael Faraday. It thus links the two great founders of electromagnetism, following its discovery by Hans Christian Oersted (1777-1851) in April 1820. The discovery by Ampère (1775-1836), late in the same year, of the force acting between current-carrying conductors was followed a year later by Faraday’s (1791-1867) first great discovery, that of electromagnetic rotation, the first conversion of electrical into mechanical energy. This development was a challenge to Ampère’s mathematically formulated explanation of electromagnetism as a manifestation of currents of electrical fluids surrounding ‘electrodynamic’ molecules; indeed, Faraday directly criticised Ampère’s theory, preferring his own explanation in terms of ‘lines of force’ (which had to wait for James Clerk Maxwell (1831-79) for a precise mathematical formulation). Faraday’s criticism led Ampère to modify his theory, and to carry out his own experiments on electromagnetic rotation which actually went beyond what Faraday had accomplished. The present work, which AMPERE, Andre-Marie. Mémoire. “brought to a close his main sequence of research publications on electricity and and general insights should not suffice, for the explanation of the facts which magnetism” (Grattan-Guinness, p. 960), showed that Ampère’s theory was able comprise this new branch of Physics’. ‘The second is that by which I have given an to reproduce the results of the rival theories of Biot and Poisson. It immediately account of the observed phenomena’, where the magnet was treated as a solenoid. precedes Ampère’s summary work Théorie mathématique des phénomènes électro- ‘Finally the third hypothesis’, supported by Biot, assumed ‘a primitive elementary dynamiques uniquement déduite de l’expérience, which refers to it on p. 196: “je l’ai action’, in which magnet and pole tended to turn each other, thus ‘forming what d’ailleurs développée dans un autre écrit [the present work] où j’ai discutée même Mr. Poinsot has called a couple’; while for Ampère this was apparently ‘directly temps, sous ce nouveau point de vue, tout ce qui est relative à l’action mutuelle contrary to the first principles of Dynamics’, it needed examination. In order d’un aimant et d’un conducteur voltaïque.” This offprint is distinguished by the to further his comparison he presented again his surface-circuit theorem, and presence of the colophon ‘Bruxelles, M. Hayez, Imprimeur de l’Académie Royale’ related the expressions both to Poisson’s formula for magnetic action and to his at the foot of the last page of text, which is not present in the journal issue. The own for element/solenoid action. In the rest of the paper, he considered various present pamphlet volume is almost certainly from Faraday’s library (four of the cases of magnet/circuit action, noting all hypotheses but keeping his preference pamphlets in the volume are inscribed to him). It is also possible that the binding clearly evident” (Grattan-Guinness, p. 960). itself, which must be described as functional rather than decorative, was executed by Faraday: before becoming Humphry Davy’s (1778-1829) assistant in 1813, According to Ampère’s first theory of electrodynamic phenomena, magnetic the appointment which ignited his great scientific career, Faraday had been an forces were the result of the motion of two electric fluids; permanent magnets apprentice bookbinder. It is known that he bound his laboratory notebooks, and contained these currents running in circles concentric to the axis of the magnet some of his other books, himself (many are still held by The Royal Institution in and in a plane perpendicular to this axis. By implication, the earth also contained London). A volume of pamphlets such as ours would have been a prime candidate currents which gave rise to its magnetism. It was not long, however, before on which Faraday could exercise his old skills. Auguste Fresnel (1788-1827) pointed out to his friend Ampère that his theory had several difficulties, notably the fact that the supposed currents in magnets Provenance: Michael Faraday (inscription on title in Ampère’s hand: ‘à Monsieur should have a heating effect that was not observed. Fresnel suggested instead that Faraday de la Société Royale de Londres de la part de l’auteur’). the electric currents circulated around each molecule, rather than around the axis of the magnet. In January 1821 Ampère publicly accepted Fresnel’s idea. Between “[The] reconciliation of different physical models was of great importance to 1821 and 1822, Gaspard de la Rive (1770-1834), Albert van Beek (1787-1856) Ampère at this time … In a long paper on this matter presented to the Belgium and Faraday performed some experiments showing that the poles of a cylindrical Academy in October 1826 and published by them as [the present work], magnet are not located exactly at the extremities of the magnet, as was predicted he extended the discussion into a general appraisal of three hypotheses for by Ampère’s theory. These experiments forced Ampère to modify his conception electromagnetism. ‘The first consists in admitting the existence of two fluids of microscopic currents: due to the collective interactions between the small called austral and boreal’, as thought Poisson (for example); ‘But some vague current-carrying loops, the planes of these molecular currents should, he said, no AMPERE, Andre-Marie. Mémoire. longer remain perpendicular to its magnetic axis. For both Jean-Baptiste Biot (1774-1862) and Siméon Denis Poisson (1781- 1840), on the other hand, electrical phenomena were to be explained in terms of magnetism, not the other way round. Together with a protégé, Félix Savart (1791-1841), Biot performed experiments late in 1820 which led them to the ‘Biot-Savart law’ for the force exerted on a magnet by a current-carrying wire. Biot claimed to have deduced this law from “a mathematical expression for forces assumed to act upon magnetic fluid particles from each tiny section of a conducting wire, [but] Biot considered this conclusion to be only a preliminary step toward a full explanation based on an understanding of ‘a true molecular magnetization impressed upon the particles of metallic bodies by the voltaic current that traverses them.’ For Biot, the genuine fundamental forces were assumed to act between magnetic fluid particles in the wire and in the magnet” (Hofmann, p. 234). “Biot claimed that the central issue to be resolved was ‘how each infinitely small molecule of the connecting wire contributes to the total action of the section to which it belongs’ and thereby brings about the ‘molecular magnetism’ of the wire … From Biot’s point of view, explanation of all the new phenomena ultimately had to be traced to a specific distribution of magnetic fluid particles” (ibid., p. 281). “Biot’s Laplacian colleague Poisson took an even more conservative approach. Rather than try to account for the new electromagnetic and electrodynamic phenomena, he developed a purely magnetic theory in strict accordance with Laplacian standards. In parallel with his two electricity memoirs of a decade earlier, during 1824 Poisson developed an analogous imponderable fluid theory of magnetism in two lengthy memoirs he eventually published in 1826. Unimpressed by developments inspired by Oersted’s discovery in 1820, Poisson staunchly preserved the Laplacian tradition by treating magnetism as a domain entirely distinct from that of electricity. With a single introductory remark, he cavalierly AMPERE, Andre-Marie. Mémoire. dismissed the issue that so preoccupied Ampère. ‘The identity of the magnetic identical to that which a conducting wire would exert on the same molecule if it fluid and the electric fluid does not necessarily result from the important facts was substituted for the closed contour which circumscribes this surface. It is in that have been discovered recently. Fortunately, the solution of this question is this way that one accounts for this law in the first hypothesis in which everything not at all relevant to the object of this memoir; our analysis is independent of the should be reduced to the mutual action of austral and boreal magnetic molecules” particular nature of the boreal and austral fluids; our goal is simply to determine [p. 21 of the present work]. the resultants of their attractions and repulsions, and, if it is possible, how they are distributed within magnetized bodies’ … [Poisson’s] most fundamental physical “Ampère’s own view was of course that electromagnetic interactions are all due assumption was that magnetic effects are produced by two magnetic fluids that to more basic interactions between electric currents. Nevertheless, by showing act on each other through fundamental forces that vary as the inverse square that the Biot-Savart force could be reduced to interactions between magnetic of the distance between their particles. Poisson also assumed that the austral elements, Ampère could argue that there was no need to follow Biot and postulate and boreal fluids are confined by some unknown force to the interior of small a transverse force between current elements and magnetic molecules; he then ‘magnetic elements’” (ibid., pp.
Recommended publications
  • An Antillean Plant of Beauty, a French Botanist, and a German Name: Naming Plants in the Early Modern Atlantic World
    Estonian Journal of Ecology, 2012, 61, 1, 37–50 doi: 10.3176/eco.2012.1.05 An Antillean plant of beauty, a French botanist, and a German name: naming plants in the Early Modern Atlantic world Laura Hollsten Faculty of Arts, Åbo Akademi University, 20500 Åbo, Finland; [email protected] Received 10 December 2010, revised 7 March 2011, accepted 27 June 2011 Abstract. This paper investigates the naming of plants in the work of the French botanist Charles Plumier (1646–1704). Plumier made three trips to the French Antilles between 1690 and 1697, was appointed royal botanist in 1693, and published his first work, Description des Plantes de l’Amérique, in the same year. Plumier was the first ‘modern’ botanist to describe the flora of the Caribbean in a time when natural history underwent significant qualitative changes as a result of the European expansion and transatlantic contacts. Plumier’s ambition was to replace the confusing multitude of names given to New World plants with a universal taxonomically based nomenclature. His modernity and scientific ethos manifest themselves in his neutral way of organizing the plants according to a taxonomic system and his use of a Latin nomenclature, often naming plants after well-known botanists. Through Plumier’s naming process, I argue, it is possible to highlight the colonial and Atlantic context of his work, his network as part of the scientific elite of his country, and his professionalism resulting from years of botanical studies. Key words: history of botany, early modern natural history, plant nomenclature. INTRODUCTION According to a story entitled ‘The Tree of Riches’, the French botanist Charles Plumier decided that he would like to travel the world and get rich (Pellowski, 1990).
    [Show full text]
  • Information Issued by the Association of Jewish Refugees in Great Britain
    Vol. XVI No. 3 March, 1961 INFORMATION ISSUED BY THE ASSOCIATION OF JEWISH REFUGEES IN GREAT BRITAIN I FAIRFAX MANSIONS, Offict and Coiuulting Heurs : FINCHLEY ROAO (Cornar Fairfax Road), LONDON. N.W.3 Mondaylo Thunday 10 a.nt.—l p.m. 3—6 p.nt. Telephon*: MAIda Val* 9096'7 (e*n*ral Officel Friday 10 a.m.—I p.m. MAIda Val* 4449 (Empioymant Ag*ncy and Social S*rvic*s D*pt.| About 2,945,000 claims have been lodged under the Federal Indemnification Law (BEG) of which A WIDE RANGE OF TASKS about 1,577,000 have been settled. The payments made are about 8,731 million DM and the total expenditure to be expected about 17,200 million Report on AJR Board Meeting DM. The work would probably not be completed by the end of 1962 as visualised in the Law. ^^ore than 60 board members, including dele­ liabilities would become greater, especially in view The " Council" has proposed several improve­ gates from the provinces, attended the AJR Board of the expansion of the work for the new homes ments of the BEG which should be incorporated meeting which was held in London on January to be established. As a further and very important into a final law on indemnification (Wiedergut- ^2nd. The comprehensive reports and the vivid device of reducing the deficit, the AJR Charitable machungs-SchlussgesetzX, the enactment of which discussion reaffirmed the variety of important tasks Trust has been established which can accept pay­ was intended by the German authorities but would ".* AJR and its associated bodies have to cope ments under covenant from which the charitable probably be held over until after the election of With and the organisational strength on which part of the AJR's activities are to be financed.
    [Show full text]
  • Differential Calculus and by Era Integral Calculus, Which Are Related by in Early Cultures in Classical Antiquity the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus
    History of calculus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 1/1/10 5:02 PM History of calculus From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia History of science This is a sub-article to Calculus and History of mathematics. History of Calculus is part of the history of mathematics focused on limits, functions, derivatives, integrals, and infinite series. The subject, known Background historically as infinitesimal calculus, Theories/sociology constitutes a major part of modern Historiography mathematics education. It has two major Pseudoscience branches, differential calculus and By era integral calculus, which are related by In early cultures in Classical Antiquity the fundamental theorem of calculus. In the Middle Ages Calculus is the study of change, in the In the Renaissance same way that geometry is the study of Scientific Revolution shape and algebra is the study of By topic operations and their application to Natural sciences solving equations. A course in calculus Astronomy is a gateway to other, more advanced Biology courses in mathematics devoted to the Botany study of functions and limits, broadly Chemistry Ecology called mathematical analysis. Calculus Geography has widespread applications in science, Geology economics, and engineering and can Paleontology solve many problems for which algebra Physics alone is insufficient. Mathematics Algebra Calculus Combinatorics Contents Geometry Logic Statistics 1 Development of calculus Trigonometry 1.1 Integral calculus Social sciences 1.2 Differential calculus Anthropology 1.3 Mathematical analysis
    [Show full text]
  • James Clerk Maxwell
    James Clerk Maxwell JAMES CLERK MAXWELL Perspectives on his Life and Work Edited by raymond flood mark mccartney and andrew whitaker 3 3 Great Clarendon Street, Oxford, OX2 6DP, United Kingdom Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries c Oxford University Press 2014 The moral rights of the authors have been asserted First Edition published in 2014 Impression: 1 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer Published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press 198 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016, United States of America British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Data available Library of Congress Control Number: 2013942195 ISBN 978–0–19–966437–5 Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon, CR0 4YY Links to third party websites are provided by Oxford in good faith and for information only.
    [Show full text]
  • Resource Collection for High Ability Secondary Learners 2011
    Resource Collection for High Ability Secondary Learners Office of Gifted Education Montgomery County Public Schools 2011 - 2012 Table of Contents 2011 – 2012 Materials for High Ability Secondary Students How to Order .................................................................................................................................. 3 Professional Resources for Teachers .............................................................................................. 4 Differentiation ............................................................................................................................. 4 Assessment .................................................................................................................................. 5 Learning Styles and Multiple Intelligences ................................................................................ 6 Curriculum, Strategies and Techniques ...................................................................................... 7 Miscellaneous ............................................................................................................................. 9 English ...................................................................................................................................... 10 Mathematics .............................................................................................................................. 13 History......................................................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Glossary Glossary
    Glossary Glossary Albedo A measure of an object’s reflectivity. A pure white reflecting surface has an albedo of 1.0 (100%). A pitch-black, nonreflecting surface has an albedo of 0.0. The Moon is a fairly dark object with a combined albedo of 0.07 (reflecting 7% of the sunlight that falls upon it). The albedo range of the lunar maria is between 0.05 and 0.08. The brighter highlands have an albedo range from 0.09 to 0.15. Anorthosite Rocks rich in the mineral feldspar, making up much of the Moon’s bright highland regions. Aperture The diameter of a telescope’s objective lens or primary mirror. Apogee The point in the Moon’s orbit where it is furthest from the Earth. At apogee, the Moon can reach a maximum distance of 406,700 km from the Earth. Apollo The manned lunar program of the United States. Between July 1969 and December 1972, six Apollo missions landed on the Moon, allowing a total of 12 astronauts to explore its surface. Asteroid A minor planet. A large solid body of rock in orbit around the Sun. Banded crater A crater that displays dusky linear tracts on its inner walls and/or floor. 250 Basalt A dark, fine-grained volcanic rock, low in silicon, with a low viscosity. Basaltic material fills many of the Moon’s major basins, especially on the near side. Glossary Basin A very large circular impact structure (usually comprising multiple concentric rings) that usually displays some degree of flooding with lava. The largest and most conspicuous lava- flooded basins on the Moon are found on the near side, and most are filled to their outer edges with mare basalts.
    [Show full text]
  • Today, My Favorite Azalea Companion Plant of an Herbaceous Perennial Type Is
    Today, My Favorite Azalea Companion Plant of an Herbaceous Perennial Type Is.... By William C. Miller III—Bethesda, Maryland This is the third in a series of “favorite” articles. The natural distribution, however, extends into The azaleas ‘Ambrosia’ and ‘Opal’ were previ- Canada and Mexico and private gardens across the ously identified as my favorite Glenn Dale and US where it is a very popular element in water and Linwood Hardy Hybrids respectively.1 It occurred rain gardens and might not be represented on the to me that it would be useful to expand my focus government map. It was introduced into Europe in to the rest of the plant kingdom, since very few the mid-1620s and has become naturalized. Since people have gardens that are limited to azaleas. it isn’t overly competitive, it is technically consid- Companion plants, often overlooked in the ered non-native rather than “invasive.” homeowner garden planning process, comprise a surprisingly significant feature in every garden. Lobelia, the Genus There is the canopy and the understory trees, above the azaleas, represented by the taller trees The genus was named after Matthias de l’Obel, (e.g., oak, beech, pine, maple) and the smaller a Flemish physician and botanist (1538-1616) by Charles Plumier, a French priest, botanist, and trees (e.g., dogwood, maple, redbud, and stewar- 2,3 tia). There are plants that share the profile level New World plant explorer (1646-1704). They with the azaleas (e.g., holly, viburnum, hydrangea, both were significant influences on Linnaeus who and other rhododendrons). Finally, there are the is often called the father of taxonomy.
    [Show full text]
  • Electricity Outline
    Electricity Outline A. Electrostatics 1. Charge q is measured in coulombs 2. Three ways to charge something. Charge by: Friction, Conduction and Induction 3. Coulomb’s law for point or spherical charges: q1 q2 2 FE FE FE = kq1q2/r r 9 2 2 where k = 9.0 x 10 Nm /Coul 4. Electric field E = FE/qo (qo is a small, + test charge) F = qE Point or spherically symmetric charge distribution: E = kq/r2 E is constant above or below an ∞, charged sheet. 5. Faraday’s Electric Lines of Force rules: E 1. Lines originate on + and terminate on - _ 2. The E field vector is tangent to the line of force + 3. Electric field strength is proportional to line density 4. Lines are ┴ to conducting surfaces. 5. E = 0 inside a hollow or solid conductor 6. Electric potential difference (voltage): ΔV = W/qo We usually drop the Δ and just write V. Sometimes the voltage provided by a battery is know as the electromotive force (emf) ε 7. Potential Energy due to point charges or spherically symmetric charge distribution V= kQ/r 8. Equipotential surfaces are surfaces with constant voltage. The electric field vector is always to an equipotential surface. 9. Emax Air = 3,000,000 N/coul = 30,000 V/cm. If you exceed this value, you will create a conducting path by ripping e-s off air molecules. B. Capacitors 1. Capacitors A. C = q/V; unit of capacitance is the Farad = coul/volt B. For Parallel plate capacitors: V = E d C is proportional to A/d where A is the area of the plates and d is the plate separation.
    [Show full text]
  • Bernhard Riemann 1826-1866
    Modern Birkh~user Classics Many of the original research and survey monographs in pure and applied mathematics published by Birkh~iuser in recent decades have been groundbreaking and have come to be regarded as foun- dational to the subject. Through the MBC Series, a select number of these modern classics, entirely uncorrected, are being re-released in paperback (and as eBooks) to ensure that these treasures remain ac- cessible to new generations of students, scholars, and researchers. BERNHARD RIEMANN (1826-1866) Bernhard R~emanno 1826 1866 Turning Points in the Conception of Mathematics Detlef Laugwitz Translated by Abe Shenitzer With the Editorial Assistance of the Author, Hardy Grant, and Sarah Shenitzer Reprint of the 1999 Edition Birkh~iuser Boston 9Basel 9Berlin Abe Shendtzer (translator) Detlef Laugwitz (Deceased) Department of Mathematics Department of Mathematics and Statistics Technische Hochschule York University Darmstadt D-64289 Toronto, Ontario M3J 1P3 Gernmany Canada Originally published as a monograph ISBN-13:978-0-8176-4776-6 e-ISBN-13:978-0-8176-4777-3 DOI: 10.1007/978-0-8176-4777-3 Library of Congress Control Number: 2007940671 Mathematics Subject Classification (2000): 01Axx, 00A30, 03A05, 51-03, 14C40 9 Birkh~iuser Boston All rights reserved. This work may not be translated or copied in whole or in part without the writ- ten permission of the publisher (Birkh~user Boston, c/o Springer Science+Business Media LLC, 233 Spring Street, New York, NY 10013, USA), except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter de- veloped is forbidden.
    [Show full text]
  • 19680011654.Pdf
    NASA TECHNICAL NOTE -NASA TN-- D-4449 c. 1 o* w d nP z c e r/l e z LOAN COPY: RETURN TO AFWL IWLIL-2) KIRTLAND AFB, N MU( NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION WASHINGTON, D. C. APRIL 1968 ~ TECH LIBRARY KAFB, NM Iillllllllllllll llllllllll lllllllllllllllll NAVIGATOR PERFORMANCE STUDIES FOR SPACE NAVIGATION USING THE NASA CV-990 RESEARCH AIRCRAFT By Richard A. Acken and Donald W. Smith Ames Research Center Moffett Field, Calif. NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION - For sole by the Clearinghouse for Federal Scientific and Technical Information Springfield, Virginia 22151 - CFSTI price $3.00 NAVIGATOR PERFORMANCE STUDES FOR SPACE NAVIGATION USING THE NASA CV-990 RESEARCH AIRCRAFT By Richard A. Acken and Donald W. Smith Ames Research Center Manually operated hand-held sextants are being studied at Ames Research Center to determine whether they are sufficiently accurate for midcourse navigation phases of manned space flight. Studies carried out on the ground have been extended by using the NASA CV-990 aircraft to provide sighting con- ditions closely simulating those in spacecraft and to investigate firther the measurement error due to lunar irradiance. The results of approximately 1200 measurements made during nine flights confirm results of simulator and ground- based studies which indicate that, with a hand-held sextant, an astronaut can be expected to make navigational measurements with errors having a standard deviation of approximately 210 arc seconds. A value for moon irradiance effect of approximately 25 arc seconds was established for the conditions of the experiment using a hand-held sextant. INTRODUCTION The manually operated hand-held sextant has provided marine navigators with a compact, lightweight, easily operated instrument for centuries.
    [Show full text]
  • Philipp Frank at Harvard University: His Work and His Influence
    Philipp Frank at Harvard University: His Work and His Influence The Harvard community has made this article openly available. Please share how this access benefits you. Your story matters Citation Holton, Gerald. 2006. Phillip Frank at Harvard: His Work and his Influence. Synthese 153 (2): 297-311. doi.org/10.1007/ s11229-005-5471-3 Citable link http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:37837879 Terms of Use This article was downloaded from Harvard University’s DASH repository, and is made available under the terms and conditions applicable to Other Posted Material, as set forth at http:// nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:HUL.InstRepos:dash.current.terms-of- use#LAA 10/12/04 Lecture at Philipp Frank Conferences in Prague & Vienna, Sept-Oct. ‘04 Philipp Frank at Harvard: His Work and his Influence by Gerald Holton My pleasant task today is to bring to life Philipp Frank’s work and influence during his last three decades, when he found a refuge and a position in America. In what follows, I hope I may call him Philipp--having been first a graduate student in one of his courses at Harvard, then his teaching assistant sharing his offices, then for many years his colleague and friend in the same Physics Department, and finally, doing research on his archival holdings kept at Harvard. I also should not hide my large personal debt to him, for without his recommendation in the 1950s to the Albert Einstein Estate, I would not have received its warm welcome and its permission, as the first one to do historical research in the treasure trove of unpublished letters and manuscripts, thus starting me on a major part of my career in the history of science.
    [Show full text]
  • Simply-Riemann-1588263529. Print
    Simply Riemann Simply Riemann JEREMY GRAY SIMPLY CHARLY NEW YORK Copyright © 2020 by Jeremy Gray Cover Illustration by José Ramos Cover Design by Scarlett Rugers All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher at the address below. [email protected] ISBN: 978-1-943657-21-6 Brought to you by http://simplycharly.com Contents Praise for Simply Riemann vii Other Great Lives x Series Editor's Foreword xi Preface xii Introduction 1 1. Riemann's life and times 7 2. Geometry 41 3. Complex functions 64 4. Primes and the zeta function 87 5. Minimal surfaces 97 6. Real functions 108 7. And another thing . 124 8. Riemann's Legacy 126 References 143 Suggested Reading 150 About the Author 152 A Word from the Publisher 153 Praise for Simply Riemann “Jeremy Gray is one of the world’s leading historians of mathematics, and an accomplished author of popular science. In Simply Riemann he combines both talents to give us clear and accessible insights into the astonishing discoveries of Bernhard Riemann—a brilliant but enigmatic mathematician who laid the foundations for several major areas of today’s mathematics, and for Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity.Readable, organized—and simple. Highly recommended.” —Ian Stewart, Emeritus Professor of Mathematics at Warwick University and author of Significant Figures “Very few mathematicians have exercised an influence on the later development of their science comparable to Riemann’s whose work reshaped whole fields and created new ones.
    [Show full text]