Inside a Physicist
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Load more
Recommended publications
-
Richard Phillips Feynman Physicist and Teacher Extraordinary
ARTICLE-IN-A-BOX Richard Phillips Feynman Physicist and Teacher Extraordinary The first three decades of the twentieth century have been among the most momentous in the history of physics. The first saw the appearance of special relativity and the birth of quantum theory; the second the creation of general relativity. And in the third, quantum mechanics proper was discovered. These developments shaped the progress of fundamental physics for the rest of the century and beyond. While the two relativity theories were largely the creation of Albert Einstein, the quantum revolution took much more time and involved about a dozen of the most creative minds of a couple of generations. Of all those who contributed to the consolidation and extension of the quantum ideas in later decades – now from the USA as much as from Europe and elsewhere – it is generally agreed that Richard Phillips Feynman was the most gifted, brilliant and intuitive genius out of many extremely gifted physicists. Here are descriptions of him by leading physicists of his own, and older as well as younger generations: “He is a second Dirac, only this time more human.” – Eugene Wigner …Feynman was not an ordinary genius but a magician, that is one “who does things that nobody else could ever do and that seem completely unexpected.” – Hans Bethe “… an honest man, the outstanding intuitionist of our age and a prime example of what may lie in store for anyone who dares to follow the beat of a different drum..” – Julian Schwinger “… the most original mind of his generation.” – Freeman Dyson Richard Feynman was born on 11 May 1918 in Far Rockaway near New York to Jewish parents Lucille Phillips and Melville Feynman. -
Charles Galton Darwin's 1922 Quantum Theory of Optical Dispersion
Eur. Phys. J. H https://doi.org/10.1140/epjh/e2020-80058-7 THE EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL H Charles Galton Darwin's 1922 quantum theory of optical dispersion Benjamin Johnson1,2, a 1 Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany 2 Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft Faradayweg 4, 14195 Berlin, Germany Received 13 October 2017 / Received in final form 4 February 2020 Published online 29 May 2020 c The Author(s) 2020. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract. The quantum theory of dispersion was an important concep- tual advancement which led out of the crisis of the old quantum theory in the early 1920s and aided in the formulation of matrix mechanics in 1925. The theory of Charles Galton Darwin, often cited only for its reliance on the statistical conservation of energy, was a wave-based attempt to explain dispersion phenomena at a time between the the- ories of Ladenburg and Kramers. It contributed to future successes in quantum theory, such as the virtual oscillator, while revealing through its own shortcomings the limitations of the wave theory of light in the interaction of light and matter. After its publication, Darwin's theory was widely discussed amongst his colleagues as the competing inter- pretation to Compton's in X-ray scattering experiments. It also had a pronounced influence on John C. Slater, whose ideas formed the basis of the BKS theory. 1 Introduction Charles Galton Darwin mainly appears in the literature on the development of quantum mechanics in connection with his early and explicit opinions on the non- conservation (or statistical conservation) of energy and his correspondence with Niels Bohr. -
Einstein and Hilbert: the Creation of General Relativity
EINSTEIN AND HILBERT: THE CREATION OF GENERAL RELATIVITY ∗ Ivan T. Todorov Institut f¨ur Theoretische Physik, Universit¨at G¨ottingen, Friedrich-Hund-Platz 1 D-37077 G¨ottingen, Germany; e-mail: [email protected] and Institute for Nuclear Research and Nuclear Energy, Bulgarian Academy of Sciences Tsarigradsko Chaussee 72, BG-1784 Sofia, Bulgaria;∗∗e-mail: [email protected] ABSTRACT It took eight years after Einstein announced the basic physical ideas behind the relativistic gravity theory before the proper mathematical formulation of general relativity was mastered. The efforts of the greatest physicist and of the greatest mathematician of the time were involved and reached a breathtaking concentration during the last month of the work. Recent controversy, raised by a much publicized 1997 reading of Hilbert’s proof- sheets of his article of November 1915, is also discussed. arXiv:physics/0504179v1 [physics.hist-ph] 25 Apr 2005 ∗ Expanded version of a Colloquium lecture held at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, 9 December 1992 and (updated) at the International University Bremen, 15 March 2005. ∗∗ Permanent address. Introduction Since the supergravity fashion and especially since the birth of superstrings a new science emerged which may be called “high energy mathematical physics”. One fad changes the other each going further away from accessible experiments and into mathe- matical models, ending up, at best, with the solution of an interesting problem in pure mathematics. The realization of the grand original design seems to be, decades later, nowhere in sight. For quite some time, though, the temptation for mathematical physi- cists (including leading mathematicians) was hard to resist. -
Richard P. Feynman Author
Title: The Making of a Genius: Richard P. Feynman Author: Christian Forstner Ernst-Haeckel-Haus Friedrich-Schiller-Universität Jena Berggasse 7 D-07743 Jena Germany Fax: +49 3641 949 502 Email: [email protected] Abstract: In 1965 the Nobel Foundation honored Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, Julian Schwinger, and Richard Feynman for their fundamental work in quantum electrodynamics and the consequences for the physics of elementary particles. In contrast to both of his colleagues only Richard Feynman appeared as a genius before the public. In his autobiographies he managed to connect his behavior, which contradicted several social and scientific norms, with the American myth of the “practical man”. This connection led to the image of a common American with extraordinary scientific abilities and contributed extensively to enhance the image of Feynman as genius in the public opinion. Is this image resulting from Feynman’s autobiographies in accordance with historical facts? This question is the starting point for a deeper historical analysis that tries to put Feynman and his actions back into historical context. The image of a “genius” appears then as a construct resulting from the public reception of brilliant scientific research. Introduction Richard Feynman is “half genius and half buffoon”, his colleague Freeman Dyson wrote in a letter to his parents in 1947 shortly after having met Feynman for the first time.1 It was precisely this combination of outstanding scientist of great talent and seeming clown that was conducive to allowing Feynman to appear as a genius amongst the American public. Between Feynman’s image as a genius, which was created significantly through the representation of Feynman in his autobiographical writings, and the historical perspective on his earlier career as a young aspiring physicist, a discrepancy exists that has not been observed in prior biographical literature. -
Julian Schwinger (1918-1994)
Julian Schwinger (1918-1994) K. A. Milton Homer L. Dodge Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019 June 15, 2006 Julian Schwinger’s influence on Twentieth Century science is profound and pervasive. Of course, he is most famous for his renormalization theory of quantum electrodynamics, for which he shared the Nobel Prize with Richard Feynman and Sin-itiro Tomonaga. But although this triumph was undoubt- edly his most heroic accomplishment, his legacy lives on chiefly through sub- tle and elegant work in classical electrodynamics, quantum variational princi- ples, proper-time methods, quantum anomalies, dynamical mass generation, partial symmetry, and more. Starting as just a boy, he rapidly became the pre-eminent nuclear physicist in the late 1930s, led the theoretical develop- ment of radar technology at MIT during World War II, and then, soon after the war, conquered quantum electrodynamics, and became the leading quan- tum field theorist for two decades, before taking a more iconoclastic route during his last quarter century. Given his commanding stature in theoretical physics for decades it may seem puzzling why he is relatively unknown now to the educated public, even to many younger physicists, while Feynman is a cult figure with his photograph needing no more introduction than Einstein’s. This relative ob- scurity is even more remarkable, in view of the enormous number of eminent physicists, as well as other leaders in science and industry, who received their Ph.D.’s under Schwinger’s direction, while Feynman had but few. In part, the answer lies in Schwinger’s retiring nature and reserved demeanor. -
Ebook Download the Historical Development of Quantum Theory
THE HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT OF QUANTUM THEORY PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Jagdish Mehra, Helmut Rechenberg | 878 pages | 28 Dec 2000 | Springer-Verlag New York Inc. | 9780387951744 | English | New York, NY, United States The Historical Development of Quantum Theory - Jagdish Mehra, Helmut Rechenberg - Google Books Other Editions 2. Friend Reviews. To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. Lists with This Book. This book is not yet featured on Listopia. Community Reviews. Showing Rating details. More filters. Sort order. Very helpful in trying to follow Heisenberg breakthrough to quantum matrix mechanics. Raiyan Ahsan rated it it was amazing Feb 09, Valentin rated it it was amazing May 14, David Keirsey rated it it was amazing Sep 16, Manny marked it as to-read Apr 06, Katherine L marked it as to-read Apr 15, Charles added it Mar 22, Ahmed Nagy marked it as to-read Oct 01, Renan Virginio marked it as to-read Nov 26, Io marked it as to-read Jan 31, Steve marked it as to-read Jan 29, Alex marked it as to-read Dec 01, Sean marked it as to-read Jan 29, Yasser marked it as to-read Aug 21, Chen Haoyan marked it as to-read Sep 14, CRIZ marked it as to- read Oct 01, Vid Klopcic marked it as to-read Jan 20, Anand Prakash marked it as to-read Jun 28, Suraj Nk marked it as to-read Dec 29, Joan Wang added it Aug 09, David marked it as to-read Dec 07, Angel Ramos vela marked it as to-read Feb 20, Petar Pervan marked it as to-read Aug 23, There are no discussion topics on this book yet. -
A Complete Bibliography of Publications in Isis, 1990–1999
A Complete Bibliography of Publications in Isis, 1990{1999 Nelson H. F. Beebe University of Utah Department of Mathematics, 110 LCB 155 S 1400 E RM 233 Salt Lake City, UT 84112-0090 USA Tel: +1 801 581 5254 FAX: +1 801 581 4148 E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] (Internet) WWW URL: http://www.math.utah.edu/~beebe/ 25 May 2018 Version 0.07 Title word cross-reference c [1275]. AΠOPHMA [2901]. BOTANIKON [2901]. ΠEPITΩNΠEΠONΘΩNTOΠΩN [1716]. ⊂ [431]. ⊃ [431]. -1708 [2436]. -4 [3189]. /Max [3367, 1215]. 0Die [1766]. 1 [1169, 2655, 2935, 566, 1131, 1939]. 1.7 [1001]. 1.7-7 [1001]. 10 [2649, 2983]. 100 [323]. 129 [1808]. 1333 [1938]. 1336 [2425]. 1345 [2250, 920]. 1400 [3429]. 1420 [2078]. 1450 [1797]. 1483 [348]. 150-Year [2452]. 1500 [29]. 1530 [30]. 1543 [441]. 1550 [2160, 3491, 1246]. 1570 [1998]. 1597 [3531]. 1600 [3326, 2734, 440, 151, 347]. 1610 [1724]. 1610/11 [1651]. 1620 [2652]. 1626 [2003]. 1632 [2000]. 1650 [1377]. 1653 [2901]. 1 2 1654 [2346]. 1657 [732]. 1659 [2816]. 1662 [357]. 1676 [1379, 452]. 1683 [1531]. 1685 [838]. 1687 [1976]. 1690 [2661]. 1696 [1531]. 1699 [835]. 1700 [34, 2491, 3315, 2975]. 1701 [2512]. 1715 [1820]. 1718 [2167]. 1727 [1193, 42]. 1730 [1733]. 1740 [2899]. 1742 [260]. 1750 [3140, 1479, 1560, 3142, 1286, 1566, 2746, 3141, 2351, 1385, 3404]. 1753 [456]. 1770 [460, 3152]. 1773 [3342]. 1777 [1483]. 1783 [2749]. 1785 [3057]. 1789 [461]. 1789/90 [461]. 1791 [3146]. 1792 [1734]. 1795 [2174, 165]. 1799 [561, 3442]. 17de [2814]. 1800 [2356, 326, 2412, 44, 923, 1928, 2902, 2101, 932, 245, 3590]. -
Wolfgang Pauli 1900 to 1930: His Early Physics in Jungian Perspective
Wolfgang Pauli 1900 to 1930: His Early Physics in Jungian Perspective A Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of the University of Minnesota by John Richard Gustafson In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Advisor: Roger H. Stuewer Minneapolis, Minnesota July 2004 i © John Richard Gustafson 2004 ii To my father and mother Rudy and Aune Gustafson iii Abstract Wolfgang Pauli's philosophy and physics were intertwined. His philosophy was a variety of Platonism, in which Pauli’s affiliation with Carl Jung formed an integral part, but Pauli’s philosophical explorations in physics appeared before he met Jung. Jung validated Pauli’s psycho-philosophical perspective. Thus, the roots of Pauli’s physics and philosophy are important in the history of modern physics. In his early physics, Pauli attempted to ground his theoretical physics in positivism. He then began instead to trust his intuitive visualizations of entities that formed an underlying reality to the sensible physical world. These visualizations included holistic kernels of mathematical-physical entities that later became for him synonymous with Jung’s mandalas. I have connected Pauli’s visualization patterns in physics during the period 1900 to 1930 to the psychological philosophy of Jung and displayed some examples of Pauli’s creativity in the development of quantum mechanics. By looking at Pauli's early physics and philosophy, we gain insight into Pauli’s contributions to quantum mechanics. His exclusion principle, his influence on Werner Heisenberg in the formulation of matrix mechanics, his emphasis on firm logical and empirical foundations, his creativity in formulating electron spinors, his neutrino hypothesis, and his dialogues with other quantum physicists, all point to Pauli being the dominant genius in the development of quantum theory. -
Wave-Particle Duality 波粒二象性
Duality Bohr Wave-particle duality 波粒二象性 Classical Physics Object Govern Laws Phenomena Particles Newton’s Law Mechanics, Heat Fields and Waves Maxwell’s Eq. Optics, Electromagnetism Our interpretation of the experimental material rests essentially upon the classical concepts ... 我们对实验资料的诠释,是本质地建筑在经典概念之上的。 — N. Bohr, 1927. SM Hu, YJ Yan Quantum Physics Duality Bohr Wave-particle duality — Photon 电磁波 Electromagnetic wave, James Clerk Maxwell: Maxwell’s Equations, 1860; Heinrich Hertz, 1888 黑体辐射 Blackbody radiation, Max PlanckNP1918: Planck’s constant, 1900 光电效应 Photoelectric effect, Albert EinsteinNP1921: photons, 1905 All these fifty years of conscious brooding have brought me no nearer to the answer to the question, “What are light quanta?” Nowadays every Tom, Dick and Harry thinks he knows it, but he is mistaken. 这五十年来的思考,没有使我更加接近 “什么是光量子?” 这个问题的 答案。如今,每个人都以为自己知道这个答案,但其实是被误导了。 — Albert Einstein, to Michael Besso, 1954 SM Hu, YJ Yan Quantum Physics Duality Bohr Wave-particle duality — Electron Electron in an Atom Electron: Cathode rays 阴极射线 Joseph John Thomson, 1897 J. J. ThomsonNP1906 1856-1940 SM Hu, YJ Yan Quantum Physics Duality Bohr Wave-particle duality — Electron Electron in an Atom Electron: 阴极射线 Cathode rays, Joseph Thomson, 1897 Atoms: 行星模型 Planetary model, Ernest Rutherford, 1911 E. RutherfordNC1908 1871-1937 SM Hu, YJ Yan Quantum Physics Duality Bohr Spectrum of Atomic Hydrogen Spectroscopy , Fingerprints of atoms & molecules ... Atomic Hydrogen Johann Jakob Balmer, 1885 n2 λ = 364:56 n2−4 (nm), n =3,4,5,6 Johannes Rydberg, 1888 1 1 − 1 ν = λ = R( n2 n02 ) R = 109677cm−1 4 × 107/364:56 = 109721 RH = 109677.5834... SM Hu, YJ Yan Quantum Physics Duality Bohr Bohr’s Theory — Electron in Atomic Hydrogen Electron in an Atom Electron: 阴极射线 Cathode rays, Joseph Thomson, 1897 Atoms: 行星模型 Planetary model, Ernest Rutherford, 1911 Spectrum of H: Balmer series, Johann Jakob Balmer, 1885 Quantization energy to H atom, Niels Bohr, 1913 Bohr’s Assumption There are certain allowed orbits for which the electron has a fixed energy. -
Charles Galton Darwin's 1922 Quantum Theory of Optical Dispersion
Eur. Phys. J. H 45, 1{23 (2020) https://doi.org/10.1140/epjh/e2020-80058-7 THE EUROPEAN PHYSICAL JOURNAL H Charles Galton Darwin's 1922 quantum theory of optical dispersion Benjamin Johnson1,2,a 1 Max Planck Institute for the History of Science Boltzmannstraße 22, 14195 Berlin, Germany 2 Fritz-Haber-Institut der Max-Planck-Gesellschaft Faradayweg 4, 14195 Berlin, Germany Received 13 October 2017 / Received in final form 4 February 2020 Published online 29 May 2020 c The Author(s) 2020. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com Abstract. The quantum theory of dispersion was an important concep- tual advancement which led out of the crisis of the old quantum theory in the early 1920s and aided in the formulation of matrix mechanics in 1925. The theory of Charles Galton Darwin, often cited only for its reliance on the statistical conservation of energy, was a wave-based attempt to explain dispersion phenomena at a time between the the- ories of Ladenburg and Kramers. It contributed to future successes in quantum theory, such as the virtual oscillator, while revealing through its own shortcomings the limitations of the wave theory of light in the interaction of light and matter. After its publication, Darwin's theory was widely discussed amongst his colleagues as the competing inter- pretation to Compton's in X-ray scattering experiments. It also had a pronounced influence on John C. Slater, whose ideas formed the basis of the BKS theory. 1 Introduction Charles Galton Darwin mainly appears in the literature on the development of quantum mechanics in connection with his early and explicit opinions on the non- conservation (or statistical conservation) of energy and his correspondence with Niels Bohr. -
The Rise of Quantum Mechanics 3
QUADERNIDISTORIADELLAFISICA N.0-June2008 The Rise of Quantum Mechanics Sigfrido Boffi Dipartimento di Fisica Nucleare e Teorica, Universit`adegli Studi di Pavia 1. Introduction cal physics was well organized in differ- ent sectors. Within each sector a closed and coherent system of concepts and laws “The discovery and development of was able to satisfactorily account for the quantum theory in the twentieth century corresponding phenomenology. Some re- is an epic story and demands appropri- markable syntheses, such as the unifica- ate telling. This story cannot be told in tion of electric and magnetic phenomena the fullness of its glory without analyz- or the kinetic theory of matter, were sug- ing in some detail the multitude of prob- gesting that mechanics, thermodynam- lems which together came to constitute ics, electromagnetism were only different the fabric of quantum theory. Much more branches of physics on the road towards a than the relativity theories, both special global unified description of physical phe- and general, which completed the edifice nomena. Analytical mechanics would in of classical mechanics, the quantum the- any case play a privileged role because ory is unique in the history of science and the three Newton’s laws were at the ori- intellectual history of man: in its con- gin of the scientific paradigm of an objec- ceptions it made a complete break with tive world governed by the causality law, the past and fashioned a new worldview where the global behaviour can be lead about the structure of matter and radia- back to the knowledge of the mutual in- tion and many of the fundamental forces teraction of constituents. -
Drawing Theories Apart: the Dispersion of Feynman Diagrams In
Drawing Theories Apart Drawing Theories Apart The Dispersion of Feynman Diagrams in Postwar Physics david kaiser The University of Chicago Press chicago and london David Kaiser is associate professor in the Program in Science, Technology, and Society and lecturer in the Department of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The University of Chicago Press, Chicago 60637 The University of Chicago Press, Ltd., London C 2005 by The University of Chicago All rights reserved. Published 2005 Printed in the United States of America 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 07 06 05 1 2 3 4 5 isbn: 0-226-42266-6 (cloth) isbn: 0-226-42267-4 (paper) Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Kaiser, David. Drawing theories apart : the dispersion of Feynman diagrams in postwar physics / David Kaiser. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. isbn 0-226-42266-6 (alk. paper)—isbn 0-226-42267-4 (pbk. : alk. paper) 1. Feynman diagrams. 2. Physics—United States—History— 20th century. 3. Physics—History—20th century. I. Title. QC794.6.F4K35 2005 530.0973 0904—dc22 2004023335 ∞ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ansi z39.48-1992. He teaches his theory, not as a body of fact, but as a set of tools, to be used, and which he has actually used in his work. John Clarke Slater describing Percy Bridgman after Bridgman won the Nobel Prize in Physics, 11 January 1947 Contents Preface and Acknowledgments xi Abbreviations xvii Chapter 1 .