Károly Simonyi A Cultural History of Physics Translated by David Kramer Originally published in Hungarian as A fizika kultûrtörténete, Fourth Edition, Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1998, and published in German as Kulturgeschichte der Physik, Third Edition, Verlag Harri Deutsch, Frankfurt am Main, 2001. First Hungarian edition 1978. CRC Press Taylor & Francis Group 6000 Broken Sound Parkway NW, Suite 300 Boca Raton, FL 33487-2742 © 2012 by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC CRC Press is an imprint of Taylor & Francis Group, an Informa business No claim to original U.S. Government works Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper Version Date: 20111110 International Standard Book Number: 978-1-56881-329-5 (Hardback) This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. 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QC7.S55313 2010 530.09--dc22 2010009407 Visit the Taylor & Francis Web site at http://www.taylorandfrancis.com and the CRC Press Web site at http://www.crcpress.com Contents Foreword by Charles Simonyi xi Preface xiii Introduction: The History of Physics and Its Relevance to Our Lives Today 0.1 The istoryH of Physics and Its Relevance to Our Lives Today 1 0.2 Assessment and Division into Epochs 3 0.2.1 A Historical Timeline Based on the Intensity of Scientific Activity 3 0.2.2 ­Scientific Knowledge from the Viewpoint of the Physicist of Today 4 0.2.3 Division into Epochs Based on Theoretical Synthesis 7 0.2.4 The oleR of Modeling 8 0.3 Elements of the Philosophy of Science 10 0.3.1 Illusory Simplicity 10 0.3.2 Reason and Experience 12 0.3.3 Pitfalls of the Inductive Method 14 0.4 The Dynamism of istoryH 15 0.4.1 Forces for Progress 15 0.4.2 Limits, Possibilities, and Dangers 19 0.4.3 Uncertainty in the Precision 21 0.4.4 Physics in a New Role 23 0.4.5 Characterization of Epochs in Physics 24 Chapter 1: The Classical Heritage 1.1 The reekG Inheritance 31 1.1.1 The eginningsB of Science 31 1.1.2 Egypt and Mesopotamia 32 1.2 The armonious,H Beautiful Order 45 1.2.1 Overview: Temporal, Spatial, and Causal Connections 45 1.2.2 Mysticism and Mathematics: Pythagoras 50 1.2.3 Idea and Reality 54 1.2.4 Plato on Insight and Ideas 57 1.3 Matter and Motion: The Aristotelian Synthesis 60 1.3.1 Atoms and Elements 60 1.3.2 Motion under Terrestrial Conditions: Peripatetic Dynamics 65 1.3.3 Celestial Motion 72 1.3.4 The Aristotelian Worldview 74 1.3.5 A Selection from Aristotle’s Metaphysics 76 1.4 The reatestG Achievements of the Ancient Sciences 78 1.4.1 Archimedes 79 1.4.2 The tolemaicP System for Describing Celestial Motion 89 1.4.3 Measuring the Cosmos: Geography 90 1.4.4 Geometry 95 1.4.5 Scientific nstrumentsI and Technology 98 v 1.5 The Twilight of Hellenism 99 1.5.1 Pessimistic Philosophers 99 1.5.2 Augustine on the Absurdity of Astrology 104 1.5.3 Augustine on Time 105 Chapter 2: The Stewards of the Heritage 2.1 The Thousand-Year Balance Sheet 113 2.1.1 Why Did Progress Stall? 113 2.1.2 Europe Takes Shape 115 2.1.3 The Technological Revolution 121 2.1.4 Monasteries and Universities 123 2.2 The Salvage of Ancient Knowledge 129 2.2.1 The Direct Path 129 2.2.2 Byzantium 131 2.2.3 The Arab Transmission 132 2.2.4 Return to the Source 133 2.3 The Indian and Arab Worlds 136 2.3.1 The Decimal System 136 2.3.2 Algebra and Algorithm 137 2.3.3 Some Outstanding Contributions of Arab Science 138 2.4 The West Awakens 140 2.4.1 Fibonacci: The Artist of Computation 140 2.4.2 Jordanus Nemorarius: Structural Engineer 142 2.4.3 Descriptive Kinematics: Nicole Oresme and Merton College 143 2.4.4 Peripatetic Dynamics Reformed 145 2.4.5 Buridan’s Theory of Impetus 146 2.4.6 Physics in Astronomy 147 2.4.7 Results 148 2.4.8 Nicole Oresme on the Motion of Earth 149 2.5 Medieval Natural Philosophy 151 2.5.1 Faith, Authority, and Science 151 2.5.2 Faith and Experience 154 2.6 The Renaissance and Physics 157 2.6.1 Art, Philology, and Science 157 2.6.2 Progress in Mechanics 159 2.6.3 The Science of Artists 161 2.6.4 Leonardo da Vinci 162 2.6.5 The Professional Astronomers Take the Stage 164 2.6.6 The Role of the Printing Press 165 Chapter 3: Demolition and the Construction of a New Foundation 3.1 The World in 1600 171 3.2 Numerology and Reality 176 3.2.1 Back to Plato in a New Spirit 176 3.2.2 The Retrograde Revolutionary: Copernicus 177 3.2.3 A Compromise: Tycho Brahe 185 3.2.4 Celestial Harmony: Kepler 189 vi 3.3 Galileo and Those Who Stood in His Shadow 194 3.3.1 The Unity of the Celestial and Terrestrial Spheres 194 3.3.2 Inclined Planes, Pendulums, and Projectile Motion 201 3.3.3 Galileo’s Greatness 208 3.3.4 In the Background: Stevin and Beeckman 210 3.3.5 The Possibility of Connection 212 3.4 The New Philosophy: Doubt Becomes Method 213 3.4.1 Francis Bacon and the Inductive Method 213 3.4.2 A Method for Discovering Certain Truth: Descartes 216 3.4.3 The Cartesian Laws of Motion 219 3.4.4 The First Cosmogony 220 3.4.5 On the Periphery of Western Culture 223 3.5 Light, Vacuum, and Matter through the Middle of the Seventeenth Century 226 3.5.1 The Snell–Descartes Law 226 3.5.2 Fermat’s Principle 230 3.5.3 Vacuum and Air Pressure 233 3.5.4 Uncertain Steps on the Path to Modern Chemistry 237 3.6 After Descartes and before Newton: Huygens 240 3.6.1 Huygens’s Axioms on Dynamics 240 3.6.2 The Mathematical Pendulum 245 3.6.3 The Cycloidal Pendulum 246 3.6.4 The Physical Pendulum 249 3.6.5 The Collision Laws as Consequences of the Equivalence of Inertial Systems 252 3.6.6 Circular Motion 254 3.7 Newton and the Principia: The Newtonian Worldview 255 3.7.1 The Tasks Awaiting the Advent of Newton 255 3.7.2 A Force Is Not Required to Maintain a State of Motion but to Change It 256 3.7.3 The Law of Universal Gravitation 260 3.7.4 Selections from the Principia 264 3.7.5 Newton as Philosopher 270 Chapter 4: The Completion of Classical Physics 4.1 Starting Capital for the Eighteenth Century 281 4.1.1 Prior Results 281 4.1.2 Waves or Particles? 281 4.1.3 Analytic Geometry 289 4.1.4 Differential and Integral Calculus: The Battle of the Titans 291 4.1.5 For and against Descartes 297 4.1.6 Voltaire and the Philosophers 299 4.2 Worthy Successors: d’Alembert, Euler, and Lagrange 301 4.2.1 Possible Directions for Progress 301 4.2.2 Results in Statics 304 4.2.3 Newtonian Mechanics in Euler’s Hands 305 4.2.4 The First Variational Principle in Mechanics: Maupertuis 309 4.2.5 The First “Positivist”: d’Alembert 311 4.2.6 Modern Ideas 314 4.2.7 Mechanics as Poetry 316 vii 4.3 The Century of Light 319 4.3.1 The Enlightenment 319 4.3.2 The Great Encyclopedia 321 4.3.3 d’Alembert: Preface to the Encyclopedia 322 4.3.4 Belief in the Solid Foundation of Physics: Kant 326 4.4 From Effluvium to the Electromagnetic Field 329 4.4.1 Peter of Maricourt and Gilbert 329 4.4.2 The Chronology of Progress 330 4.4.3 Qualitative Electrostatics 332 4.4.4 Quantitative Electrostatics 338 4.4.5 Flow of Electric Charge 340 4.4.6 The Magnetic Field of Electric Currents: Cross-Fertilization from Natural Philosophy 345 4.4.7 The Interaction of Currents: An Extension of Newton’s Ideas 346 4.4.8 Faraday: The Greatest of the Experimentalists 349 4.4.9 Maxwell: The Fundamental Laws of Electromagnetic Fields 354 4.4.10 The Electromagnetic Theory of Light 359 4.4.11 Lorentz’s Theory of the Electron 363 4.5 Heat and Energy 365 4.5.1 The Thermometer 365 4.5.2 Progressive in Its Day: The Caloricum Theory of Joseph Black 366 4.5.3 Rumford: But Heat Is Still a Form of Motion! 368 4.5.4 Fourier’s Theory of Heat Conduction 369 4.5.5 Caloricum and the State Equation 372 4.5.6 The Carnot Cycle 373 4.5.7 The Kinetic Theory of Heat: First Steps 374 4.5.8 The Law of Conservation of Energy 376 4.5.9 The Kinetic Theory of Gases 377 4.5.10 The Second Law of Thermodynamics 379 4.5.11 Entropy and Probability 381 4.6 The Structure of Matter and Electricity: The Classical Atom 387 4.6.1 Chemistry Hinting at the Atomic Structure of Matter 387 4.6.2 The Electron: J.