Quantum Generations A History of Physics in the Twentieth Century

Kragh, Helge

ISBN 10: 0691095523 / ISBN 13: 9780691095523

Edité par Princeton University Press, Princeton, 2002

A propos de cet article

Very Good condition. Several small ink notations to the rear free endpaper. Robust, professional packaging and tracking provided for all parcels. 494 pages. At the end of the nineteenth century, some physicists believed that the basic principles underlying their subject were already known, and that physics in the future would only consist of filling in the details. They could hardly have been more wrong. The past century has seen the rise of quantum mechanics, relativity, cosmology, particle physics, and solid-state physics, among other fields. One of the world's leading historians of physics, presents a sweeping account of all these extraordinary achievements of the twentieth century.

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Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Quantum Generations A History of Physics in the Twentieth Century
• Éditeur: Princeton University Press, Princeton
• Date de parution: 2002
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN à 10 chiffres: 0691095523
• ISBN à 13 chiffres: 9780691095523
• Reliure: Trade Paperback
• Édition: 1st Paperback Edition.
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Science-Physics

A propos de ce titre

Synopsis

At the end of the nineteenth century, some physicists believed that the basic principles underlying their subject were already known, and that physics in the future would only consist of filling in the details. They could hardly have been more wrong. The past century has seen the rise of quantum mechanics, relativity, cosmology, particle physics, and solid-state physics, among other fields. These subjects have fundamentally changed our understanding of space, time, and matter. They have also transformed daily life, inspiring a technological revolution that has included the development of radio, television, lasers, nuclear power, and computers. In Quantum Generations, Helge Kragh, one of the world's leading historians of physics, presents a sweeping account of these extraordinary achievements of the past one hundred years. The first comprehensive one-volume history of twentieth-century physics, the book takes us from the discovery of X rays in the mid-1890s to superstring theory in the 1990s. Unlike most previous histories of physics, written either from a scientific perspective or from a social and institutional perspective, Quantum Generations combines both approaches. Kragh writes about pure science with the expertise of a trained physicist, while keeping the content accessible to nonspecialists and paying careful attention to practical uses of science, ranging from compact disks to bombs. As a historian, Kragh skillfully outlines the social and economic contexts that have shaped the field in the twentieth century. He writes, for example, about the impact of the two world wars, the fate of physics under Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin, the role of military research, the emerging leadership of the United States, and the backlash against science that began in the 1960s. He also shows

À propos de l'auteur

Helge Kragh is Professor of History of Science at Aarhus University, Denmark. His previous books include An Introduction to the Historiography of Science, Dirac: A Scientific Biography, and Cosmology and Controversy: The Historical Development of Two Theories of the Universe (Princeton).