Gamow, physicist and gifted writer, has sketched an intriguing portrait of the scientists and clashing ideas that made the quantum revolution…”—Christian Science MonitorIn 1900, German physicist Max Planck postulated that light, or radiant energy can exist only in the form of discrete packages or quanta. This profound insight, along with Einstein's equally momentous theories of relativity, completely revolutionized man's view of matter, energy, and the nature of physics itself.In this lucid layman's introduction to quantum theory, an eminent physicist and noted popularizer of science traces the development of quantum theory from the turn of the century to about 1930—from Planck's seminal concept (still developing) to anti-particles, mesons and Enrico Fermi's nuclear research. Gamow was not just a spectator at the theoretical breakthroughs which fundamentally altered our view of the universe, he was an active participant who made important contributions of his own. This “insider's” vantage point lends special validity to his careful, accessible explanation of Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle, Neils Bohr's model of the atom, the pilot waves of Louis de Broglie and other path-breaking ideas.In addition, Gamow recounts a wealth of revealing personal anecdotes which give a warm human dimension to many giants of 20th-century physics. He end the book with the Blegdamsvej Faust, a delightful play written in 1932 by Niels Bohr's students and colleagues to satirize the epochal developments that were revolutionizing physics. This celebrated play is available only in this volume.Written in a clear, lively style, and enhanced by 12 photographs (including candid shots of Rutherford, Bohr, Pauli, Heisenberg, Fermi and other notables), Thirty Years that Shook Physics offers both scientists and laymen a highly readable introduction to the brilliant conception that helped unlock many secrets of energy and matter and laid the groundwork for future discoveries.(Back Cover)

    In this reader-friendly, unabridged edition of three of his best-selling books, renowned science writer Isaac Asimov demystifies physics, teaching the fundamentals in a manner easily understood by lay people. Including the complete text of Motion, Sound and Heat, Light, Magnetism and Electricity, and The Electron, Proton and Neutron, this volume will guide you through the evolution of physics from its early Greek beginnings up to the modern theories of the creation of time, space and matter. Each volume relates the tale of the human quest through the ages for answers to the fundamental questions of how the universe works. Told in its historical context, this quest for knowledge is a story of high drama and uncommon valor, when men put their very lives on the line for the sake of scientific truth.3 Volumes in One: Motion, Sound & Heat; Light, Magnetism & Electricity; The Electron, Proton & Neutron. 1993 Barnes & Noble reprint of three Isaac Asimov classics. Originally published in 1966.

    Written by two of the field's true pioneers, Spacetime Physics can extend and enhance coverage of specialty relativity in the classroom. This thoroughly up-to-date, highly accessible overview covers microgravity, collider accelerators, satellite probes, neutron detectors, radioastronomy, and pulsars.  The chapter on general relativity with new material on gravity waves, black holes, and cosmology.

    These centuries gave birth to the basic concepts from which modern physics has evolved. In this first volume of his celebrated UNDERSTANDING PHYSICS, Isaac Asimov deals with this fascinating, momentous stage of scientific development with an authority and clarity that add further lustre to an eminent reputation. Demanding the minimum of specialized knowledge from his audience, he has produced a work that is the perfect supplement to the student’s formal textbook, as well as offering invaluable illumination to the general reader.

    The Fourth Edition of volumes 1 and 2 is concerned with mechanics and E&M/Optics. New features include: expanded coverage of classic physics topics, substantial increases in the number of in-text examples which reinforce text exposition, the latest pedagogical and technical advances in the field, numerical analysis, computer-generated graphics, computer projects and much more.

    Our twentieth century then produced the theory that has been serving physicists so faithfully for over sixty years - quantum mechanics. The landscape of the new world is quire unlike our own. So different that physicists frequently lack words to describe it. Quantum mechanics had to create new conceptions for the world of the ultra-small, bizarre conceptions beyond the scope of pictorial imagery. Customary physical laws cease to operate in the new world. Particles lose their dimensions and acquire the properties of waves. Electrons and the other building stones of matter can pass through impenetrable barriers, or they can vanish altogether leaving only photons in their place. Those are the things quantum mechanics dealt with. This book will tell you about the origin and development of quantum mechanics, about its new concepts. It will describe how the new theory deciphered the secrets of the structure of atoms, molecules, crystals, atomic nulei, and how quantum mechanics is dealing with the problem of the most fundamental of all properties of matter - the interaction of particles and the relationships between fields and matter.

    It was a new paradigm at the time and continues to be the dominant model for all texts. Physics is the most realistic option for schools looking to teach a more demanding course.

    

    It can be read by any student with a background of high school physics or chemistry, and will serve scientists and engineers well as a primer in the field of solid-state theory.The first half of the book develops basic concepts in modern atomic physics. Included are illuminating discussions of heat, heat capacity, order, symmetry, atoms and ions, molecules and metals and structures. The second part then applies the concepts elucidated to the structural and electrical properties of solid materials. This involves treatment of atomic motions, particles and waves, electrons in atoms, electrons in solids, electrical conduction, semiconductors and magnets. An appendix entitled "Scales of Energy" rounds out the book.Dr. Holden, a former research scientist with Bell Telephone Laboratories and former visiting professor at M.I.T., does not delve deeply into the interaction between theory and experiment. Rather, these pages are devoted, in his words, to "explaining the theories — to picturing the models — that provide the best means known today for unifying our knowledge of solids and connecting it with a broader field of science." Readers will find that this lucid, well-written study achieves its purpose, combining elements of physics, chemistry, and crystallography to produce a comprehensive, interconnected picture of solid-state theory and its role in the wider scope of modern science.

    "Authoritative, encyclopedic, presented clearly and elegantly", Sky and Telescope. "The standard textbook on radio astronomy used by professionals and amateurs alike", Radio Astronomy Magazine. "A useful, up-to-date, clear and pedagogically often brilliant introduction to the subject", Scientific American.

    

    Combines material from gas dynamics, shock-wave theory, thermodynamics and statistical physics, molecular physics, spectroscopy, radiation theory, other fields for comprehensive treatment.284 black-and-white illustrations. 1966–1967 edition, originally published in two volumes.