Albert Einstein allows us to see deeply into (his) inner world". -- Alan Lightman, The New York Review of BooksThe name of Albert Einstein has become synonymous with supreme wisdom and benignity. Not only was he responsible for the fundamental remapping of our understanding of the physical cosmos, he also left a legacy of outspokenness on the crucial moral, political, and religious issues of the twentieth century. Drawing on an unprecedented number of sources, Albrecht Folsing throws into fresh relief the remarkable life of Einstein, approaching the man through the science and situating him in the creatively charged times in which he thrived.Albert Einstein is both an engaging portrait of a genius and a distillation of scientific thought. Folsing sheds light on Einstein's development and the complexity of his being: his childhood idiosyncrasies, his views on war and peace, his stimulating friendships with colleagues, and his intense relationships with women. This is a serious yet highly readable and intimate account of the genius who expanded our understanding of nature and of the singular man who played such an exceptional role in the cultural growth of this century."A provocative portrait...Folsing is painstaking and thorough in his research, taking us step-by-step through the crystallization of Einstein's thoughts". -- The Washington Post Book World"The best recent treatment of Einstein's life in and out of science". -- The Boston Book Review"Richly detailed...(Folsing) has managed to bring a fresh tint to this iconic figure of modern science". -- San FranciscoChronicle

    13 extraordinary essays shed new light on the mysteries of the universe & on one of the most brilliant thinkers of our time.In his phenomenal bestseller A Brief History of Time, Stephen Hawking literally transformed the way we think about physics, the universe, reality itself. In these thirteen essays and one remarkable extended interview, the man widely regarded as the most brilliant theoretical physicist since Einstein returns to reveal an amazing array of possibilities for understanding our universe. Building on his earlier work, Hawking discusses imaginary time, how black holes can give birth to baby universes, and scientists’ efforts to find a complete unified theory that would predict everything in the universe. With his characteristic mastery of language, his sense of humor and commitment to plain speaking, Stephen Hawking invites us to know him better—and to share his passion for the voyage of intellect and imagination that has opened new ways to understanding the very nature of the cosmos.

    The book takes us from the Greeks' earliest scientific observations through Einstein and beyond in an inspiring celebration of human curiosity. It ends with the quest for the Higgs boson, nicknamed the God Particle, which scientists hypothesize will help unlock the last secrets of the subatomic universe. With a new preface by Lederman, The God Particle will leave you marveling at our continuing pursuit of the infinitesimal.

    They develop an interpretation of quantum mechanics which gives a clear, intuitive understanding of its meaning and in which there is a coherent notion of the reality of the universe without assuming a fundamental role for the human observer. With the aid of new concepts such as active information together with non-locality, they provide a comprehensive account of all the basic features of quantum mechanics, including the relativistic domain and quantum field theory. It is shown that, with the new approach, paradoxical or unsatisfactory features associated with the standard approaches, such as the wave-particle duality and the collapse of the wave function, do not arise. Finally, the authors make new suggestions and indicate some areas in which one may expect quantum theory to break down in a way that will allow for a test. The Undivided Universe is an important book especially because it provides a different overall world view which is neither mechanistic nor reductionist. This view will ultimately have radical implications not only in physics but also in our general approach to all areas of life.

    His later work has been concerned with a deeper understanding of these two issues. The work required extensive use of the two great intellectual achievements of the first half of the Twentieth Century: general relativity and quantum mechanics; and these are reflected in the reprinted articles. Hawking's key contributions on black hole radiation and the no-boundary condition on the origin of the universe are included.The present compilation of Stephen Hawking's most important work also includes an introduction by him, which guides the reader though the major highlights of the volume. This volume is thus an essential item in any library and will be an important reference source for those interested in theoretical physics and applied mathematics.

    It includes discussions of topics that have become vital to a modern treatment of GFT, such as critical phenomena, lattice gauge theory, supersymmetry, quantum gravity, supergravity, and superstrings.

    These titles, and those to follow in future seasons, form an indispensable library for the whole family.Science Titles: These six volumes are part of DK's first set of U.S - published Eyewitness Books. Each volume focuses on a different field of science, and each features clear, expertly written text, color and black - and - white photos, charts, graphics, and 3 - D models -- all of which combine to make complex scientific concepts easy to understand.Art Titles: Each highly informative visual guide traces the life and work of a great artist, using superb full - color photography to bring the artist's work to life and to explore the conditions and motivations that inspired it.

    It includes a thorough analysis of the cost of the entire process of tunneling by drilling and blasting in comparison with full-face boring. Also covered are the fundamental sciences of rock mass and material strength, the thermal decomposition, burning, shock initiation, and detonation behavior of commercial and military explosives, and systems for charging explosives into drillholes. Functional descriptions of all current detonators and initiation systems are provided. The book includes chapters on flyrock, toxic fumes, the safety of explosives, and even explosives applied in metal working as a fine art. Fundamental in its approach, the text is based on the practical industrial experience of its authors. It is supported by an abundance of tables, diagrams, and figures.This combined textbook and handbook provides students, practitioners, and researchers in mining, mechanical, building construction, geological, and petroleum engineering with a source from which to gain a thorough understanding of the constructive use of explosives.

    An important motivation was to develop an approach capable of dealing with the nonlinear, non-perturbative aspects of quantum gravity due to topologically non-trivial spacetimes. There are important links with a Riemannian geometry. Since its inception the theory has been applied to a number of important physical problems including the thermodynamic properties of black holes, quantum cosmology and the problem of the cosmological constant. It is currently at the centre of a great deal of interest.This is a collection of survey lectures and reprints of some important lectures on the Euclidean approach to quantum gravity in which one expresses the Feynman path integral as a sum over Riemannian metrics. As well as papers on the basic formalism there are sections on Black Holes, Quantum Cosmology, Wormholes and Gravitational Instantons.

    He holds that the universe is self-aware, and that consciousness creates the physical world.

    Dr. George Smoot, a distinguished cosmologist and adventurer whose quest for cosmic knowledge had taken him from the Brazilian rain forest to the South Pole, unveiled his momentous discovery, bringing to light the very nature of the universe. For anyone who has ever looked up at the night sky and wondered, for anyone who has ever longed to pull aside the fabric of the universe for a glimpse of what lies behind it. Wrinkles in Time is the story of Smoot's search to uncover the cosmic seeds of the universe.Wrinkles in Time is the Double Helix of cosmology, an intimate look at the inner world of men and women who ask. "Why are we here?" It tells the story of George Smoot's dogged pursuit of the cosmic wrinkles in the frozen wastes of Antarctica, on mountaintops, in experiments borne aloft aboard high-altitude balloons, U-2 spy planes, and finally a space satellite. Wrinkles in Time presents the hard science behind the structured violence of the big bang theory through breathtakingly clear, lucid images and meaningful comparisons. Scientists and nonscientists alike can follow with rapt attention the story of how, in a fiery creation, wrinkles formed in space ultimately to become stars, galaxies, and even greater delicate structures. Anyone can appreciate the implications of a universe whose end is written in its beginnings - whose course developed according to a kind of cosmic DNA, which guided the universe from simplicity and symmetry to ever-greater complexity and structure. As controversial as it may seem today, Wrinkles in Time reveals truths that, in an earlier century, would have doomed its proclaimers to the fiery stake. For four thousand years some people have accepted the Genesis account of cosmic origin; for most of this century, scientists debated two rival scientific explanations known as the steady state and big bang theories. And now, Wrinkles in Time tells what really happened. The personal story behind astrophysicist George Smoot's incredible discovery of the origin of the cosmos, hailed by Stephen Hawking as "The scientific discovery of the century, if not of all time."

    Explains a host of emerging theoretical concepts--from cosmic strings and quark nuggets to shadow matter and imaginary time. Covers the extraordinary findings of NASA's Cosmic Background Explorer which offer the strongest proof yet of the Big Bang theory.

    The book outlines the conventional aspects of MHD theory, magnetostatic equilibrium and linear stability theory. It concentrates on nonlinear theory, starting with the evolution and saturation of individual ideal and resistive instabilities, continuing with a detailed analysis of magnetic reconnection and concluding with a study of the most complex nonlinear behavior, that of MHD turbulence. The last chapters describe three important applications of the theory: disruptive processes in tokomaks, MHD effects in the reversed field pinch, and solar flares.

    Engrossing journey through the workings of the universe and minds of today's scientific thinkers examines an extraordinary range of topics: from the Superconducting Super Collider and the mysteries of the Big Bang, to strange crystals with impossible structures and the quest for the temperature of absolute zero.

    As an encyclopaedia article, this book does not seek to serve as a textbook, nor to replace the original articles whose results it describes. The book's goal is to provide an overview, pointing out highlights and unsolved problems, and putting individual results into a coherent context. It is full of historical nuggets, many of them surprising. ... The examples are especially helpful; if a particular topic seems difficult, a later example frequently tames it. The writing is refreshingly direct, never degenerating into a vocabulary lesson for its own sake. The book accomplishes the goals it has set for itself. While it is not an introduction to the field, it is an excellent overview. ..." "American Mathematical Monthly, " "Nov." "1989""This is a book to curl up with in front of a fire on a cold winter's evening. ..." "SIAM Reviews, Sept. 1989"

    The theoretical rules given in these books are routinely used by physicists to compute observable quantities. Their predictions can then be compared with experimental data. There is no fundamental disagreement among physicists on how to use the theory for these practical purposes. However, there are profound differences in their opinions on the ontological meaning of quantum theory. The purpose of this book is to clarify the conceptual meaning of quantum theory, and to explain some of the mathematical methods which it utilizes. This text is not concerned with specialized topics such as atomic structure, or strong or weak interactions, but with the very foundations of the theory. This is not, however, a book on the philosophy of science. The approach is pragmatic and strictly instrumentalist. This attitude will undoubtedly antagonize some readers, but it has its own logic: quantum phenomena do not occur in a Hilbert space, they occur in a laboratory.

    The result is a profound contribution to constructive theology, engaging current research in the natural sciences and investigating the philosophical and theological elements in future natural science research.

    However, Gerald Garratt's special interest was in what might be termed the 'prehistory' of radio. This book therefore outlines the sequence of development from Faraday's first prediction and concept of the electromagnetic field: Maxwell worked out the mathematics of electromagnetic wave propagation and Hertz demonstrated their physical existence. Lodge identified the need for resonance between transmitter and receiver, thus leading to Marconi's successful practical application.

    Among the topics: one-dimensional motion, transmission through a potential barrier, commutation relations, angular momentum and spin, and motion of a particle in a magnetic field. An ideal adjunct to any textbook in quantum mechanics, useful in courses in atomic and nuclear physics, mathematical methods in physics, quantum statistics and applied differential equations. 1961 edition.

    Even the most respected scientists today will readily admit that the Big Bang Theory is full of holes. But it takes a new look, like Dark Matter, Missing Planets, and New Comets, to explain not only why the theory is wrong but what to substitute in its place. If you are curious about such things as the nature of matter and the origin of the solar system, but feel inadequately equipped to grasp what modern science has to say about such things, read this book. You will not get the all too common condescending attempt to water down the `mysteries' of modern science into a form intelligible to little non scientist you, but rather a straightforward new theory, logically derived in front of your eyes, which challenges the roots of many of today's complex accepted paradigms, yet whose essence is simple enough to be thoroughly communicated to the intelligent layman without "losing it in the translation."

    This introduction to this important and exciting area first deals with the Bethe ansatz and calculation of physical quantities. The authors then tackle the theory of the quantum inverse scattering method before applying it in the second half of the book to the calculation of correlation functions. This is one of the most important applications of the method and the authors have made significant contributions to the area. Here they describe some of the most recent and general approaches and include some new results. The book will be essential reading for all mathematical physicists working in field theory and statistical physics.

    Throughout this book the underlying emphasis is on how a nucleus is constituted through the interaction between the nucleons. The book is structured into three parts: the first part contains a detailed treatment of the two-nucleon force and of basic model-independent nuclear properties; the second part discusses the experimental results of nuclear models and their bases in fundamental theory; the third part deals in some detail with alpha-decay and fission.

    For those desiring a supplement to Volume 5, for instance, this paperback includes translations of correspondence that give a much richer picture of Einstein in his twenties and thirties than we ever had. In addition to illuminating the personal aspects of his life, the letters document his scientific activity: his concentration for years on the unfathomable problems of quanta and radiation, his extensive knowledge of experimental physics, his many fruitful interactions with experimentalists, and finally his long struggle to generalize the 1905 theory of relativity to include gravitation and accelerated frames of reference. This paperback translation does not include notes or annotation of the documentary volume and is not intended for use without the original language documentary edition, which provides the extensive editorial commentary necessary for a full historical and scientific understanding of the documents.

    In this playful book, Wilson clearly shows children (and anyone else new to engineering) the mystery behind bridges.

    Each volume in "A Pilot's Guide" series covers the fundamentals of flying and the principal characteristics of a specific type and model of aircraft, gathered from the advice and experiences of leading experts in the aviation industry. Geared for pilots interested in renting or buying a particular model, these sourcebooks provide an overview of the aircraft and detailed descriptions of its handling characteristics, limitations, and performance data. A history of each airplane’s use and function is also included.

    The first edition of this book has nurtured numerous beginners and experts since 1993. The second edition is a thoroughly updated version of this 'bible' in the field.The second edition includes a number of new developments in the field. Non-contact atomic-force microscopy has demonstrated true atomic resolution. It enables direct observation and mapping of individual chemical bonds. A new chapter about the underlying physics, atomic forces, is added. The chapter on atomic force microscopy is substantially expanded. Spin-polarized STM has enabled the observation of local magnetic phenomena down to atomic scale. A pedagogical presentation of the basic concepts is included. Inelastic scanning tunneling microscopy has shown the capability of studying vibrational modes of individual molecules. The underlying theory and new instrumentation are added. For biological research, to increase the speed of scanning to observe life phenomena in real time is a key. Advances in this direction are presented as well. The capability of STM to manipulate individual atoms is one of the cornerstones of nanotechnology. The theoretical basis and in particular the relation between tunneling and interaction energy are thoroughly presented, together with experimental facts.

    

    These six extraordinary lectures on gravitation, cohesion, chemical affinity, heat, magnetism, and electricity were intended for young audiences. Together, they offer the reader a fascinating introduction to some of Faraday's most important work on the correlation between the physical forces of the universe.

    This is the finest collection of color photographs of star clusters, galaxies, and nebulae ever published. Working with the world's most sophisticated telescopes and his own revolutionary techniques, world renowned astronomical photographer David Malin captures distant worlds and phenomena in their astonishing natural colors. These unique pictures are accompanied by nontechnical captions and a lucid text accessible and inspiring to the general reader as well as to astronomers and photographers. The foremost astronomical photographer in the world, David Malin is the discoverer of an enigmatic galaxy now known as Malin-1 and the coauthor of Colours of the Stars and Catalogue of the Universe, both published by Cambridge University Press. His photographs have appeared in locations as diverse as Australian postage stamps and the cover of Life magazine.