Best of
Physics

2019

The Second Kind of Impossible: The Extraordinary Quest for a New Form of Matter


Paul J. Steinhardt - 2019
    “A riveting tale of derring-do” (Nature), this book reads like James Gleick’s Chaos combined with an Indiana Jones adventure.When leading Princeton physicist Paul Steinhardt began working in the 1980s, scientists thought they knew all the conceivable forms of matter. The Second Kind of Impossible is the story of Steinhardt’s thirty-five-year-long quest to challenge conventional wisdom. It begins with a curious geometric pattern that inspires two theoretical physicists to propose a radically new type of matter—one that raises the possibility of new materials with never before seen properties, but that violates laws set in stone for centuries. Steinhardt dubs this new form of matter “quasicrystal.” The rest of the scientific community calls it simply impossible. The Second Kind of Impossible captures Steinhardt’s scientific odyssey as it unfolds over decades, first to prove viability, and then to pursue his wildest conjecture—that nature made quasicrystals long before humans discovered them. Along the way, his team encounters clandestine collectors, corrupt scientists, secret diaries, international smugglers, and KGB agents. Their quest culminates in a daring expedition to a distant corner of the Earth, in pursuit of tiny fragments of a meteorite forged at the birth of the solar system. Steinhardt’s discoveries chart a new direction in science. They not only change our ideas about patterns and matter, but also reveal new truths about the processes that shaped our solar system. The underlying science is important, simple, and beautiful—and Steinhardt’s firsthand account is “packed with discovery, disappointment, exhilaration, and persistence...This book is a front-row seat to history as it is made” (Nature).

The Quantum Series: Box Set Books 1 - 3


Douglas Phillips - 2019
    The quantum world doesn't play by those rules. Daniel Rice is a government science investigator whose specialty is solving seemingly intractable problems through scientific inquiry.But Daniel's intellectual strength is sorely tested by the bizarre realities he finds in the quantum world. Extra dimensions of space trap the unwary, probability replaces cause and effect, and time isn't what anyone imagined. The other side of the mirror is a place full of dangers, but it's also somewhere a dedicated scientist can uncover secrets that connect humans with something greater. If you liked the authenticity of The Martian, the page-turning pace of Da Vinci Code, and the inspirational world views of Arthur C. Clarke and Carl Sagan, you'll love The Quantum Series. A mind-bending journey from the ultra-small to the vast stage of the Milky Way. Acclaim for The Quantum Series Awarded the indieBRAG Medallion for 2018"Dazzling tale of weird science" - Publisher's Weekly"I can't recall when I last enjoyed a hard science series as much as this one. The concepts were astounding, the characters were easily believable, and the action emotionally driven. Very hard to put down. It kept me reading half the night. You'll be thinking about the far out science ideas promulgated in this series for a long time." - Chuck Juzek"A great story, no hatred, no evil people trying to destroy others, just a wonderful adventure with a fantastic outcome." - Ric Mannen"Fermi's Paradox is finally explained." - PE Gwinn"An exciting plot that kept me glued to my chair instead of mowing the lawn." - PE Gwinn"Probably one of the most entertaining and intellectually stimulating stories I've read in a long time... and I read a LOT!" - Jason Blackford"Great story that proves the universe is indeed full of magic!" - Rand"The protagonists have an almost poetic underpinning that had me rooting for their success." - J. Kareski"BTW, all three books show respect and admiration for women scientists as well as men." - Robin C."Mr. Phillips is the only person who explained quantum physics to me in a way that was not only understandable but entertaining." - Edward L. Heins

Space: The 10 Things You Should Know


Becky Smethurst - 2019
    Written by Oxford astrophysicist Dr Becky Smethurst and composed of ten captivating, simple essays, it guides you swiftly through the galaxies, explaining the mysteries of black holes, dark matter and what existed before the Big Bang, presenting the evidence as to whether we really are alone, illuminating what we still don't know, and much more besides.If you have big questions about Space, this book will provide you with the answers in an engaging and succinct way.

Einstein's War: How Relativity Triumphed Amid the Vicious Nationalism of World War I


Matthew Stanley - 2019
    The neatly printed equations on the scrap of paper outlined his world-changing theory of general relativity, the first complete revision of our conception of the universe since Isaac Newton.Until then, Einstein's masterpiece of time and space had been trapped behind the physical and ideological lines of battle, unknown. Many Britons were rejecting anything German, but Eddington realized the importance of the letter: perhaps Einstein's esoteric theory could not only change the foundations of science but also lead to international co-operation in a time of brutal war.Few recognize how the Great War, the industrialized slaughter that bled Europe from 1914 to 1918, shaped Einstein's life and work. While Einstein never held a rifle, he formulated general relativity blockaded in Berlin, literally starving. His name is now synonymous with 'genius', but it was not an easy road.Einstein spent a decade creating relativity and his ascent to global celebrity owed much to against-the-odds international collaboration, including Eddington's globe-spanning expedition of 1919 - two years before they finally met - to catch a fleeting solar eclipse for a rare opportunity to confirm Einstein's bold prediction that light has weight.We usually think of scientific discovery as a flash of individual inspiration, but here we see it is the result of hard work, gambles and wrong turns. Einstein's War is a celebration of what science can offer when bigotry and nationalism are defeated. Using previously unknown sources and written like a thriller, it shows relativity being built brick-by-brick in front of us, as it happened 100 years ago.

Fundamental: How quantum and particle physics explain absolutely everything (except gravity)


Tim James - 2019
    In the quantum realm, objects can be in two places at once. It's a place where time travel is not only possible, but necessary. It's a place where cause and effect can happen in reverse and observing something changes its state. From parallel universes to antimatter, quantum mechanics has revealed that when you get right down to it, the laws of nature are insane. The scientist J. B. S. Haldane once said, 'Reality is not only stranger than we imagine . . . it's stranger than we can imagine.' Never is this more true than with quantum mechanics; our best, most recent attempt to make sense of the fundamental laws of nature.Fundamental is a comprehensive beginner's guide to quantum mechanics, explaining not only the weirdness of the subject but the experiments that proved it to be true. Using a humorous and light-hearted approach, Fundamental tells the story of how the most brilliant minds in science grappled with seemingly impossible ideas and gave us everything from microchips to particle accelerators. Fundamental gives clear explanations of all the quantum phenomena known to modern science, without requiring an understanding of complex mathematics; tells the eccentric stories of the scientists who made these shattering discoveries and what they used them for; explains how quantum field theory (a topic not covered in detail by any other popular-science book) gave rise to particle physics and why the Higgs boson isn't the end of the story.

Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime


Sean Carroll - 2019
    Sean Carroll, theoretical physicist and one of this world’s most celebrated writers on science, rewrites the history of 20th century physics. Already hailed as a masterpiece, Something Deeply Hidden shows for the first time that facing up to the essential puzzle of quantum mechanics utterly transforms how we think about space and time. His reconciling of quantum mechanics with Einstein’s theory of relativity changes, well, everything. Most physicists haven’t even recognized the uncomfortable truth: physics has been in crisis since 1927. Quantum mechanics has always had obvious gaps—which have come to be simply ignored. Science popularizers keep telling us how weird it is, how impossible it is to understand. Academics discourage students from working on the "dead end" of quantum foundations. Putting his professional reputation on the line with this audacious yet entirely reasonable book, Carroll says that the crisis can now come to an end. We just have to accept that there is more than one of us in the universe. There are many, many Sean Carrolls. Many of every one of us. Copies of you are generated thousands of times per second. The Many Worlds Theory of quantum behavior says that every time there is a quantum event, a world splits off with everything in it the same, except in that other world the quantum event didn't happen. Step-by-step in Carroll's uniquely lucid way, he tackles the major objections to this otherworldly revelation until his case is inescapably established. Rarely does a book so fully reorganize how we think about our place in the universe. We are on the threshold of a new understanding—of where we are in the cosmos, and what we are made of.

No-Nonsense Classical Mechanics: A Student-Friendly Introduction


Jakob Schwichtenberg - 2019
     Learn to describe classical mechanics mathematically — Understand the meaning and origin of the most important equations: Newton's second law, the Euler-Lagrange equation and Hamilton's equations. Master the most important classical mechanics systems — Read fully annotated, step-by-step calculations and understand the general algorithm we use to describe them. Get an understanding you can be proud of — Learn about beautiful and deep insights like Noether's theorem or Liouville's theorem and how classical mechanics emerges in a proper limit of special relativity, quantum mechanics and general relativity. No-Nonsense Classical Mechanics is the most student-friendly book on classical nechanics ever written. Here’s why. First of all, it's is nothing like a formal university lecture.  Instead, it’s like a casual conservation with a more experienced student. This also means that nothing is assumed to be “obvious” or “easy to see”. Each chapter, each section, and each page focuses solely on the goal to help you understand. Nothing is introduced without a thorough motivation and it is always clear where each equation comes from. The book contains no fluff since unnecessary content quickly leads to confusion. Instead, it ruthlessly focuses on the fundamentals and makes sure you’ll understand them in detail. The primary focus on the readers’ needs is also visible in dozens of small features that you won’t find in any other textbook In total, the book contains more than 100 illustrations that help you understand the most important concepts visually. In each chapter, you’ll find fully annotated equations and calculations are done carefully step-by-step. This makes it much easier to understand what’s going on in. Whenever a concept is used that was already introduced previously there is a short sidenote that reminds you where it was first introduced and often recites the main points. In addition, there are summaries at the beginning of each chapter that make sure you won’t get lost.

At the Edge of Time: Exploring the Mysteries of Our Universe's First Seconds


Dan Hooper - 2019
    But there remains a critical gap in our knowledge: we still know very little about what happened in the first seconds after the Big Bang. At the Edge of Time focuses on what we have recently learned and are still striving to understand about this most essential and mysterious period of time at the beginning of cosmic history.Delving into the remarkable science of cosmology, Dan Hooper describes many of the extraordinary and perplexing questions that scientists are asking about the origin and nature of our world. Hooper examines how we are using the Large Hadron Collider and other experiments to re-create the conditions of the Big Bang and test promising theories for how and why our universe came to contain so much matter and so little antimatter. We may be poised to finally discover how dark matter was formed during our universe's first moments, and, with new telescopes, we are also lifting the veil on the era of cosmic inflation, which led to the creation of our world as we know it.Wrestling with the mysteries surrounding the initial moments that followed the Big Bang, At the Edge of Time presents an accessible investigation of our universe and its origin.

Physics from Finance: A Gentle Introduction to Gauge Theories, Fundamental Interactions and Fiber Bundles


Jakob Schwichtenberg - 2019
     Learn how to describe modern physics mathematically — Understand the meaning and origin of the Einstein equation, Maxwell’s equations, and the Schrödinger equation. Develop an intuitive understanding of key concepts — Read how we can understand abstract ideas like Gauge Symmetry, Internal Spaces, Gauge Fields, Connections and Curvature using a simple toy model of the financial market. Get an understanding you can be proud of — Learn why fiber bundles and group theory provide a unified framework for all modern theories of physics. Physics from Finance is the most reader-friendly book on the geometry of modern physics ever written. Here’s why. First of all, it's is nothing like a formal university lecture. Instead, it’s like a casual conservation with a more experienced student. This also means that nothing is assumed to be “obvious” or “easy to see”. Each chapter, each section, and each page focusses solely on the goal to help you understand. Nothing is introduced without a thorough motivation and it is always clear where each formula comes from. The book contains no fluff since unnecessary content quickly leads to confusion. Instead, it ruthlessly focusses on the fundamentals and makes sure you’ll understand them in detail. The primary focus on the readers’ needs is also visible in dozens of small features that you won’t find in any other textbook In total, the book contains more than 100 illustrations that help you understand the most important concepts visually. Whenever a concept is used which was already introduced previously, there is a short sidenote that reminds you where it was first introduced and often recites the main points. In addition, helpful diagrams make sure you won’t get lost.

Quantum Space: Loop Quantum Gravity and the Search for the Structure of Space, Time, and the Universe


Jim Baggott - 2019
    The first is Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity, which describes the large-scale behaviour of matter in a curved spacetime. This theory is the basis for the standard model of big bang cosmology. The discoveryof gravitational waves at the LIGO observatory in the US (and then Virgo, in Italy) is only the most recent of this theory's many triumphs.The second is quantum mechanics. This theory describes the properties and behaviour of matter and radiation at their smallest scales. It is the basis for the standard model of particle physics, which builds up all the visible constituents of the universe out of collections of quarks, electrons andforce-carrying particles such as photons. The discovery of the Higgs boson at CERN in Geneva is only the most recent of this theory's many triumphs.But, while they are both highly successful, these two structures leave a lot of important questions unanswered. They are also based on two different interpretations of space and time, and are therefore fundamentally incompatible. We have two descriptions but, as far as we know, we've only ever hadone universe. What we need is a quantum theory of gravity.Approaches to formulating such a theory have primarily followed two paths. One leads to String Theory, which has for long been fashionable, and about which much has been written. But String Theory has become mired in problems. In this book, Jim Baggott describes the road less travelled: anapproach which takes relativity as its starting point, and leads to a structure called Loop Quantum Gravity. Baggott tells the story through the careers and pioneering work of two of the theory's most prominent contributors, Lee Smolin and Carlo Rovelli.

Quantum Physics for Hippies


Lukas Neumeier - 2019
     Quantum Physics for Hippies shatters your perception of reality." - Dr. Mark Müller Bob, a spiritual hippie, meets the witty nerd Alice, who day-dreams about quantum physics all day long. This chance meeting starts them on a mind-blowing journey into the nature of reality that will change their lives forever. Written by quantum physicists and beautifully illustrated, Quantum Physics for Hippies takes the bizarre world of quantum physics and makes it understandable for everyone, hippies and nerds alike. Is this book for you? If you would love to know what quantum physics is really about, but complicated explanations or equations put you off, then this book is for you. Why? We found that there are two types of books about quantum physics. Type A is written by nerds. Usually, they have hundreds of pages, a lot of equations and bury you in useless details. They are mostly correct, but not fun to read. Type B is written by esoterics. They are easy to read, but often full of nonsense, not helping at all in your mission to find the truth. So we decided to write a new type of quantum physics book. Type Hippie-Nerd! Easy, fun to read and correct all at the same time, while still blowing your mind. Happy Readings!

Escaping the Beginning?: Confronting Challenges to the Universe's Origin


Jeff Zweerink - 2019
    Perhaps that’s why some insist it has existed forever. In Escaping the Beginning?, astrophysicist and Christian apologist Jeff Zweerink thoughtfully examines the most prevalent eternal-universe theories—quantum gravity, the steady state model, the oscillating universe, and the increasingly popular multiverse. Using a clear and concise approach informed by the latest discoveries, Zweerink investigates the scientific viability of each theory, addresses common questions about them, and then focuses on perhaps the most pressing question for believers and skeptics alike: If the evidence continues to affirm the beginning, what does that imply about the existence of a Beginner? “As an atheist detective investigating the existence of God, I hoped the evidence would reveal an eternal universe without a beginning because I knew the alternative would be hard to explain from my atheistic worldview. . . . Escaping the Beginning? examines the evidence for the universe’s beginning and the many ways scientists have tried to understand and explain the data. I wish I had his important book when I first examined the evidence. If I had, I would probably have become a believer much sooner.” —J. Warner Wallace Dateline-featured Cold-Case Detective Author of God’s Crime Scene

Waves: A Very Short Introduction


Mike Goldsmith - 2019
    The Earth shakes to its foundations, the seas and oceans tremble incessantly, sounds reverberate through land, sea, and air. Beneath the skin, our brains and bodies are awash with waves of their own, and the Universe is filled by a vast spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, of which visible light is the narrowest sliver. Casting the net even wider, there are mechanical waves, quantum wave phenomena, and the now clearly detected gravitational waves. Look closer and deeper and more kinds of waves appear, down to the most fundamental level of reality.This Very Short Introduction looks at all the main kinds of wave, their sources, effects, and uses. Mike Goldsmith discusses how wave motion results in a range of phenomena, from reflection, diffraction, interference, and polarization in the case of light waves to beats and echoes for sound. All waves, however different, share many of the same features, and, as Goldsmith shows, for all their complexities many of their behaviours are fundamentally simple.ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Dark Matter and Dark Energy: The Hidden 95% of the Universe (Hot Science)


Brian Clegg - 2019
    The rest is hidden. This could be the biggest puzzle that science has ever faced. Since the 1970s, astronomers have been aware that galaxies have far too little matter in them to account for the way they spin around: they should fly apart, but something concealed holds them together. That ’something' is dark matter – invisible material in five times the quantity of the familiar stuff of stars and planets. By the 1990s we also knew that the expansion of the universe was accelerating. Something, named dark energy, is pushing it to expand faster and faster. Across the universe, this requires enough energy that the equivalent mass would be nearly fourteen times greater than all the visible material in existence. Brian Clegg explains this major conundrum in modern science and looks at how scientists are beginning to find solutions to it.

Rocket Science: From Fireworks to the Photon Drive


Mark Denny - 2019
    From the earliest fireworks to nuclear-powered spacecraft, all you would ever want or need to know about the subject is here, along with a straightforward explanation of how, why and when things work—or sometimes don't. We begin with the history and workings of early terrestrial rocketry before moving onto the main subject of the book: how we get things into space and, on occasion, back again. Entirely math-free, the chapters weave together innumerable anecdotes, real-world examples, and easy walk-throughs to help readers break down the complex physics behind some of humankind’s most amazing feats. Neither a pure textbook nor a populist space travel tome, the book will educate, inform and above all entertain anyone intrigued by rocket science.

The Demon in the Machine: How Hidden Webs of Information Are Solving the Mystery of Life


Paul C.W. Davies - 2019
    if you want to understand how the concept of life is changing, read this' Professor Andrew Briggs, University of OxfordWhen Darwin set out to explain the origin of species, he made no attempt to answer the deeper question: what is life? For generations, scientists have struggled to make sense of this fundamental question. Life really does look like magic: even a humble bacterium accomplishes things so dazzling that no human engineer can match it. And yet, huge advances in molecular biology over the past few decades have served only to deepen the mystery. So can life be explained by known physics and chemistry, or do we need something fundamentally new?In this penetrating and wide-ranging new analysis, world-renowned physicist and science communicator Paul Davies searches for answers in a field so new and fast-moving that it lacks a name, a domain where computing, chemistry, quantum physics and nanotechnology intersect. At the heart of these diverse fields, Davies explains, is the concept of information: a quantity with the power to unify biology with physics, transform technology and medicine, and even to illuminate the age-old question of whether we are alone in the universe.From life's murky origins to the microscopic engines that run the cells of our bodies, The Demon in the Machine is a breath-taking journey across the landscape of physics, biology, logic and computing. Weaving together cancer and consciousness, two-headed worms and bird navigation, Davies reveals how biological organisms garner and process information to conjure order out of chaos, opening a window on the secret of life itself.

Reading the Clouds: How You Can Forecast the Weather


Oliver Perkins - 2019
    This book is an accessible and practical handbook for predicting the weather by recognizing cloud types, shapes, color, and behavior.TV forecasts, online predictions and smartphone apps are all based on the same data--a number-crunched overview of how air pressure and temperature will have an impact on the weather across a large geographical area.But to get an idea of how the weather will develop for the precise spot where you're standing (or walking, sailing, golfing, fishing, etc) you don't need any equipment or any in-depth scientific understanding. You just need to look up.With this book in hand, you will get a broad understanding of why the clouds are symptoms of weather patterns, not causes. People have been reading signs in the sky for thousands of years, and with clear, full-color photographs, this book shows you exactly what those signs mean."Well researched--practical information in an easy to assimilate form." -Professor Richard Collier, former President of the Royal Meteorological Society"So good that my Yachtmaster candidates would do well to read it. I learned something from this book. I bet you do too." - Tom Cunliffe, author of The Complete Day Skipper and The Complete Yachtmaster

Fundamentals of Physics I: Mechanics, Relativity, and Thermodynamics


R. Shankar - 2019
    Shankar, a well†‘known physicist and contagiously enthusiastic educator, explains the essential concepts of Newtonian mechanics, special relativity, waves, fluids, thermodynamics, and statistical mechanics. Now in an expanded edition—complete with problem sets and answers for course use or self†‘study—this work provides an ideal introduction for college†‘level students of physics, chemistry, and engineering; for AP Physics students; and for general readers interested in advances in the sciences. The book begins at the simplest level, develops the basics, and reinforces fundamentals, ensuring a solid foundation in the principles and methods of physics.

Find Your Path: Unconventional Lessons from 36 Leading Scientists and Engineers


Daniel Goodman - 2019
    Thirty-six leading scientists and engineers (including two Nobel Prize winners) describe the challenges, struggles, successes, satisfactions, and U-turns encountered as they established their careers. Readers learn that there are professional possibilities beyond academia, as contributors describe the paths that took them into private industry and government as well as to college and university campuses. They discuss their varying preferences for solitary research or collaborative teamwork; their attempts to achieve work-life balance; and unplanned changes in direction that resulted in a more satisfying career. Women describe confronting overt sexism and institutional gender bias; scientists of color describe the experience of being outsiders in their field.One scientist moves from startup to startup, enjoying a career of serial challenges; another spends decades at one university; another has worked in academia, industry, and government. Some followed in the footsteps of parents; others were the first in their family to go to college. Many have changed fields, switched subjects, or left established organizations for something new. Taken together, these essays make it clear that there is not one path to a profession in science, but many.ContributorsStephon Alexander, Norman Augustine, Wanda Austin, Kimberly Budil, Wendy Cieslak, Jay Davis, Tamara Doering, Stephen D. Fantone, Kathleen Fisher, David Galas, Kathy Gisser, Sandra Glucksmann, Daniel Goodman, Renee Horton, Richard Lethin, Christopher Loose, John Mather, Richard Miles, Paul Nielsen, Michael O'Hanlon, Deirdre Olynick, Jennifer Park, Ellen Pawlikowski, Ethan Perlstein, Richard Post, William Press, Beth Reid, Jennifer Roberts, Jessica Seeliger, David Spergel, Ellen Stofan, Daniel Theobald, Shirley Tilghman, Jami Valentine, Z. Jane Wang, Rainer Weiss

Light from the Void: Chandra X-Ray Observatory


Smithsonian Astrophysical Obs - 2019
    The book showcases rarely-seen celestial phenomena such as black holes, planetary nebulae, galaxy clusters, gravitational waves, stellar birth and death, and more. Accompanying these images of incredible natural phenomena are captions explaining how they occur. The images start close to home and move outward: beginning with images of the Chandra launch, then moving into the solar system, through the nearby universe, and finally to the most distant galaxies Chandra has observed, the book brings readers on a far-out visual voyage.

The Best Australian Science Writing 2019


Bianca Nogrady - 2019
    It makes us delight in the discovery of a black hole munching on a star, laugh at the image of aliens puzzling over golf balls on the Moon, wonder at the mystery of the Spanish influenza’s deadly rampage, grieve for baby shearwater chicks dying with plastic-filled stomachs, rage at the loss of the Great Barrier Reef and cheer for the clitoris’ long-overdue scientific debut.This ninth edition of The Best Australian Science Writing showcases the most powerful, insightful and brilliant essays and poetry from Australian writers and scientists. It roams the length and breadth of science, revealing how a ceramic artist is helping to save the handfish, what is so dangerous about the hype around artificial intelligence and whether too much exercise is bad for the heart. It makes us think, feel and hopefully act.

The Belfore Void


Joey Rogers - 2019
    She’s racked up three degrees using her talent, but all she really wants is to pursue a career in acting. Financing her dream requires extreme measures—she makes a deal with her father. Now she’s stuck at Belfore University earning a Ph.D. in Voidology, and her life has reached an all-time low.Thirty years earlier, two scientists in Belfore’s physics department died after accidentally opening a portal to the Void. The discovery is universally accepted as the greatest scientific breakthrough of all time, and the interdimensional phenomenon raised billions for research and development. It inspired a generation, but after decades with nothing to show for the money and effort poured into it, the Void has become a joke.Only a few still believe in the Void’s potential, and most of them attend Belfore University—the only place left to study it. But another has been working in secret to exploit the phenomenon, and his methods are less than scrupulous. When he learns how Andi’s unusual talent can advance his goals, the reluctant Voidology student finds herself in serious trouble.

The LEGO BOOST Activity Book


Daniele Benedettelli - 2019
    With the help of this complete guide to the LEGO BOOST set, you'll be on your way to building and programming BOOST robots in no time.You'll begin your exploration by building a basic rover robot called MARIO to help you learn the fundamentals of the BOOST programming environment. Next, you'll add features to your rover to control its movement and make it repeat actions and react to colors and sounds. Once you've learned some programming basics, you'll learn how to program your robot to do things like follow lines on the ground, scan its environment to decide where to go, and even play darts. As final projects, you'll create two complete robots: BrickPecker to help you organize your bricks and CYBOT, a robot that talks, shoots objects, and executes voice commands. As you advance through the book, optional lessons aim to deepen your understanding of basic robotics concepts. Brain BOOSter sections let you dig into the math and engineering behind your builds while a host of experiments seek to test your skills and encourage you to do more with your robots. With countless illustrations, extensive explanations, and a wealth of coding examples to guide you, The LEGO BOOST Activity Book is sure to take you from beginning builder to robotics whiz and give your robot-building brain that needed boost!

Witherspin (Starways Book 1)


Alexis Glynn Latner - 2019
    Early in her legal career, on the other side of the stars, she made a disastrous decision. But she’s worked her way back to success in the interstellar city-state called Wendis. Unknown to Nia, the past she’s tried so hard to live down has come alive again. It’s reaching out to find her. Gyle Night Martan is an exile in Wendis. For him, the city is an uncomfortable port in a deadly political storm that overtook his life and nearly ended it. Martan is a man with a pleasant façade concealing a mystery. At the core of the mystery there’s something dark and dangerous. He knows his past will catch him if it can and destroy him if it does. When things start going wrong around them in Wendis, Nia and Martan must cooperate to save each other from present danger and the shadows of the past. Nia is Martan’s best hope. Martan is Nia’s best ally. He may also be her worst nightmare.

Divine Action, Determinism, and the Laws of Nature


Jeffrey Koperski - 2019
    Many believe that determinism would prevent God from acting at all, since to do so would require violating the laws of nature. However, when a robust view of these laws is coupled with the kind of determinism now used in dynamics, a new model of divine action emerges. This book presents a new approach to divine action beyond the current focus on quantum mechanics and esoteric gaps in the causal order. It bases this approach on two general points. First, that there are laws of nature is not merely a metaphor. Second, laws and physical determinism are now understood in mathematically precise ways that have important implications for metaphysics. The explication of these two claims shows not only that nonviolationist divine action is possible, but there is considerably more freedom available for God to act than current models allow. By bringing a philosophical perspective to an issue often dominated by theologians and scientists, this text redresses an imbalance in the discussion around divine action. It will, therefore, be of keen interest to scholars of Philosophy and Religion, the Philosophy of Science, and Theology.

Philosophy of Physics: Quantum Theory


Tim Maudlin - 2019
    The briefest, clearest, and most refined account of his influential approach to the subject, the book will be invaluable to all students of philosophy and physics.Quantum mechanics holds a unique place in the history of physics. It has produced the most accurate predictions of any scientific theory, but, more astonishing, there has never been any agreement about what the theory implies about physical reality. Maudlin argues that the very term "quantum theory" is a misnomer. A proper physical theory should clearly describe what is there and what it does--yet standard textbooks present quantum mechanics as a predictive recipe in search of a physical theory.In contrast, Maudlin explores three proper theories that recover the quantum predictions: the indeterministic wavefunction collapse theory of Ghirardi, Rimini, and Weber; the deterministic particle theory of deBroglie and Bohm; and the conceptually challenging Many Worlds theory of Everett. Each offers a radically different proposal for the nature of physical reality, but Maudlin shows that none of them are what they are generally taken to be.

Quantum Computing: An Applied Approach


Jack D. Hidary - 2019
    This work is suitable for both academic coursework and corporate technical training.This volume comprises three books under one cover: Part I outlines the necessary foundations of quantum computing and quantum circuits. Part II walks through the canon of quantum computing algorithms and provides code on a range of quantum computing methods in current use. Part III covers the mathematical toolkit required to master quantum computing. Additional resources include a table of operators and circuit elements and a companion GitHub site providing code and updates.Jack D. Hidary is a research scientist in quantum computing and in AI at Alphabet X, formerly Google X."Quantum Computing will change our world in unexpected ways. Everything technology leaders, engineers and graduate students need is in this book including the methods and hands-on code to program on this novel platform."--Eric Schmidt, PhD, Former Chairman and CEO of Google; Founder, Innovation Endeavors

No Shadow of a Doubt: The 1919 Eclipse That Confirmed Einstein's Theory of Relativity


Daniel Kennefick - 2019
    The result ushered in a new era and made Einstein a global celebrity by confirming his dramatic prediction that the path of light rays would be bent by gravity. Today, Einstein's theory is scientific fact. Yet the effort to "weigh light" by measuring the gravitational deflection of starlight during the May 29, 1919, solar eclipse has become clouded by myth and skepticism. Could Arthur Eddington and Frank Dyson have gotten the results they claimed? Did the pacifist Eddington falsify evidence to foster peace after a horrific war by validating the theory of a German antiwar campaigner? In No Shadow of a Doubt, Daniel Kennefick provides definitive answers by offering the most comprehensive and authoritative account of how expedition scientists overcame war, bad weather, and equipment problems to make the experiment a triumphant success.The reader follows Eddington on his voyage to Africa through his letters home, and delves with Dyson into how the complex experiment was accomplished, through his notes. Other characters include Howard Grubb, the brilliant Irishman who made the instruments; William Campbell, the American astronomer who confirmed the result; and Erwin Findlay-Freundlich, the German whose attempts to perform the test in Crimea were foiled by clouds and his arrest.By chronicling the expeditions and their enormous impact in greater detail than ever before, No Shadow of a Doubt reveals a story that is even richer and more exciting than previously known.

The Second Quantum Revolution: From Entanglement to Quantum Computing and Other Super-Technologies


Lars Jaeger - 2019
    

Advanced Calculus Explored: With Applications in Physics, Chemistry, and Beyond


Hamza Alsamraee - 2019
    Advanced Calculus Explored helps build a stronger, more intuitive understanding of calculus that will serve the reader in advanced mathematics and science courses.Learn the tools you need for success.Read this book and unlock the benefits today!

Physics Galaxy 2020-21 : Advanced Illustration in Physics


Ashish Arora - 2019
    

Classical Field Theory


Horatiu Nastase - 2019
    This introduction focuses purely on modern classical field theory, helping graduates and researchers build an understanding of classical field theory methods before embarking on future studies in quantum field theory. It describes various classical methods for fields with negligible quantum effects, for instance electromagnetism and gravitational fields. It focuses on solutions that take advantage of classical field theory methods as opposed to applications or geometric properties. Other fields covered includes fermionic fields, scalar fields and Chern-Simons fields. Methods such as symmetries, global and local methods, Noether theorem and energy momentum tensor are also discussed, as well as important solutions of the classical equations, in particular soliton solutions.

The Energetics of Computing in Life and Machines


David Wolpert - 2019
    Why do computers use so much energy? What are the fundamental physical laws governing the relationship between the precise computation run by a system, whether artificial or natural, and how much energy that computation requires? Can we learn how to improve efficiency in computing by examining how biological computers manage to be so efficient? The time is ripe for a new synthesis of nonequilibrium physics, computer science, and biochemistry.This volume integrates pure and applied concepts from these diverse fields, with the goal of cultivating a modern, nonequilibrium thermodynamics of computation.

Paul Scherz, Simon Monk - Practical Electronics for Inventors


Paul Scherz - 2019
    in physics from the University of Wisconsin. He is an inventor/hobbyist in electronics, an area he grew to appreciate through his experience at the University’s Department of Nuclear Engineering and Engineering Physics and the Department of Plasma Physics. Dr. Simon Monk has a degree in Cybernetics and Computer Science and a PhD in Software Engineering. Dr. Monk spent several years as an academic before he returned to industry, co-founding the mobile software company Momote Ltd. He has been an active electronics hobbyist since his early teens and is a full time writer on hobby electronics and open source hardware. Dr. Monk is the author of numerous electronics books, including Programming Arduino, Hacking Electronics, and Programming the Raspberry Pi.

Metaphysical Experiments: Physics and the Invention of the Universe


Bjørn Ekeberg - 2019
    Examining the theoretical basis for key experiments that have made this latest venture in astrophysics possible, Bjørn Ekeberg reveals that scientific cosmology actually operates in a twilight zone between the physical and metaphysical. Metaphysical Experiments explains how our current framework for understanding the universe, the Big Bang theory, is more determined by a deep faith in mathematical universality than empirical observation. Ekeberg draws on philosophical insights by Spinoza, Bergson, Heidegger, and Arendt; on the critical perspectives of Latour, Stengers, and Serres; and on cutting-edge physics research at the Large Hadron Collider, to show how the universe of modern physics was invented to reconcile a Christian metaphysical premise with a claim to the theoretical unification of nature.By focusing on the nonmathematical assumptions underlying some of the most significant events in modern science, Metaphysical Experiments offers a critical history of contemporary physics that demystifies such concepts as the universe, particles, singularity, gravity, blackbody radiation, the speed of light, wave/particle duality, natural constants, black holes, dark matter, and dark energy. Ekeberg’s incisive reading of the metaphysical underpinnings of scientific cosmology offers an innovative account of how we understand our place in the universe.

Spaceflight: The Complete Story from Sputnik to Curiosity


Giles Sparrow - 2019
    

Quantum Computing for Everyone


Chris Bernhardt - 2019
    In this book, Chris Bernhardt offers an introduction to quantum computing that is accessible to anyone who is comfortable with high school mathematics. He explains qubits, entanglement, quantum teleportation, quantum algorithms, and other quantum-related topics as clearly as possible for the general reader. Bernhardt, a mathematician himself, simplifies the mathematics as much as he can and provides elementary examples that illustrate both how the math works and what it means.Bernhardt introduces the basic unit of quantum computing, the qubit, and explains how the qubit can be measured; discusses entanglement--which, he says, is easier to describe mathematically than verbally--and what it means when two qubits are entangled (citing Einstein's characterization of what happens when the measurement of one entangled qubit affects the second as "spooky action at a distance"); and introduces quantum cryptography. He recaps standard topics in classical computing--bits, gates, and logic--and describes Edward Fredkin's ingenious billiard ball computer. He defines quantum gates, considers the speed of quantum algorithms, and describes the building of quantum computers. By the end of the book, readers understand that quantum computing and classical computing are not two distinct disciplines, and that quantum computing is the fundamental form of computing. The basic unit of computation is the qubit, not the bit.

The Science of Stephen Hawking


John Gribbin - 2019
     Many people were more familiar with his life story than the details of his work. Therefore in this compelling essay, John Gribbin looks at the science behind the man; what Hawking did to earn global acclaim and the science that established his reputation among his peers. The brilliantly imaginative Hawking addressed many questions. How big is the universe? Can we travel backwards in time? Is there life beyond Earth? John Gribbin’s succinct guide to the complex science behind the genius explains all this and more in straightforward language that aims to make the workings of the Universe accessible to all. John Gribbin (born 19 March 1946) is a British science writer, an astrophysicist, and a visiting fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex. In 1984, Gribbin published perhaps his best-known book, In Search of Schrödinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality. His writings include quantum physics, human evolution, climate change, global warming and the origins of the universe.