A Cultural History of Physics PDF
Preview A Cultural History of Physics
Károly Simonyi (1916–2001) Károly Simonyi was born the seventh of ten children in a small village in Hungary. His talent for learning A Cultural History of A Cultural History of was apparent early on, and a prominent relative A Cultural History of brought him to Budapest and sponsored his educa- Physics Physics tion. Simonyi went on to earn degrees in engineering and law. Physics After the tumultuous years of World War II, Simonyi Károly Simonyi returned to research, ultimately becoming a profes- Károly Simonyi sor at the Budapest Technical University, where he was known as an outstanding teacher. He organized the Department of Theoretical Electrical Engineering, Have you ever wondered about the science taught generations of electrical engineers, and pub- of the past? Károly Simonyi While the physical sciences are a continuously evolving source of technology and of understand- A lished lectures and textbooks that have been trans- • What did people know about our universe and lated into many languages. ing about our world, they have become so specialized and rely on so much prerequisite knowl- when did they know it? C edge that for many people today the divide between the sciences and the humanities seems Despite his accomplishments, the political climate of • Did the ancients know that the earth was round even greater than it was when C. P. Snow delivered his famous 1959 lecture, “The Two Cultures.” u 1960s Hungary was not a favorable one for Simonyi, P or fathom its size? l and his work at the university was increasingly cur- In A Cultural History of Physics, Hungarian scientist and educator Károly Simonyi succeeds in t • What about atoms? And electricity? Or gravity? tailed until he ultimately lost his teaching position al- bridging this chasm by describing the experimental methods and theoretical interpretations that hu • To what extent were the earliest thinkers right? together. But even this could not keep Simonyi from created scientific knowledge, from ancient times to the present day, within the cultural environ- r And, when they were wrong, how were they his work. Though his profession was science, he had ment in which it was formed. Unlike any other work of its kind, Simonyi’s seminal opus explores ya wrong and why? always maintained an interest in the humanities, and the interplay of science and the humanities to convey the wonder and excitement of scientific l in his new circumstances he undertook a great proj- s This book describes not only what scientists of the development throughout the ages. H ect: to tell the story of the history of physics and the past have thought, but why they thought that way. cultural, philosophical, and societal movements that These pages contain an abundance of excerpts from original resources, a wide array of clear and ii It explores the role that art and philosophy played s had shaped and been shaped by its development. straightforward explanations, and an astonishing wealth of insight, revealing the historical prog- c in the development of the scientific worldview and t The book that grew out of this project, published first ress of science and inviting readers into a dialogue with the great scientific minds that shaped so describes the influence science in turn had on philo in Hungarian, then in German, and now in English, our current understanding of physics. sophy and on society. Written by Károly Simonyi, r has been highly successful and widely read. translated and updated, this classic and compre- Beautifully illustrated, accurate in its scientific content and broad in its historical and cultural y hensive history of physics combines a wideranging, perspective, this book will be a valuable reference for scholars and an inspiration to aspiring o indepth account of the science of physics with an Charles Simonyi scientists and humanists who believe that science is an integral part of our culture. f insightful interpretation of the cultural context in Creation of the English edition of A Cultural History which science’s experimental discoveries and concep- of Physics has been directed by Károly’s son Charles. tual interpretations developed. A successful entrepreneur, Charles emigrated to the This book is for anyone who is interested in the history United States as a teenager and went on to become of civilization and in the interaction of the two cul- a software engineer at Xerox and at Microsoft, where tures of the humanities and the sciences. he oversaw the development of what would become some of Microsoft’s most profitable products: Mi- crosoft Word and Microsoft Excel. Charles is a dis- tinguished philanthropist, as well as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. History/Physics A Cultural History of Physics TThhiiss ppaaggee iinntteennttiioonnaallllyy lleefftt bbllaannkk 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 Version Date: 20111110 International Standard Book Number-13: 978-1-4398-6511-8 (eBook - PDF) This book contains information obtained from authentic and highly regarded sources. Reasonable efforts have been made to publish reliable data and information, but the author and publisher cannot assume responsibility for the validity of all materials or the consequences of their use. The authors and publishers have attempted to trace the copyright holders of all material reproduced in this publication and apologize to copyright holders if permission to publish in this form has not been obtained. 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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 History 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 Role 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 History 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 Greek Inheritance 31 1.1.1 The Beginnings of Science 31 1.1.2 Egypt and Mesopotamia 32 1.2 The Harmonious, 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 Greatest Achievements of the Ancient Sciences 78 1.4.1 Archimedes 79 1.4.2 The Ptolemaic System for Describing Celestial Motion 89 1.4.3 Astronomy and Geography 90 1.4.4 Geometry 95 1.4.5 Scientific Instruments 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. J. Thomson 388 4.6.3 Chemistry to the Rescue Again: The Periodic Table 393 4.6.4 First Ideas about the Structure of the Atom 395 4.6.5 The Line Spectrum and the Reappearance of the Integers 398 4.6.6 A Farewell to the Nineteenth Century 400 Chapter 5: The Physics of the Twentieth Century 5.1 “Clouds on the Horizon of Nineteenth-Century Physics” 405 5.1.1 A Conclusion or a New Start? 405 5.1.2 Mach and Ostwald 407 5.2 The Theory of Relativity 409 5.2.1 Antecedents: Failed Attempts at Measuring Absolute Velocity 409 5.2.2 Attempts at Adaptation 412 5.2.3 The Protagonists: Lorentz, Einstein, and Poincaré 416 5.2.4 The Measurement of Distance and Time 421 viii 5.2.5 The Equivalence of Energy and Mass 425 5.2.6 Matter and the Geometry of Space 429 5.2.7 Einstein on Space, Ether, and the Field Problem of Physics 433 5.3 Quantum Theory 437 5.3.1 Blackbody Radiation in Classical Physics 437 5.3.2 Planck: Entropy Points the Way to the Solution 441 5.3.3 The Appearance of the Energy Quantum 444 5.3.4 Einstein: Light Is Also Quantized 448 5.3.5 Bohr: The “Classical” Quantum Theory of the Atom 448 5.3.6 The Statistical Derivation of the Radiation Formula as Prelude to Quantum Electronics 451 5.3.7 Heisenberg’s Matrix Mechanics 452 5.3.8 Einstein and Heisenberg 457 5.3.9 Schrödinger’s Wave Mechanics 458 5.3.10 Heisenberg: The Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Theory 465 5.3.11 Operators. Quantum Electrodynamics 470 5.3.12 The Causality Problem 477 5.3.13 John von Neumann on Causality and Hidden Parameters 481 5.3.14 Quantum Mechanics as a Tool and as a Philosophy 483 5.3.15 What Remains of Classical Physics? 486 5.4 Nuclear Structure, Nuclear Energy 489 5.4.1 A Backward Glance at the First Three Decades 489 5.4.2 Stations of the Study of the Atomic Nucleus 496 5.4.3 Becquerel: Why Do Uranium Salts Fluoresce? 498 5.4.4 The Protagonists of the Heroic Age: The Curies and Rutherford 501 5.4.5 The Rutherford–Bohr Model Begins to Take Shape 505 5.4.6 The First Artificial Nuclear Transformation 507 5.4.7 Quantum Mechanics Can Be Applied to Nuclear Phenomena 507 5.4.8 Predicted by Rutherford, Found by Chadwick: The Neutron 508 5.4.9 Nuclear Structure and Nuclear Models 509 5.4.10 Nuclear Fission: Experimental Evidence, Theoretical Doubt 514 5.4.11 The Chain Reaction: The Large-Scale Liberation of Nuclear Energy 518 5.4.12 Energy through Nuclear Fusion: The Fuel of the Stars in the Hands of Mankind 522 5.4.13 The Responsibility of Physicists 523 5.5 Law and Symmetry 524 5.5.1 The Historian’s Role in the Description of Modern Physics 524 5.5.2 The Elementary Particles, in Order of Appearance 525 5.5.3 A Few Words about Cosmic Rays 529 5.5.4 Particle Accelerators and Detectors 530 5.5.5 Fundamental Interactions 532 5.5.6 The Conservation Laws 536 5.5.7 Symmetry, Invariance, Conservation 537 5.5.8 Mirror Symmetry? 540 5.5.9 “A Bit of Asymmetry Improves the Aesthetics” 543 5.5.10 Back to the Apeiron? 546 5.5.11 The Quark Theory Is Completed 548 ix
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