Archimedes to Hawking: Laws of Science and the Great Minds Behind Them

529 Pages·2008·2.72 MB·English

by  Clifford Pickover

ARCHIMEDES
TO HAWKING
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CLIFFORD A. PICKOVER
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TheParadoxofGodandtheScienceofOmniscience
APassionforMathematics
ThePatternBook:Fractals,Art,andNature
TheScienceofAliens
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StrangeBrainsandGenius
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WondersofNumbers
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ARCHIMEDES
TO HAWKING
clifford a.
pickover
LawsofScienceandthe
GreatMindsBehindThem
1
2008
3
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Copyright©2008byCliffordA.Pickover
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storedinaretrievalsystem,ortransmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,
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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData
Pickover,CliffordA.
ArchimedestoHawking:lawsofscienceandthegreatminds
behindthem/CliffordA.Pickover.
p. cm.
ISBN 978–0–19–533611–5
1. Physicallaws—History. 2. Science—Methodology—History.
3. Science—Philosophy—History. 4. Scientists—Biography. I. Title.
(cid:1)
Q175.32.R45P532008 509.22–dc22 2007051167
9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
onacid-freepaper
Truly the gods have not from the beginning revealed
all things to mortals, but by long seeking, mortals make
progressindiscovery.
—XenophanesofColophon(c.500b.c.)
Icannachangethelawsofphysics,Captain!
—“Scotty” Montgomery Scott to Captain Kirk, in “The
NakedTime,”StarTrekTVseries
It is indeed a surprising and fortunate fact that nature
can be expressed by relatively low-order mathematical
functions.—RudolfCarnap,classroomlecture
Perhaps an angel of the Lord surveyed an endless sea
of chaos, then troubled it gently with his finger. In this
tiny and temporary swirl of equations, our cosmos took
shape.—MartinGardner,OrderandSurprise
Thegreatequationsofmodernphysicsareapermanent
partofscientificknowledge,whichmayoutlasteventhe
beautifulcathedralsofearlierages.
—Steven Weinberg, in Graham Farmelo’s It Must Be
Beautiful
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
When Newton worked out the force of gravity, he
helpedtosetintomotiontheindustrialrevolution.When
Faraday worked out electricity and magnetism, he set
intomotiontheelectricage.WhenEinsteinwrotedown
E= mc2, he unleashed the nuclear age. Now, we are on
the verge of a theory of all forces which may, one day,
determinethefateofthehumanspecies.
—MichioKaku,“BBCInterviewonParallelUniverses”
I thank Teja Krašek, Steve Blattnig, Graham Cleverley, Mark Nandor,
PaulMoskowitz,PeteBarnes,andDennisGordonfortheircommentsand
suggestions.
While researching the laws in this book, I studied a wide array of
wonderful reference works and Web sites, many of which are listed
in the reference section at the end of this book. These references
include the McGraw-Hill Encyclopedia of Science and Technology,
Van Nostrand’s Scientific Encyclopedia, Encyclopædia Britannica, Jen-
nifer Bothamley’s Dictionary of Theories, the MacTutor History of
Mathematics Archive (www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/), Wikipedia: The
Free Encyclopedia (en.wikipedia.org), “Eric Weisstein’s World of
Physics” (scienceworld.wolfram.com/physics/), and “HyperPhysics Con-
cepts”(hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/hph.html).
The Dictionary of Scientific Biography, edited by Charles Coulston
Gillispie and published by Charles Scribner’s Sons, was a particularly
invaluableresource.Forreaderswhoareinterestedinlearningmoreabout
thismultivolumereferenceset,Irecommendthefascinatingpaper“Pub-
lishing the Dictionary of Scientific Biography” by Charles Scribner, Jr.,
published in Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society, 124(5):
320–322,October10,1980.
I also reread many dusty and crumbling physics textbooks that I had
saved in my basement since my college days, despite my family’s occa-
sional suggestion that they might be discarded to create a less cluttered
bookshelf. Related useful works include Robert Krebs’s Scientific Laws,
Principles, and Theories, Michael Hart’s The 100: A Ranking of the Most
InfluentialPersonsinHistory,LawrenceKrauss’sFearofPhysics,Freder-
ick Bueche’s Introduction to Physics for Scientists and Engineers, Arnold
Arons’s Development of Concepts of Physics, Martin Gardner’s Order
and Surprise, Michael Guillen’s Five Equations That Changed the World,
GrahamFarmelo’s ItMustBeBeautiful: GreatEquations ofModernSci-
ence,RichardFeynman’sTheCharacterofPhysicalLaw,andJohnCasti’s
ParadigmsLost.
Thefrontispieceillustration(accompaniedbyXenophanes’quotation)
and illustration at the end of this book are from Gerogius Agricola’s De
re metallica, originally published in 1556. De re metallica was the first
bookonminingandmetallurgytobebasedonfieldresearchandcareful
observations. The book is available today from Dover Publications. The
astronomer with compass on the initial quotation page is by Albrecht
Dürer,fromthetitlepageofMessahalah,Descientiamotusorbis(1504).
A NOTE ON TERMINOLOGY AND SYMBOLS
At the end of each entry in this book, under “Further Reading,” I list
referencesthataretargetedtospecificlaws.Whilemanyentriesmention
primary sources, I have often explicitly listed excellent secondary refer-
encesthatmostreaderscanobtainmoreeasilythanolderprimarysources.
Readers interested in pursuing any subject can use the references as a
usefulstartingpoint.
Thetextwithingrayboxesdenoteshistoricaleventsthatoccurredwhen
a law was discovered. The large symbols used when introducing a law
(atom,flask,telescope,andπsymbols)denotethesubjectareasofphysics,
chemistry,astronomy,andmathematics,respectively.
Mathematical variables or constants that assume values are italicized.
Subscriptsforvariablesthatdonotassumevaluesaretypesetinanonitalic
font.Forexample,the T in T isitalicizedbecauseitassumesavaluefor
L
temperature;however,thesubscriptLisnotitalicizedbecauseitstandsfor
theword“low.”
The scientific literature appears to be divided when referring to Ein-
stein’stheoryaseitherthe“GeneralTheoryofRelativity”orthe“Theory
viii | acknowledgments
of General Relativity.” Similarly, I found many instances of the “Spe-
cial Theory of Relativity” and the “Theory of Special Relativity.” I have
decided to use the phrases “General Theory of Relativity” and “Special
TheoryofRelativity,”whichEinsteinusedtotitlethemainsectionsofhis
bookRelativity:TheSpecialandGeneralTheory,firstpublishedin1916.
In 1676, Isaac Newton explained his accomplishments
throughasimplemetaphor.“IfIhaveseenfartheritisby
standingontheshouldersofgiants,”hewrote.Theimage
wasn’toriginaltohim,butinusingitNewtonreinforced
a way of thinking about scientific progress that remains
popular:Welearnabouttheworldthroughthevisionof
afewcolossalfigures.
—PeterDizikes,“TwilightoftheIdols,”NewYorkTimes
BookReview,November5,2006
acknowledgments | ix