Table Of Content

Remarkable Physicists FromGalileotoYukawa The250yearsfromthesecondhalfoftheseventeenthcenturysawthe birthofmodernphysicsanditsgrowthintooneofthemostsuccessfulof thesciences.Thereaderwillfindherethelivesoffiftyofthemost remarkablephysicistsfromthateradescribedinbriefbiographies.Allthe charactersprofiledhavemadeimportantcontributionstophysics,through theirideas,throughtheirteaching,orinotherways.Theemphasisison theirvariedlife-stories,notonthedetailsoftheirachievements,but, whenreadinsequence,thebiographies,whichareorganized chronologically,conveyinhumantermssomethingofthewayinwhich physicswascreated.Scientificandmathematicaldetailiskepttoa minimum,sothereaderwhoisinterestedinphysics,butperhapslacks thebackgroundtofollowtechnicalaccounts,willfindthiscollectionan invitingandeasypaththroughthesubject’smoderndevelopment. Remarkable Physicists From Galileo to Yukawa Ioan James MathematicalInstitute,Oxford cambridge university press Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo Cambridge University Press The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge cb2 2ru, UK Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York www.cambridge.org Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521816878 © Ioan James 2004 This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written permission of Cambridge University Press. First published in print format 2004 isbn-13 978-0-511-16562-7 eBook (NetLibrary) isbn-10 0-511-16562-5 eBook (NetLibrary) isbn-13 978-0-521-81687-8 hardback isbn-10 0-521-81687-4 hardback isbn-13 978-0-521-01706-0 paperback isbn-10 0-521-01706-8 paperback Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of urls for external or third-party internet websites referred to in this publication, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Contents Preface pageix Prologue xi 1 FromGalileotoDanielBernoulli 1 GalileoGalilei(1564–1642) 1 JohannesKepler(1571–1630) 8 ChristiaanHuygens(1629–1695) 16 IsaacNewton(1642–1726) 21 DanielBernoulli(1700–1782) 31 2 FromFranklintoLaplace 36 BenjaminFranklin(1706–1790) 36 RogerJosephBoscovich(1711–1787) 47 HenryCavendish(1731–1810) 56 CharlesAugustinCoulomb(1736–1806) 60 Pierre-SimonLaplace(1749–1827) 65 3 FromRumfordtoOersted 74 SirBenjaminThompson(CountRumford)(1753–1814) 74 Jean-BaptisteFourier(1768–1830) 85 ThomasYoung(1773–1829) 90 Andre´-MarieAmpe`re(1775–1836) 97 HansChristianOersted(1777–1851) 102 4 FromOhmtoHelmholtz 107 GeorgOhm(1789–1854) 107 MichaelFaraday(1791–1867) 112 GeorgeGreen(1793–1841) 119 JosephHenry(1797–1878) 125 HermannvonHelmholtz(1821–1894) 132 5 FromKelvintoBoltzmann 141 WilliamThomson(LordKelvinofLargs)(1824–1907) 141 vi Contents JamesClerkMaxwell(1831–1879) 150 J.WillardGibbs(1839–1903) 157 JohnWilliamStrutt(LordRayleigh)(1842–1919) 163 LudwigBoltzmann(1844–1906) 168 6 FromRo¨ntgentoMarieCurie 177 WilhelmConradRo¨ntgen(1845–1923) 177 JosephJohnThomson(1856–1940) 183 MaxPlanck(1858–1947) 192 WilliamHenryBragg(1862–1942) 199 MarieCurie(1867–1934) 208 7 FromMillikantoEinstein 221 RobertMillikan(1868–1953) 221 ErnestRutherford(LordRutherford)(1871–1937) 227 LiseMeitner(1878–1968) 234 OttoHahn(1879–1968) 242 AlbertEinstein(1879–1955) 247 8 FromEhrenfesttoSchro¨dinger 259 PaulEhrenfest(1880–1933) 259 MaxBorn(1882–1970) 266 NielsBohr(1885–1962) 273 FrederickLindemann(LordCherwell)(1886–1957) 284 ErwinSchro¨dinger(1887–1961) 295 9 FromdeBroglietoFermi 307 LouisdeBroglie(1892–1987) 307 SatyendranathBose(1894–1974) 313 PiotrLeonidovichKapitza(1894–1984) 320 Jean-Fre´de´ricJoliot(1900–1958) 327 EnricoFermi(1901–1954) 335 10 FromHeisenbergtoYukawa 343 WernerHeisenberg(1901–1976) 343 PaulDirac(1902–1984) 353 Contents vii J.RobertOppenheimer(1904–1967) 359 MariaGoeppert-Mayer(1906–1972) 364 HidekiYukawa(1907–1981) 369 Epilogue 375 FurtherReading 379 Collections 385 Acknowledgements 387 Preface Thisbookisintendedforthosewhowouldliketoreadsomething,butnot toomuch,aboutthelife-storiesofsomeofthemostremarkablephysicists born between the middle of the sixteenth century and the first decade of thetwentieth,aperiodofjustover350years.Therearefivesubjectsineach of the ten chapters, making fifty profiles altogether. The subjects have all made an important contribution to physics, through their ideas, through their teaching, or in other ways. The emphasis is mainly on their varied life-stories, not on the details of their achievements. By minimizing tech- nicaldetail,Ihavebeenabletoconcentrateonarepresentativeselectionof physicistswhoselivesseemtomeofspecialinterest.Thereaderwhowishes formoredetailaboutthetechnicalitiescansoeasilyfinditelsewherethat onlythebriefestofindicationsaregivenhere. InwritingthisbookIhavehadinmindthereaderwhoisinterested in physics but is not necessarily familiar with the history of the subject. Thebiographiesarearrangedchronologicallybydateofbirth,sothatwhen read in sequence they convey in human terms something of the way in whichphysicsdeveloped.Eachoftheprofilesisillustratedbyaportraitof thesubject,exceptforonecasewherenoneisknown.Asweshallsee,the remarkable physicists of our period were a surprisingly diverse collection of people. One thing that emerges clearly is that there is no such thing as atypicalphysicist.Anystudentofphysicswhomightbelookingforarole model will find some interesting possibilities. At the end I have tried to drawsomegeneralconclusions.Ihavealsoprovidedsomesuggestionsfor furtherreading. My thanks are due to the many people who have helped me either by reading parts of the text in draft and commenting or by dealing with particular questions. Among them are Blemis Bleaney, David Brink, Sir RogerElliott,DominicFlament,RobertFox,JohnRoche,PaoloSalvatore, RosemaryStewart,DavidThomson, DavidTranah,andJohnTyrer.Asfar aspossiblethesourcesoftheillustrationsandlongerquotationsaregiven attheendofthebook. MathematicalInstitute, Oxford April2003