J. L. Heilbron - Böcker

An engaging biography that captures the excitement of the early days of nuclear physics, Ernest Rutherford tells the story of the down-to-earth New Zealander who became one of the foremost pioneers of subatomic physics. Rutherford's achievements were numerous and included:* Inventing a detector for electromagnetic waves* Discovering the existence of alpha and beta rays in uranium radiation* Creating (with Frederick Soddy) the "disintegration theory" of radioactivity, which regards radioactive phenomena as atomic -- not molecular -- processes * Demonstrating that the inner structures of elements correspond with a group of lines that characterize them, which could then be assigned an atomic number and, more important, the properties of each element could be defined by this number * And his greatest contribution of all - he discovered that the atom had a nucleus and that it contained the positively charged proton From his early days as a scholarship student to the end of his life as he continued to work in his lab, Ernest Rutherford reveals the life and times of one of the greatest minds of the twentieth century.Oxford Portraits in Science is an on-going series of scientific biographies for young adults. Written by top scholars and writers, each biography examines the personality of its subject as well as the thought process leading to his or her discoveries. These illustrated biographies combine accessible technical information with compelling personal stories to portray the scientists whose work has shaped our understanding of the natural world.

Niels Bohr, who pioneered the quantum theory of the atom, had a broad conception of his obligations as a physicist. They included not only a responsibility for the consequences of his work for the wider society, but also a compulsion to apply the philosophy he deduced from his physics to improving ordinary people's understanding of the moral universe they inhabit. In some of these concerns Bohr resembled Einstein, although Einstein could not accept what he called the "tranquilizing philosophy" with which Bohr tried to resolve such ancient conundrums as the nature (or possibility) of free will. In this Very Short Introduction John Heilbron draws on sources never before presented in English to cover the life and work of one of the most creative physicists of the 20th century. In addition to his role as a scientist, Heilbron considers Bohr as a statesman and Danish cultural icon, who built scientific institutions and pushed for the extension of international cooperation in science to all nation states. As a humanist he was concerned with the cultivation of all sides of the individual, and with the complementary contributions of all peoples to the sum of human culture. Throughout, Heilbron considers how all of these aspects of Bohr's personality influenced his work, as well as the science that made him, in the words of Sir Henry Dale, President of the Royal Society of London, probably the "first among all the men of all countries who are now active in any department of science." 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.

How does the physics we know today - a highly professionalised enterprise, inextricably linked to government and industry - link back to its origins as a liberal art in Ancient Greece? What is the path that leads from the old philosophy of nature and its concern with humankind's place in the universe to modern massive international projects that hunt down fundamental particles and industrial laboratories that manufacture marvels? This Very Short Introduction introduces us to Islamic astronomers and mathematicians calculating the size of the earth whilst their caliphs conquered much of it; to medieval scholar-theologians investigating light; to Galileo, Copernicus, Kepler, and Newton, measuring, and trying to explain, the universe. We visit the 'House of Wisdom' in 9th-century Baghdad; Europe's first universities; the courts of the Renaissance; the Scientific Revolution and the academies of the 18th century; and the increasingly specialised world of 20th and 21st century science. Highlighting the shifting relationship between physics, philosophy, mathematics, and technology - and the implications for humankind's self-understanding - Heilbron explores the changing place and purpose of physics in the cultures and societies that have nurtured it over the centuries. 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.

Elements of Early Modern Physics comprises the two long introductory chapters of J. L. Heilbron's monumental work Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics plus a concluding summary of the remaining chapters. Heilbron opens with a presentation of the general principles of physical theory and a description of the institutional frameworks in which physics were cultivated in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He argues that the single most important contributor to physics in the seventeenth century was the Catholic Church. In the first half of the eighteenth century, Cartesian and Newtonian physicists disagreed over principles but thought in similar terms and cultivated the same sort of qualitative natural philosophy. Work towards an exact physics, which took on important dimensions after 1770, confounded the programs of both. Heilbron shows that by attending too closely to the Copernican revolution and the confrontation of great philosophical systems, historians have seriously misjudged the character of early modern science. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1982.

H. G. J. Moseley (1887 - 1915), the son and grandson of distinguished English scientists, a favorite student of Rutherford's and a colleague of Bohr's, completed researches of capital importance for atomic physics just before the outbreak of World War I. He was urged to devote himself to scientific war work in England, but his duty as he aw it was to join the battle. He procured himself command of a signaling section in the Royal Engineers, a speedy trip to Gallipoli, and death in the bloody battle for Sari Bair. In this work the author presents a full record of Moseley's brief and brilliant career. It gives instructive detail about Eton, which, as Heilbron shows, offered more opportunity for acquiring a foundation in science than its emphasis on Greek and games would suggest; about Oxford, a scientific backwater in Moseley's time; and about Rutherford's thriving laboratory at the University of Manchester. It describes in detail Moseley's apprenticeship in experimental physics, his growth under the tight supervision of Manchester, and his classical independent work on X rays, which almost certainly would have brought him the Nobel Prize. An epilogue sketches the chief results secured by other in the decade after his death in the research lines he opened. Heilbron's account is informed by an unequaled acquaintance with the relevant manuscript material, including all of Moseley's known correspondence (most of which he discovered) and the paper of colleagues such as Bohr, W. H. Bragg, G. H. Darwin, F. A. Lindemann (Lord Cherwell), Rutherford, Henry Tizard, Georges Ubrain, and G. von Hevesy. An important feature of the book is the publication, in extenso, of Moseley's surviving correspondence. These letters are not only a rich source for historians of science and of education. Tehy are also splendid reading: well-written records of the maturing of a strong mind, pithy commentaries on the Establishment as Moseley saw it, and exciting notices of the course of one of the most important researches in modern physical science. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1974.

Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics examines the development of electricity during the Scientific Revolution, offering a comprehensive analysis of its evolving understanding. The study unfolds in three stages: the first, until 1700, was marked by narrow exploration and premature attempts to systematize electrical phenomena; the second, spanning the early 18th century, saw the discovery of new phenomena that couldn't be explained by existing philosophies, with experimental philosophers at the forefront; and the third stage, by the late 18th century, saw electricity being quantified, particularly in the realm of electrostatics. The book provides an insightful account of the transition from theoretical abstraction to practical experimentation, highlighting the slow and incremental progress made by scientists in understanding electricity, culminating in the work of figures like Franklin, Cavendish, and Coulomb.The book delves into the institutional and intellectual frameworks that shaped the study of electricity during these centuries, emphasizing the significant role of the Catholic Church, particularly the Jesuits, in fostering experimental physics. It explores the challenges early electricians faced, such as inconsistent results caused by external factors like humidity and the peculiarities of materials like glass and gems. The author also scrutinizes the development of electrical theories, including the transition from effluvial models to more modern, quantifiable concepts like charge, capacity, and tension. By analyzing the Leyden jar and other key apparatus, the book traces how these tools helped clarify the nature of electricity, contributing to the eventual acceptance of Newtonian approaches to electrical theory.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1979.

Elements of Early Modern Physics comprises the two long introductory chapters of J. L. Heilbron's monumental work Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics plus a concluding summary of the remaining chapters. Heilbron opens with a presentation of the general principles of physical theory and a description of the institutional frameworks in which physics were cultivated in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. He argues that the single most important contributor to physics in the seventeenth century was the Catholic Church. In the first half of the eighteenth century, Cartesian and Newtonian physicists disagreed over principles but thought in similar terms and cultivated the same sort of qualitative natural philosophy. Work towards an exact physics, which took on important dimensions after 1770, confounded the programs of both. Heilbron shows that by attending too closely to the Copernican revolution and the confrontation of great philosophical systems, historians have seriously misjudged the character of early modern science. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1982.

H. G. J. Moseley (1887 - 1915), the son and grandson of distinguished English scientists, a favorite student of Rutherford's and a colleague of Bohr's, completed researches of capital importance for atomic physics just before the outbreak of World War I. He was urged to devote himself to scientific war work in England, but his duty as he aw it was to join the battle. He procured himself command of a signaling section in the Royal Engineers, a speedy trip to Gallipoli, and death in the bloody battle for Sari Bair. In this work the author presents a full record of Moseley's brief and brilliant career. It gives instructive detail about Eton, which, as Heilbron shows, offered more opportunity for acquiring a foundation in science than its emphasis on Greek and games would suggest; about Oxford, a scientific backwater in Moseley's time; and about Rutherford's thriving laboratory at the University of Manchester. It describes in detail Moseley's apprenticeship in experimental physics, his growth under the tight supervision of Manchester, and his classical independent work on X rays, which almost certainly would have brought him the Nobel Prize. An epilogue sketches the chief results secured by other in the decade after his death in the research lines he opened. Heilbron's account is informed by an unequaled acquaintance with the relevant manuscript material, including all of Moseley's known correspondence (most of which he discovered) and the paper of colleagues such as Bohr, W. H. Bragg, G. H. Darwin, F. A. Lindemann (Lord Cherwell), Rutherford, Henry Tizard, Georges Ubrain, and G. von Hevesy. An important feature of the book is the publication, in extenso, of Moseley's surviving correspondence. These letters are not only a rich source for historians of science and of education. Tehy are also splendid reading: well-written records of the maturing of a strong mind, pithy commentaries on the Establishment as Moseley saw it, and exciting notices of the course of one of the most important researches in modern physical science. This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1974.

Electricity in the 17th and 18th Centuries: A Study of Early Modern Physics examines the development of electricity during the Scientific Revolution, offering a comprehensive analysis of its evolving understanding. The study unfolds in three stages: the first, until 1700, was marked by narrow exploration and premature attempts to systematize electrical phenomena; the second, spanning the early 18th century, saw the discovery of new phenomena that couldn't be explained by existing philosophies, with experimental philosophers at the forefront; and the third stage, by the late 18th century, saw electricity being quantified, particularly in the realm of electrostatics. The book provides an insightful account of the transition from theoretical abstraction to practical experimentation, highlighting the slow and incremental progress made by scientists in understanding electricity, culminating in the work of figures like Franklin, Cavendish, and Coulomb.The book delves into the institutional and intellectual frameworks that shaped the study of electricity during these centuries, emphasizing the significant role of the Catholic Church, particularly the Jesuits, in fostering experimental physics. It explores the challenges early electricians faced, such as inconsistent results caused by external factors like humidity and the peculiarities of materials like glass and gems. The author also scrutinizes the development of electrical theories, including the transition from effluvial models to more modern, quantifiable concepts like charge, capacity, and tension. By analyzing the Leyden jar and other key apparatus, the book traces how these tools helped clarify the nature of electricity, contributing to the eventual acceptance of Newtonian approaches to electrical theory.This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press’s mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1979.

In this moving and eloquent portrait, John Heilbron describes how the founder of quantum theory rose to the pinnacle of German science. With great understanding, he shows how Max Planck suffered morally and intellectually as his lifelong habit of service to his country and to physics was confronted by the realities of World War I and the brutalities of the Third Reich.In an afterword written for this edition, Heilbron weighs the recurring questions among historians and scientists about the costs to others, and to Planck himself, of the painful choices he faced in attempting to build an “ark” to carry science and scientists through the storms of Nazism.