Kinko Tsuji – författare

This richly illustrated book explores the fascinating and ubiquitous occurrence of spirals and vortices in human culture and in nature. Spiral forms have been used as elements in the arts for thousands of years, whereas their role in nature and science – from DNA and sea shells to galaxies – is still a topic of investigation in numerous fields. Following an introduction to the cultural history of spiral forms, the book presents contributions from leading experts, who describe the origins, mechanisms and dynamics of spirals and vortices in their special fields. As a whole the book provides a valuable source of information, while also taking the reader on an aesthetic and scientific journey through the world of spiral forms.

This book explores the fascinating and intimate relationship between music and physics. Over millennia, the playing of, and listening to music have stimulated creativity and curiosity in people all around the globe. Beginning with the basics, the authors first address the tonal systems of European-type music, comparing them with those of other, distant cultures. They analyze the physical principles of common musical instruments with emphasis on sound creation and particularly charisma. Modern research on the psychology of musical perception – the field known as psychoacoustics – is also described. The sound of orchestras in concert halls is discussed, and its psychoacoustic effects are explained. Finally, the authors touch upon the role of music for our mind and society. Throughout the book, interesting stories and anecdotes give insights into the musical activities of physicists and their interaction with composers and musicians.

How is music born? Is music made by humans or does it already exist and wait to be found? How do composers create (or find) music? Having these questions in mind the authors ask more questions: How can we share our feelings with other people when listening to music? Can these be visualized? Why did Helmholtz have a problem with the third? Why is precise tuning so important in European music and less so in other cultures? What are the differences among the continents? What makes dissonant tone intervals uncomfortable in many cases? What enables us to distinguish the music of Mozart from that of Beethoven? Why are we fascinated by birdsong? Why does some music survive, whereas other just disappears? And finally, along which lines will music develop in the future? Drawing upon physics and mathematics, the authors search for answers to these questions and attempt to unravel in some depth the enigmas of how our minds are affected by the perception of music.

This volume is about ultra high-speed cameras, which enable us to see what we normally do not see. These are objects that are moving very fast, or that we just ignore. Ultra high-speed cameras invite us to a wonderland of microseconds. There Alice (the reader) meets a ultra high-speed rabbit (this volume) and travels together through this wonderland from the year 1887 to 2017. They go to the horse riding ground and see how a horse gallops. The rabbit takes her to a showroom where various cameras and illumination devices are presented. Then, he sends Alice into semiconductor labyrinths, wind tunnels, mechanical processing factories, and dangerous explosive fields. Sometimes Alice is large, and at other times she is very small. She sits even inside a car engine. She falls down together with a droplet. She enters a microbubble, is thrown out with a jet stream, and finds herself in a human body. Waking up from her dream, she sees children playing a game: “I see what you do not see, andthis is….”. Alice thinks: “The ultra high-speed rabbit showed me many things which I had never seen. Now I will go again to this wonderland, and try to find something new.