Peter E. Hodgson – författare

The new discoveries in physics during the twentieth century have stimulated intense debate about their relevance to age-old theological questions. Views range from those holding that modern physics provides a surer road to God than traditional religions, to those who say that physics and theology are incommensurable and so do not relate. At the very least, physics has stimulated renewed theological discussions. In this critical introduction to the science-theology debate, Peter E. Hodgson draws on his experience as a physicist to present the results of modern physics and the theological implications. Written for those with little or no scientific background, Hodgson describes connections between physics, philosophy and theology and then explains Newtonian physics and Victorian physics, the theories of relativity, astronomy and quantum mechanics, and distinguishes the actual results of modern physics from speculations. The connections with theology are explored throughout. The concluding section draws discussions together and makes an important new contribution to the debate.

The new discoveries in physics during the twentieth century have stimulated intense debate about their relevance to age-old theological questions. Views range from those holding that modern physics provides a surer road to God than traditional religions, to those who say that physics and theology are incommensurable and so do not relate. At the very least, physics has stimulated renewed theological discussions. In this critical introduction to the science-theology debate, Peter E. Hodgson draws on his experience as a physicist to present the results of modern physics and the theological implications. Written for those with little or no scientific background, Hodgson describes connections between physics, philosophy and theology and then explains Newtonian physics and Victorian physics, the theories of relativity, astronomy and quantum mechanics, and distinguishes the actual results of modern physics from speculations. The connections with theology are explored throughout. The concluding section draws discussions together and makes an important new contribution to the debate.

The new discoveries in physics during the twentieth century have stimulated intense debate about their relevance to age-old theological questions. Views range from those holding that modern physics provides a surer road to God than traditional religions, to those who say that physics and theology are incommensurable and so do not relate. At the very least, physics has stimulated renewed theological discussions. In this critical introduction to the science-theology debate, Peter E. Hodgson draws on his experience as a physicist to present the results of modern physics and the theological implications. Written for those with little or no scientific background, Hodgson describes connections between physics, philosophy and theology and then explains Newtonian physics and Victorian physics, the theories of relativity, astronomy and quantum mechanics, and distinguishes the actual results of modern physics from speculations. The connections with theology are explored throughout. The concluding section draws discussions together and makes an important new contribution to the debate.

The new discoveries in physics during the twentieth century have stimulated intense debate about their relevance to age-old theological questions. Views range from those holding that modern physics provides a surer road to God than traditional religions, to those who say that physics and theology are incommensurable and so do not relate. At the very least, physics has stimulated renewed theological discussions. In this critical introduction to the science-theology debate, Peter E. Hodgson draws on his experience as a physicist to present the results of modern physics and the theological implications. Written for those with little or no scientific background, Hodgson describes connections between physics, philosophy and theology and then explains Newtonian physics and Victorian physics, the theories of relativity, astronomy and quantum mechanics, and distinguishes the actual results of modern physics from speculations. The connections with theology are explored throughout. The concluding section draws discussions together and makes an important new contribution to the debate.

This book is a comprehensive account of all significant energy sources, evaluated according to their capacity, reliability, cost, safety and effects on the environment. Non-renewable sources (for example, coal, oil, gas and nuclear fuel) together with renewable sources like wood, hydro, biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, ocean thermal, and tidal; are considered. Also, nuclear radiations and the disposal of nuclear waste and the future of nuclear power are assessed, as well as pollution and acid rain, the greenhouse effects and climate change. Its social, political and moral problems are discussed, with a special mention of the opposition to nuclear power.

This book is a comprehensive account of all significant energy sources, evaluated according to their capacity, reliability, cost, safety and effects on the environment. Non-renewable sources (for example, coal, oil, gas and nuclear fuel) together with renewable sources like wood, hydro, biomass, wind, solar, geothermal, ocean thermal, and tidal; are considered. Also, nuclear radiations and the disposal of nuclear waste and the future of nuclear power are assessed, as well as pollution and acid rain, the greenhouse effects and climate change. Its social, political and moral problems are discussed, with a special mention of the opposition to nuclear power.

We need energy to warm and light our homes, to power our transport and communications, and to support our manufacturing industries. Can we obtain enough energy to satisfy the needs of a rapidly increasing world population without, at the same time, devastating the earth? Is nuclear power the way to do this?This book surveys available energy sources and their effects on the environment in the context of moral imperatives and political realities.

We need energy to warm and light our homes, to power our transport and communications, and to support our manufacturing industries. Can we obtain enough energy to satisfy the needs of a rapidly increasing world population without, at the same time, devastating the earth? Is nuclear power the way to do this?This book surveys available energy sources and their effects on the environment in the context of moral imperatives and political realities.

“This excellent work is written not just for experts, but for the average Christian who wants to know how his faith has to do with modern cosmological and atomic theories.

Thomas Brody had one of the most powerful and wide-ranging intellects of his generation. Although primarily a physicist who worked on statistical prob­ lems in nuclear physics, on probability theory and on computational physics he had an extensive knowledge of the philosophy of science and of philosophy, and was fluent in many languages. He is well-known among physicists for the Brody-Moshinsky transformation but his extensive work on probability and on the philosophy of science remained almost unknown. This was because the originality of his ideas entailed many lengthy battles with uncomprehending referees, and he frequently published in Mexican journals of limited circula­ tion. In addition, his strongly critical spirit inhibited his willingness to publish his ideas. He was always most concerned by the very unsatisfactory situation in the philosophy of physics, that is largely due to the generally poor knowledge that physicists and philosophers have of each other's disciplines. Philosophers of science write at length about physics without any detailed first-hand knowl­ edge of how research is actually carried out. Physicists, for their part, often implicitly assume naive or erroneous philosophical ideas, and this often hinders their scientific work, besides spreading further confusion if they try to give an account of what they are doing.

In recent years there has been growing interest in the nucleon-nucleon correl­ ations inside nuclei. In many respects the motions of the nucleons can be very well described by an overall mean field, so that the motion of each nucleon is governed by the mean field due to all the other nucleons. This concept underlies the Fermi-gas, Hartree-Fock and shell models and has enabled a range of nuclear properties to be calculated, often to surprising accuracy. It gradually became clear, however, that these mean-field models are limited by the effects due to the very strong interactions between the nucleons that occur at short distances; these are the short-range correlations. They are responsible for instance for the high-momentum components in the nucleon momentum dis­ tribution, and prevent the simultaneous description of the nuclear density and momentum distributions by the same mean field. It thus becomes necessary to develop methods for including the effects of nucleon correlations in nuclei, and these are the main subject of this book. Some related problems of nuclear structure were discussed in an earlier book by the same authors: Nucleon Momentum and Density Distributions in Nuclei (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1988). The main aim of that book was to study the effects of nucleon-nucleon correlations, both short-range and tensor, on the nucleon momentum distribution, which is particularly sensitive to these correl­ ations, and on the nucleon density distribution.

In recent years there has been growing interest in the nucleon-nucleon correl­ ations inside nuclei. In many respects the motions of the nucleons can be very well described by an overall mean field, so that the motion of each nucleon is governed by the mean field due to all the other nucleons. This concept underlies the Fermi-gas, Hartree-Fock and shell models and has enabled a range of nuclear properties to be calculated, often to surprising accuracy. It gradually became clear, however, that these mean-field models are limited by the effects due to the very strong interactions between the nucleons that occur at short distances; these are the short-range correlations. They are responsible for instance for the high-momentum components in the nucleon momentum dis­ tribution, and prevent the simultaneous description of the nuclear density and momentum distributions by the same mean field. It thus becomes necessary to develop methods for including the effects of nucleon correlations in nuclei, and these are the main subject of this book. Some related problems of nuclear structure were discussed in an earlier book by the same authors: Nucleon Momentum and Density Distributions in Nuclei (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1988). The main aim of that book was to study the effects of nucleon-nucleon correlations, both short-range and tensor, on the nucleon momentum distribution, which is particularly sensitive to these correl­ ations, and on the nucleon density distribution.

Thomas Brody had one of the most powerful and wide-ranging intellects of his generation. Although primarily a physicist who worked on statistical prob­ lems in nuclear physics, on probability theory and on computational physics he had an extensive knowledge of the philosophy of science and of philosophy, and was fluent in many languages. He is well-known among physicists for the Brody-Moshinsky transformation but his extensive work on probability and on the philosophy of science remained almost unknown. This was because the originality of his ideas entailed many lengthy battles with uncomprehending referees, and he frequently published in Mexican journals of limited circula­ tion. In addition, his strongly critical spirit inhibited his willingness to publish his ideas. He was always most concerned by the very unsatisfactory situation in the philosophy of physics, that is largely due to the generally poor knowledge that physicists and philosophers have of each other''s disciplines. Philosophers of science write at length about physics without any detailed first-hand knowl­ edge of how research is actually carried out. Physicists, for their part, often implicitly assume naive or erroneous philosophical ideas, and this often hinders their scientific work, besides spreading further confusion if they try to give an account of what they are doing.