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This is a reproduction of a book published before 1923.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process.We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide.We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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This scarce antiquarian book is a selection from Kessinger Publishing's Legacy Reprint Series. Due to its age, it may contain imperfections such as marks, notations, marginalia and flawed pages. Because we believe this work is culturally important, we have made it available as part of our commitment to protecting, preserving, and promoting the world's literature. Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone! ... Read more

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The early twentieth century saw the replacement of the Nebular Hypothesis with the Chamberlin-Moulton theory that the solar system resulted from the encounter of the Sun with a passing star. Fruitful Encounters follows the eventual refutation of the encounter theory and the subsequent revival of a modernized Nebular Hypothesis. Professor Brush also discusses the role of findings from the Apollo space program, especially the analysis of lunar samples, culminating in the establishment of the "giant impact" theory of the Moon's origin in the 1980s. ... Read more

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Masterful Volume in a Trilogy on Modern Physics
This is an outstanding volume by a superb historian of science. Is is the third volume in a trilogy entitled, "A History of Modern Planetary Physics." While there is considerably more in "Fruitful Encounters: The Origins of the Solar System and of the Moon from Chamberlin to Apollo" than the science accruing from Project Apollo, that was my major interest in reading the book. In "Fruitful Encounters" Stephen G. Brush of the University of Maryland spends considerable effort discussing the scientific return from Apollo during the 1960s and 1970s. Placing the history of lunar science into a broad continuum from the eighteenth to the twentieth century he explores the evolution of scientific thinking about the origins of the solar system and the evolution of its bodies. As historian Ronald E. Doel commented, "one of Brush's pursuits over the years has been to employ the history of nineteenth and twentieth century physical science to assess the adequacy of Kuhnian, Popperian, Lakatosian theories of science to evaluate the production of scientific knowledge, and Brush turns to these issues again here. He is particularly effective in pointing to historical example that refute Lakatos's claims that scientists never falsify a theory before the emergence of a better theoretical alternative" (Ronald E. Doel, "Theories and Origins of Planetary Physics," Isis 90 (September 1999): 563-68).

Brush's arguments focus on the longterm development of theory and its interaction with scientific inquiry. As such, it is a model of how such issues as lunar science accomplished with Apollo missions might be incorporated into larger history of science.

This is an outstanding work for anyone seeking to understand the evolution of scientific understanding about the Solar System, and the place of the Moon landing program in the larger research setting. Highly recommended. ... Read more

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Publisher: New York, The Macmillan Company; London, Macmillan ... Read more

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equally important as the atomic bomb
If your university has this monograph hidden away in its library, you might want to check it out. Written by physicists, and directed towards a reader with a strong science background, though not necessarily in physics, it tells a compelling story about the development of a crucial technology. Of course, the general public has been aware since the end of World War 2 about the vital role played by radar in the Battle of Britain, where the British had a decisive advantage in this field.

The book argues persuasively that radar ranked perhaps equally with the atomic bomb as the most important weapons developed by the Allies during the war.

In detail, it explains the British effort and then the sequel, so to speak. When the US entered the war, the British gave them all their radar technology. The MIT Radar lab became the American centre, analogous to Los Alamos for the Manhattan Project. We see how the Americans were able to bring their ingenuity and resources to bear. By shrinking the size and mass of the radar transmitters and detectors. Which let them be placed on ships and planes. And for artillery and ships' guns to be aimed using radar.

When the book came out in 1987, the author was able to interview some of those scientists and engineers, British and American, who took part in the war effort and were still alive.
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Highly respected physicist Rudolf Peierls offers an enlightening collection of essays, book reviews, and candid profiles of some of the most famous scientists of the 20th century. Many of the essays are concerned with the nuclear arms race, which Dr. Peierls has consistently opposed. The book reviews are most revealing and reflect Peierls's position on the Strategic Defense Initiative and his views on energy policy. Peierls also writes about mentor Wolfgang Pauli, the controversial figure of Werner Heisenberg, J. Robert Oppenheimer as a troubled young man, and personal friends Herbert Skinner, Niels Bohr, Max Planck, and others. About the Author In 1940, Rudolph Peierls, together with Otto Frisch, put forth the theory that if U-235 could be separated from U-238, an 11 pound bomb could be produced with the equivalent power of several tons of dynamite. Educated in Germany, Dr. Peierls went to Zurich in 1929 to assist the pioneering physicist Wolfgang Pauli. In 1932 he became a Rockefeller Fellow and went to England as a researcher. He remained in England after Hitler came to power and following World War II he taught at the University of Birmingham and later at Oxford. ... Read more

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Surveys the history of discoveries in physics from the theories of Aristotle to recent developments, emphasizing the contributions of Isaac Newton. ... Read more

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Webster's bibliographic and event-based timelines are comprehensive in scope, covering virtually all topics, geographic locations and people. They do so from a linguistic point of view, and in the case of this book, the focus is on "Solid State Physics," including when used in literature (e.g. all authors that might have Solid State Physics in their name). As such, this book represents the largest compilation of timeline events associated with Solid State Physics when it is used in proper noun form. Webster's timelines cover bibliographic citations, patented inventions, as well as non-conventional and alternative meanings which capture ambiguities in usage. These furthermore cover all parts of speech (possessive, institutional usage, geographic usage) and contexts, including pop culture, the arts, social sciences (linguistics, history, geography, economics, sociology, political science), business, computer science, literature, law, medicine, psychology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology and other physical sciences. This "data dump" results in a comprehensive set of entries for a bibliographic and/or event-based timeline on the proper name Solid State Physics, since editorial decisions to include or exclude events is purely a linguistic process. The resulting entries are used under license or with permission, used under "fair use" conditions, used in agreement with the original authors, or are in the public domain. ... Read more

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Discusses the history, physics, nanobiology, and nanotechnology of fullerene C60. Gives an overview of control systems, in particular, general and optimal control of the Schrodinger equation. ... Read more

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outdated, but good summary in its time
You should not get this book, as it is now heavily outdated. But in 1993, it gave a very good summary of what was known about C60 and its many variants. Already then, there was great recognition of its manifold promises for industrial uses. As the title suggests, the book explores these, under physics, microbiology and nanotech.

But the book also gives a retrospective. In the few short years to 93, a lot of research was conducted on C60, and Koruga strived to give proper accreditation to those who made the key advances. ... Read more

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Webster's bibliographic and event-based timelines are comprehensive in scope, covering virtually all topics, geographic locations and people. They do so from a linguistic point of view, and in the case of this book, the focus is on "High Energy Physics," including when used in literature (e.g. all authors that might have High Energy Physics in their name). As such, this book represents the largest compilation of timeline events associated with High Energy Physics when it is used in proper noun form. Webster's timelines cover bibliographic citations, patented inventions, as well as non-conventional and alternative meanings which capture ambiguities in usage. These furthermore cover all parts of speech (possessive, institutional usage, geographic usage) and contexts, including pop culture, the arts, social sciences (linguistics, history, geography, economics, sociology, political science), business, computer science, literature, law, medicine, psychology, mathematics, chemistry, physics, biology and other physical sciences. This "data dump" results in a comprehensive set of entries for a bibliographic and/or event-based timeline on the proper name High Energy Physics, since editorial decisions to include or exclude events is purely a linguistic process. The resulting entries are used under license or with permission, used under "fair use" conditions, used in agreement with the original authors, or are in the public domain. ... Read more

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The Continuing Revolution: A History of Physics from the Greeks to Einstein
This book is a must for students and teachers of the history and philosophy of science. Also for parents teaching their children the story of physics. It is written with affection by a philosopher of science with and for his son.
[...]

A treasure of parental-based scholarship
It takes some getting used to. But once one gets past the novelty of the principles involved in its presentation by means of father-son socratic dialogue and the sprinklings of judaic cultural contexualisms, the book shines as a treasure of parental-based scholarship (the best kind).I wish my father would have had such a discussion with me using this book.But my father--despite what he likes to say and think--cannot tolerate the heady, authoritatively dangerous mix of awe and rebellion characteristic of this book. Were i to have a child, i would however try and show a lot more affection without dominance of his or her mind, space, or being.The book seems to miss so many opportunities to just say once that parental love is vastly more important than 16th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th century scientific principles.Also the father seems to dominate his son's mind, which is probably alright, but again it would be better if dad could somehow be a little more genuinely understanding.

A book similar to this one, despite its strange fondness for the U.N., in presentation is Sophie's World (1996) by Jostein Gaarder. Part of the book is in fact how much physical space Sophie's given and the reader is given a similar amount of space in mind to understand and appreciate philosophical principles.

Scientific Activity As an Endless Dialogue
Agassi trained in physics and then studied logic and scientific method at the University of London with Sir Karl Popper. This book consists of a series of dialogues between the author and his son Aaron on the history of physics. The book demonstrates Agassi's "view that scientific activity is an endless dialogue,with problems and proposed solutions which are criticized as unclear, or as unsatisfactory, or as false. Science is and has been a continuing revolution" (8). The author does a good job of presenting the conceptual problems and solutions that led to the Copernican and Newtonian revolutions. He also covers some of the advances that created doubts about the magnificent Newtonian edifice and led to relativity theory, which is briefly discussed. The book provides an excellent starting point in physics for the non-scientist. In deceptively simple prose, Agassi provides ample evidence for his view that "...if we want progress, we have to test our theories very carefully and rid them of mistakes" (147). ... Read more

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During the past 200 years, astronomers and geologists have developed and tested several different theories about the origin of the solar system and the nature of the Earth. Together, the three volumes that comprise A History of Modern Planetary Physics present a survey of these theories. Nebulous Earth follows the development of Laplace's Nebular Hypothesis, its connection with ideas about the interior of the Earth, and its role in the establishment of the "evolutionary" worldview that dominated science in the latter part of the nineteenth century.Brush also explores Saturn's rings, Poincaré's contributions to ideas about cosmic evolution, the use of seismology to probe the earth's core, and explanations of the Earth's magnetic field. This series will interest historians and philosophers of science as well as earth scientists and geologists. ... Read more