The Great Equations: Breakthroughs in Science from Pythagoras to Heisenberg

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Overview

Philosopher and science historian Robert P. Crease tells the stories behind ten of the greatest equations in human history. Was Nobel laureate Richard Feynman really joking when he called Maxwell's electromagnetic equations the most significant event of the nineteenth century? How did Newton's law of gravitation influence young revolutionaries? Why has Euler's formula been called "God's equation," and why did a mysterious ecoterrorist make it his calling card? What role do betrayal, insanity, and suicide play in the second law of thermodynamics?

The Great Equations tells the stories of how these equations were discovered, revealing the personal struggles...

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Overview

Philosopher and science historian Robert P. Crease tells the stories behind ten of the greatest equations in human history. Was Nobel laureate Richard Feynman really joking when he called Maxwell's electromagnetic equations the most significant event of the nineteenth century? How did Newton's law of gravitation influence young revolutionaries? Why has Euler's formula been called "God's equation," and why did a mysterious ecoterrorist make it his calling card? What role do betrayal, insanity, and suicide play in the second law of thermodynamics?

The Great Equations tells the stories of how these equations were discovered, revealing the personal struggles of their ingenious originators. From "1 + 1 = 2" to Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, Crease locates these equations in the panoramic sweep of Western history, showing how they are as integral to their time and place of creation as are great works of art.

Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly

Although most people can recite Einstein's famous little equation, even if we don't know quite what it means, who has heard of the 18th-century mathematician Leonhard Euler, let alone know anything at all about his famous equation? Crease, a Stony Brook philosophy professor and popular science writer, has already taken on "the ten most beautiful experiments in science" in The Prism and the Pendulum, and in this enjoyable book he explores 10 rather beautiful equations. He begins with the beguiling simplicity of the equation that bears Pythogoras' name (although he says the Greek wasn't the first to discover it) and moves on to Newton's second law of motion and law of universal gravitation, the second law of thermodynamics, Maxwell's celebrated equations, discoveries by Einstein and Schrödinger and, finally, Heisenberg's famous uncertainty principle. Crease explains the significance of each of these formulas for science and, in brief "interludes" between chapters, explores the "journeys" these scientists took "from ignorance to knowledge," and the "social lives" of their theories-their impact on the larger culture. Any reader who aspires to be scientifically literate will find this a good starting place. 43 illus. (Jan.)

Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780393062045
  • Publisher: Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
  • Publication date: 1/19/2009
  • Pages: 224
  • Sales rank: 820,985
  • Product dimensions: 5.90 (w) x 8.30 (h) x 1.20 (d)

Meet the Author

Robert P. Crease writes the "Critical Point" column for Physics World. He is the chairman of the Philosophy Department at Stony Brook University and lives in New York City. He is the author of, among other books, The Prism and the Pendulum, The Great Equations and World in the Balance.

Table of Contents

Introduction 13

Ch. 1 "The Basis of Civilization": The Pythagorean Theorem 21

Interlude Rules, Proofi, and the Magic of Mathematics 42

Ch. 2 "The Soul of Classical Mechanics": Newton's Second Law of Motion 46

Interlude The Book of Nature 65

Ch. 3 "The High Point of the Scientific Revolution": Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation 69

Interlude That Apple 88

Ch. 4 "The Gold Standard for Mathematical Beauty": Euler's Equation 91

Interlude Equations as Icons 107

Ch. 5 The Scientific Equivalent of Shakespeare: The Second Law of Thermodynamies 111

Interlude The Science of Impossibility 128

Ch. 6 "The Most Significant Event of the 19th Century": Maxwell's Equations 132

Interlude Overcoming Anosognosia; or Restoring the Vitality of the Humanities 152

Ch. 7 Celebrity Equation: E = mc[superscript 2] 156

Interlude Crazy Ideas 180

Ch. 8 The Golden Egg: Einstein's Equation for General Relativity 185

Interlude Science Critics 209

Ch. 9 "The Basic Equation of Quantum Theory": Schrodinger's Equation 214

Interlude The Double Consciousness of Scientists 230

Ch. 10 Living with Uncertainty: The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle 235

Interlude The Yogi and the Quantum 261

Conclusion: Bringing the Strange Home 266

Notes 273

Illustration Credits 299

Index 303

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