Heisenberg Probably Slept Here: The Lives, Times, and Ideas of the Great Physicists of the 20th Century

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Overview

"Here is a book I wish I had when taking physics my senior year in high school!" -Book Report

A lively illumination of modern physics' marquee players, featuring:
* Albert Einstein
* Max Planck
* Ernest Rutherford
* Niels Bohr
* Werner ...

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More About This Book

Overview

"Here is a book I wish I had when taking physics my senior year in high school!" -Book Report

A lively illumination of modern physics' marquee players, featuring:
* Albert Einstein
* Max Planck
* Ernest Rutherford
* Niels Bohr
* Werner Heisenberg
* Richard Feynman
* Murray Gell-Mann

"Brennan has a knack for explaining difficult technicalities simply. His essays give a useful summary of twentieth-century science." -Financial Times

"Highly recommended to expert and layperson alike." -Choice

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Editorial Reviews

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly
A century ago, physical scientists believed they understood the universe on a very fundamental level, complete with equations for every phenomenon. Newton's Laws described the mechanical universe, Maxwell's Equations united electricity, magnetism and light. Only a few puzzling phenomena remained to be explained, foremost among them results from the Michelson-Morley experiment that suggested a mismatch between the equations of Newton and Maxwell, and the spectrum produced by hot bodies, which in comparison with theoretical predictions was skewed toward the infrared. No one could predict that the 20th-century would resolve those puzzling results by reformulating Newtonian mechanics, declaring atoms divisible, blurring the distinctions between matter and energy and between particles and waves and abandoning the precise determinability of natural phenomena. Brennan (Levitating Trains and Kamikaze Genes) tells the story of our century's revolution in physics and the lives of seven great scientists (plus Newton) who brought it about in times marked by war and social and political turmoil. Unfortunately, the book is weakened by lapses in physics (especially relativity, where Brennan mixes one of the theory's basic assumptions-the constancy of the speed of light-with its counterintuitive predictions) and a text that can be as superficial as a poor encyclopedia. In spite of this, many readers will find the book useful for its insights into brilliant, complex minds grappling with scientific, technological and political problems. (Jan.)
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Product Details

  • ISBN-13: 9780471295853
  • Publisher: Wiley, John & Sons, Incorporated
  • Publication date: 9/18/1998
  • Series: Popular Science Series
  • Edition number: 1
  • Pages: 274
  • Product dimensions: 6.20 (w) x 9.23 (h) x 0.76 (d)

Meet the Author

RICHARD P. BRENNAN is a veteran science editor and a former consultant to Lockheed, the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment, U.S. Department of Transportation, and the National Academy of Sciences. He is the author of the bestselling Levitating Trains and Kamikaze Genes, also from Wiley. Mr. Brennan lives in Palo Alto, California.
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Table of Contents

Isaac Newton.

Albert Einstein.

Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck.

Ernest Rutherford.

Niels Henrik David Bohr.

Werner Karl Heisenberg.

Richard Phillips Feynman.

Murray Gell-Mann.

Epilogue: The Why of Physics.

Chronology of Physics.

Glossary.

Bibliography.

Index.

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