Ten Days in Physics that Shook the World: How Physicists Transformed Everyday Life

by Brian Clegg

Overview

The breakthroughs that have had the most transformative practical impacts, from thermodynamics to the Internet.
Physics informs our understanding of how the world works – but more than that, key breakthroughs in physics have transformed everyday life. We journey back to ten separate days in history to understand how particular breakthroughs were achieved, meet the individuals responsible and see how each breakthrough has influenced our lives.
It is a unique selection. Focusing on practical impact means there is no room for Stephen Hawking's work on black holes, or the discovery of the Higgs boson. Instead we have the relatively little-known Rudolf Clausius (thermodynamics) and Heike Kamerlingh Onnes (superconductivity), while Albert Einstein is included not for his theories of relativity but for the short paper that gave us E=mc2 (nuclear fission). Later chapters feature transistors, LEDs and the Internet.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781785787485
Publisher:	Icon Books, Ltd. UK
Publication date:	08/05/2021
Sold by:	Bookwire
Format:	eBook
Pages:	240
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Brian Clegg is a popular science writer whose Dice World and A Brief History of Infinity were both longlisted for the Royal Society Prize for Science Books. He has written for publications including Nature, The Times and BBC Focus.
Dice World and A Brief History of Infinity were both longlisted for the Royal Society Prize for Science Books. He has written for publications including Nature, The Times and BBC Focus.

Table of Contents

Introduction xi

Day 1 Tuesday, 5 July 1687 1

Isaac Newton - Publication of the Principia

Day 2 Thursday, 24 November 1831 23

Michael Faraday - Reading of 'Experimental Researches in Electricity'

Day 3 Monday, 18 February 1850 45

Rudolf Clausius - Publication of 'On the Moving Force of Heat'

Day 4 Monday, 11 March 1861 59

James Clerk Maxwell - Publication of 'On Physical Lines of Force'

Day 5 Monday, 26 December 1898 71

Marie Curie - Publication of 'On a New, Strongly Radio-active Substance'

Day 6 Tuesday, 21 November 1905 89

Albert Einstein - Publication of 'Does the Inertia of a Body Depend on its Energy Content?'

Day 7 Saturday, 8 April 1911 107

Heike Kamerlingh Onnes - Discovery of superconductivity

Day 8 Tuesday, 16 December 1947 123

John Bardeen and Walter Brattain - First demonstration of a working transistor

Day 9 Wednesday, 8 August 1962 139

James R. Biard and Gary Pittman - Patent filed for light emitting diode

Day 10 Wednesday, 1 October 1969 157

Steve Crocker and Vint Cerf - First link of the internet initiated

The eleventh day? 177

Further reading 187

Picture credits 189

Editorial Reviews

2021-09-15
Appealing accounts of scientific breakthroughs by the veteran popularizer.

Aiming to describe discoveries that have played critical roles in our daily lives, Clegg pays little attention to black holes, neutrinos, dark matter, and other less-relevant astrophysical subjects. In the first of 10 dated chapters, the author looks at Isaac Newton, who considered himself a mathematician and whose masterpiece, Principia (1687), is a turgid, three-volume Latin tome packed with geometry and calculus. Though admittedly “difficult to read,” the book produced the foundational ideas of modern science, not only universal gravitation, but the current—as opposed to ancient and incorrect—concepts of motion, inertia, force, and mass. Modern science moved slowly until the 19th century, so Clegg’s second breakthrough occurred on Nov. 24, 1831, when Michael Faraday presented his paper reporting that a moving magnet produces a current in a nearby wire, called electrical induction, which “made the electrical motor and generator practical. In truth, Elon Musk should have called his car company Faraday, not Tesla.” No-brainers that follow include Marie Curie’s 1898 announcement of her discovery of radium and, seven years later, when Albert Einstein wrote that energy was simply matter in another form. Computer buffs might remember that John Bardeen and Walter Brattain demonstrated the first working transistor in 1947, but the names and dates behind many landmarks in technology are merely answers to trivia questions. Although Clegg does not dumb down his subjects, he understands that more than a few pages explaining the BCS theory of superconductivity or the mechanics of the internet’s Hypertext Transfer Protocol would turn off many readers. Consequently, he fills his chapters with autobiographical details, diverting scientific anecdotes, and other historical events that occurred during his chosen years. It’s padding, but few readers—especially the sizable number who have enjoyed Clegg’s many previous books—will complain.

A painless education on great milestones in physics.

Kirkus Reviews