Table of Contents
Preface vii
Acknowledgments ix
I Philosophy of Science 1
Introduction 1
Philosophy of Science 3
Truth 4
Significant Questions in Science 7
II Classical Precursors for the Concepts of Modern Physics 9
Galileo Galilei 9
The Thought Experiment 9
Galileo's Principle of Inertia 9
Laws of Motion in Two- and Three-Dimensional Space 11
Galileo's Principle of Relativity 11
Threads of Truth - Astronomy 12
Rene Descartes 13
Baruch Spinoza 14
Isaac Newton 15
Newton's Three Laws of Motion 16
Newton's Law of Universal Gravitation 16
Newton's Concepts 18
Newton's Optics 19
III Nineteenth Century Physics: Atomism and Continuity 21
The Ideal Gas Law 22
Heat and the Conservation of Energy 24
The Laws of Thermodynamics and Atomism 25
Ludwig Boltzmann's and Ernst Mach's Philosophy of Science 27
Agreements between Boltzmann and Mach and 'Mach's Principle' 28
The Continuous Field Concept 29
IV Early Anomalies and Elementary Particles 34
The Perihelion Precession of Mercury's Orbit 34
The Michelson-Morley Experiment 35
Blackbody Radiation and the Photon 37
The Electron 39
The Quantization of Electrical Charge 40
The Photoelectric Effect 41
The Compton Effect 41
Radioactivity 42
Rutherford and Atomic Structure 43
Bohr's Atomic Model 43
V From the Old Quantum Theory to Quantum Mechanics 46
Bohr's Atom and Energy Levels 46
Electron Diffraction and Wave-Particle Dualism 48
Schrodinger's Wave Mechanics 49
Schrodinger's Interpretation of Wave Mechanics 50
The Young Double Slit Experiment 52
Einstein's Objection to Born's Interpretation of Linear Superposition 54
Schrodinger's Cat Paradox 55
VI Quantum Mechanics:Heisenberg's Matrix Mechanics and the Copenhagen School 57
Heisenberg's Philosophy 57
Matrix Mechanics 58
The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle 60
The Subjectivity of Matter in the Copenhagen View 61
The Principle of Complementarity 62
Einstein's Photon Box Thought Experiment 63
The Einstein-Podolsky-Rosen Thought Experiment 64
Hidden Variables 66
VII Concepts of the Theory of Relativity 68
The Principle of Relativity 68
Einstein's Discovery of the Theory of Relativity 70
The Spacetime Metric in Special Relativity 72
The Light Cone 73
Lorentz Transformations 73
Relative Simultaneity 74
Time Contraction and the Twin Paradox 75
The Fitzgerald-Lorentz Contraction 77
The Transformations of Velocities in Relativity Theory 77
VIII From Special to General Relativity 79
The Paradoxes of Time Travel 79
The Energy-Mass Relation E = mc2 in Special Relativity 81
The Meaning of E = mc2 84
The Theory of General Relativity 84
The Metric of a Curved Spacetime 85
The Principle of Equivalence 86
The Tests of General Relativity 88
A Unified Field Theory 90
IX The Universe 93
Astrophysics 93
Black Holes 93
Pulsars 95
Dark Matter 96
Cosmology: The Physics of the Universe 97
The Early Friedman Model 100
The Hubble Law 101
The Beginning of the Universe 101
Olbers' Paradox 101
A Spiral Universe 103
The Separation of Matter and Antimatter in the Universe 104
X Conflicts in the Foundations of the Quantum and Relativity Theories 106
The Principle of Complementarity versus the Principle of Relativity 107
Atomism Versus Continuity 108
On Epistemology - Logical Positivism Versus Abstract Realism 109
Subjectivity Versus Objectivity 110
On Quantum Electrodynamics 113
Indeterminism Versus Determinism 114
References and Notes 116
Index 123
