Author | Christa Jungnickel and Russell McCormmach |
---|---|
Country | |
Language | English |
Subject | |
Publisher | University of Chicago Press |
Publication date | 1987 |
Pages |
|
Awards | Pfizer Award (1987) [1] |
ISBN | 0-226-41582-1 paperback |
OCLC | 30711895 |
530.09034 | |
LC Class | QC7.J86 |
Identifiers refer to the 1990 reprint unless otherwise noted |
Intellectual Mastery of Nature: Theoretical Physics from Ohm to Einstein is a two-volume reference work on the history of theoretical physics by Christa Jungnickel and Russell McCormmach that was initially published in 1986 by the University of Chicago Press. The book was well received, and it won the 1987 Pfizer Award, given annually by the History of Science Society. [1] In 2017, the duo released a revised and condensed version of the book through Springer International Publishing, titled The Second Physicist: On the History of Theoretical Physics in Germany. The authors also wrote the 1996 and updated 1999 biography of Henry Cavendish, originally titled Cavendish. The book was given the subtitle The Experimental Life in the revised version of 1999.
The book draws its name from Hermann von Helmholtz's view that the objective of theoretical physics is "intellectual mastery of nature". [2]
Intellectual Mastery of Nature was met with critical acclaim and won the 1987 Pfizer Award, the highest award offered by the History of Science Society. [3] [1] The book was reviewed by John L. Heilbron, [2] Jed Buchwald, [4] I. Bernard Cohen, [5] John Servos, [6] L. Pearce Williams, [7] Nancy J. Nersessian, [8] and Paul Forman. [9] In his 1988 review, Bernard Cohen wrote that the book is "replete with historical insights about science" and represents "a magisterial contribution to social, educational, institutional, and intellectual history and a magnificent portrayal of the actual growth and content of the science with which they are concerned." [5] The book was also reviewed in Science , [10] Nature , [11] The Journal of Higher Education , [12] Minerva , [13] American Scientist , [14] and several others. [15] [16] [17] [18] In a 2017 review of the authors' newer book The Second Physicist, it was remarked that the original was a "monumental" book "which was widely praised and justly given the Pfizer Award". [3]
In his 1986 review, John L. Heilbron wrote that the book "is a unique, important, and rich study" that is "useful to both historians and scientists". [2] The review noted that the book provides a good account of the deeds of "the professors who made theoretical physics" and continued: "This is a considerable achievement, though not the intellectual mastery that the authors promised." [2] The review then goes on to analyse the book by first stating that the first volume "gives a definitive account of the establishment of the institutions of German academic physics," but that it "does not integrate institutional and intellectual aspects of the history and scarcely touches on wider social forces and cultural values." [2] Heilbron also criticised the book's organisation, which, to him, exemplifies the volume's shortcomings. [2] Heilbron notes that the second volume is more successful in this integration than the first. [2] The review closes by stating: "Their stately recount ultimately overwhelms annoyance with the detail, the poor arrangement, and the imperfect integration of their book and leaves the impression that they as well as their subjects engaged in a grand enterprise." [2]
Author | Christa Jungnickel and Russell McCormmach |
---|---|
Country | Switzerland |
Language | English |
Subject | |
Publisher | Springer International Publishing |
Publication date | 2017 |
Pages | 460 |
ISBN | 978-3-319-49565-1 |
OCLC | 989974696 |
530.0943 | |
LC Class | QC9.G4 |
Website | www |
Identifiers refer to the 2017 eBook edition unless otherwise noted |
The Second Physicist: On the History of Theoretical Physics in Germany is a revised and condensed version of Intellectual Mastery of Nature by the same authors that was published by Springer International Publishing in 2017. The book was reviewed in HOPOS in 2019. [3] The first chapter, which is new for this book, is titled "Toward a Characterization of Theoretical Physics in Germany" and contains a discussion on how theoretical physics differs from mathematical and experimental physics. [3] The final chapter of the book, titled "Concluding Observations," is also new and contains a discussion on how theoretical physics evolved from mathematical physics. [3] A review of the book stated that "it is a splendid one-volume history of German theoretical physics in the nineteenth century," though its "appropriate audience" is stated to be "readers with a background in physics and mathematics and an interest in the history of physics". [3] The reviewer went on to write that the work "stands on its own as a model of intellectual clarity" and that he "highly" recommends it "to readers with the requisite background and interest, as well as to other readers who would like to experience something different and really amazing." [3] Jungnickel died before the book was published, and the new material and the updates are credited to McCormmach. [3]
Max Karl Ernst Ludwig Planck was a German theoretical physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1918.
Max Born was a German-British physicist and mathematician who was instrumental in the development of quantum mechanics. He also made contributions to solid-state physics and optics and supervised the work of a number of notable physicists in the 1920s and 1930s. Born was awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physics for his "fundamental research in quantum mechanics, especially in the statistical interpretation of the wave function".
Henry Cavendish was an English natural philosopher and scientist who was an important experimental and theoretical chemist and physicist. He is noted for his discovery of hydrogen, which he termed "inflammable air". He described the density of inflammable air, which formed water on combustion, in a 1766 paper, On Factitious Airs. Antoine Lavoisier later reproduced Cavendish's experiment and gave the element its name.
Friedrich Ernst Dorn was a German physicist who was the first to discover that a radioactive substance, later named radon, is emitted from radium.
Arnold Johannes Wilhelm Sommerfeld, was a German theoretical physicist who pioneered developments in atomic and quantum physics, and also educated and mentored many students for the new era of theoretical physics. He served as doctoral supervisor and postdoc supervisor to seven Nobel Prize winners and supervised at least 30 other famous physicists and chemists. Only J. J. Thomson's record of mentorship offers a comparable list of high-achieving students.
Paul Peter Ewald, FRS was a German crystallographer and physicist, a pioneer of X-ray diffraction methods.
Carl Gottfried Neumann was a German mathematician.
Paul Karl Ludwig Drude was a German physicist specializing in optics. He wrote a fundamental textbook integrating optics with James Clerk Maxwell's theories of electromagnetism.
The German Physical Society is the oldest organisation of physicists. As of 2022, the DPG's worldwide membership is cited as 52,220, making it one of the largest national physics societies in the world. The number of the DPG's members peaked in 2014, when it reached 63,000, but it has been decreasing since then. It holds an annual conference and multiple spring conferences, which are held at various locations and along topical subjects of given sections of the DPG. The DPG serves the fields of pure and applied physics. The main aims are to bring its members and all physicists living in Germany closer together, represent their entirety outwards, as well as foster the exchange of ideas between its members and foreign colleagues. The DPG binds itself and its members to advocate for freedom, tolerance, veracity and dignity in science and to be aware of the fact that the people working in science are responsible to a particularly high extent for the configuration of the overall human activity.
Energeticism, also called energism or energetics, is a superseded theory in science that posits that energy is the ultimate element of physical reality. Energeticism was developed during the end of the 19th century by the chemist Wilhelm Ostwald and mathematician Georg Helm. It was also promoted by physicist Ernst Mach, though his full commitment to it was sometimes ambiguous. Energetiscism attempted to substitute the hypothesis of atoms and molecules by energy relations.
Gregor Wentzel was a German physicist known for development of quantum mechanics. Wentzel, Hendrik Kramers, and Léon Brillouin developed the Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin approximation in 1926. In his early years, he contributed to X-ray spectroscopy, but then broadened out to make contributions to quantum mechanics, quantum electrodynamics, and meson theory.
Edwin Crawford Kemble was an American physicist who made contributions to the theory of quantum mechanics and molecular structure and spectroscopy. During World War II, he was a consultant to the Navy on acoustic detection of submarines and to the Army on Operation Alsos.
The Göttingen Seven were a group of seven liberal professors at University of Göttingen. In 1837, they protested against the annullment of the constitution of the Kingdom of Hanover by its new ruler, King Ernest Augustus, and refused to swear an oath to the king. The company of seven was led by historian Friedrich Christoph Dahlmann, who himself was one of the key advocates of the previous constitution. The other six were the Germanist brothers Wilhelm and Jacob Grimm, jurist Wilhelm Eduard Albrecht, historian Georg Gottfried Gervinus, physicist Wilhelm Eduard Weber, and theologian and orientalist Heinrich Georg August Ewald.
The Pfizer Award is awarded annually by the History of Science Society "in recognition of an outstanding book dealing with the history of science"
Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist is a historical novel by historian of science Russell McCormmach, published in 1982 by Harvard University Press. Set in 1918, the book explores the world of physics in the early 20th century—including the advent of modern physics and the role of physicists in World War I—through the recollections of the fictional Viktor Jakob. Jakob is an old German physicist who spent most of his career during the period of classical physics, a paradigm being confronted by the rapid and radical developments of relativistic physics in 1900s and 1910s. This conflict allows for extensive examination of the various tensions placed on Jakob by the academic environment, the German academic system, and the changing academic culture of the early 20th century.
Jagdish Mehra was an Indian–American physicist and historian of science.
Russell Keith McCormmach, the husband of the late Christa Jungnickel, is an American historian of physics.
Christa Jungnickel was a German-American historian of science.
Subtle is the Lord: The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein is a biography of Albert Einstein written by Abraham Pais. First published in 1982 by Oxford University Press, the book is one of the most acclaimed biographies of the scientist. This was not the first popular biography of Einstein, but it was the first to focus on his scientific research as opposed to his life as a popular figure. Pais, renowned for his work in theoretical particle physics, was a friend of Einstein's at the Institute for Advanced Study in his early career. Originally published in English in the United States and the United Kingdom, the book has translations in over a dozen languages. Pais later released a sequel to the book in 1994 titled Einstein Lived Here and, after his death in 2000, the University Press released a posthumous reprint of the biography in 2005, with a new foreword by Roger Penrose. Considered very popular for a science book, the biography sold tens of thousands of copies of both paperback and hardcover versions in its first year. The book has received many reviews and, the year after its initial publication, it won both the 1983 National Book Award for Nonfiction, in Science (Hardcover), and the 1983 Science Writing Award.
Max Born was a widely influential German physicist and mathematician who was awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physics for his pivotal role in the development of quantum mechanics. Born won the prize primarily for his contributions to the statistical interpretation of the wave function, though he is known for his work in several areas of quantum mechanics as well as solid-state physics, optics, and special relativity. Born's entry in the Biographical Memoirs of Fellows of the Royal Society included thirty books and 330 papers.