History of Physics| History of Physics |
In General
> s.a. areas of physics [including status, future];
history of physics by areas.
* Trends: In fundamental physics,
questions that were metaphysical at one time become well-posed at a later time.
* Analogy:
Copernicus, Kepler, Newton were like sleepwalkers, who managed to go where
they wanted to without knowing how (A Koestler); Einstein even more.
@ General references: Buckley 29;
Einstein & Infeld 38;
Yourgrau & Breck ed-70;
McCormmach ed-74;
Heilbron & Wheaton 81 [refs];
Weart & Phillips ed-85;
Kargon & Achinstein ed-87;
Brush AJP(87)aug [RL],
ed-88;
Weaver 87;
Park 88;
Motz & Weaver 89;
Wu IJMPA(89);
Roche ed-90;
Simonyi 12 [cultural history];
Persson a1308 [in introductory physics textbooks];
Modinos 14;
Varvoglis 14;
Weinberg 15;
Stanley PT(16)jul [why study it];
Kragh a1702-conf
[indirect value of the history of science for physicists];
Heilbron 18 [brief]; Gal 21 [from antiquity to the Scientific Revolution].
@ Biographies: Porter ed-94,
& Ogilvie ed-00;
Daintith ed-09;
Pickover 08 [and laws].
@ Special topics: Shamos 59 [great experiments];
McCoy ht/96-talk [physics vs metaphysics];
Rabinowitz JNE(01)phy [limitations];
Davies phy/02 [and astronomy];
Wilczek Nat(04)phy [examples];
Brown AJP(06)may [role of myths];
Crease pw(07)jan [role of letters for historians];
Jackson AJP(08)aug-a0708 [0th theorem of the history of physics];
Maienschein & Smith Isis(08) [value of history of science];
Weinert SHPSA(10) [role of plausibility arguments];
Lahav & Massimi A&G(14)-a1405 [paradigm shifts, the role of evidence, and the dark-energy example];
Rogers a1902-conf [discrete matter vs field theories].
Models, Stages of Evolution
* Taketani's three stages:
Phenomenological (Tycho / Franklin's & Gilbert's in electromagnetism
/ cross sections, branching ratios in particle physics); Substantialistic
(kinematics: Kepler's laws / Faraday & Oersted / standard model);
Essentialistic (dynamics, Newton's laws / Maxwell's equations / ??).
@ References: Taketani PTPS(71),
Sakata PTPS(71);
Bellone & Bruzzaniti RNC(92);
Bacry IJTP(93).
History of Physics / Science Education
* V century BC: The
trivium was composed of grammar, dialectic, and rhetoric; the
quadrivium of arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and harmony;
"Nature" was not studied until the late XVIII century.
Early Developments
> s.a. vacuum; XIX century; {#Newton}.
* First prediction: A solar eclipse
in 585 BC, by Thales of Miletus (Ionia), using Babylonian astronomical tables.
* Earliest views of Nature: Forces
at work in the world were thought of as generalizations of human emotions.
* Thales: The universe is composed of
water, moving under forces inherent in itself – not at the whim of the Gods.
* Anaximander of Miletus:
The universe is composed of a common inanimate substance from which Earth, Mist,
Fire and Water are formed, in some sense moving in search of their equilibrium.
* Pythagoras' school: (Croton, Italy)
Nature is governed by Mind; They had a deep mathematical sense.
* V century BC, Leucippus and
Democritus: Atoms moving under the influence of laws.
* III century BC, Archimedes:
The most important scientist of Antiquity, worked on buoyancy and centers
of gravity in planes, among other things.
* Interlude: The naturalistic view
of the universe lay dormant from the V century BC to the Renaissance (e.g., Leonardo).
* XVIII century: Physicists became
fascinated with electricity; 1746, Leyden jars store charge and produce sparks; 1752,
Franklin draws electricity from lightning with kites; Doctors treat patients with
electric shocks; France plays prominent role in research.
@ General references: Sambursky 87 [early physics];
Greene 92 [preclassical science];
Pedersen 93;
Sachs 95 [Aristotle];
Wallace pw(99)dec [before Galileo];
Al-Khalili 10 [Arabic scientists].
@ Middle Ages to XIX century: Barrañón phy/01 [Alonso de la Veracruz (1507-1584)];
Sylla PT(08)apr [Medieval dynamics, 1328 Thomas Bradwardine];
Bucciantini et al ed-07 [mechanics and cosmology];
Holder a1105 [Kepler, differential equations];
Manning SHPSA(12) [Descartes (1596-1650), physics];
Sparavigna IJS(13)-a1312 [Al-Biruni (973-1048)];
Shapin & Schaffer 11 [1600s, Boyle, Hobbes and experiments].
Sociology, Politics, Countries, Community of Physicists
* Physicists:
Physics as a profession arose in the mid 1800s; The word 'physicist'
was coined by Wheewell.
@ History of the community: Phillips AJP(89)jul.
@ Formation of physicists: issue PT(86)jun.
@ Countries: Van Vleck PT(64)jun [USA];
Low HSPBS(99) [Japan];
Morán-López PT(00)oct [Latin America];
Kak phy/03 [India];
Sánchez-Ron HSPBS(02) [Spain];
Warwick 03 [UK, Cambridge 1800s];
Hu 05 [China, and Einstein];
Baracca et al PT(06)sep [Cuba];
Narayan phy/07,
phy/07 [Indian Nyaya-Vaisesika School];
Case HSNS(09) [Antebellum US South];
Longair 16 [UK, history of the Cavendish Laboratory];
Roy IJHS-a1610 [India];
Feder PT(18)mar [Cuba].
@ Sociology: Rothman 89 [fashions];
Galam PhyA(04)phy-proc [sociophysics];
> s.a. astronomy; cosmology;
detection of gravitational waves.
@ Special topics: Schweber PT(93)nov [restructuring];
Kirby & Czujko PT(93)dec [job market];
Appelquist & Shapero PT(01)nov [community in new century];
> s.a. XIX century;
XX century; XXI century.
Individual Physicists and Personal Accounts
@ Personal accounts: Born 68,
69;
Gamow 70;
Heisenberg 75;
Dyson 81;
Casimir 83;
Heisenberg 83;
Feynman 85,
88;
Peierls 86;
Bernstein 88;
Wick in(88);
Lifshitz ed-89;
Weisskopf 89;
Bondi 90;
Rossi 90;
Bethe 91;
Zel'dovich 92;
Sagdeev 95;
Weiner 08;
Gell-Mann IJMPA(10);
Melissinos 12;
Polchinski a1708.
@ By physicists: Landau 65;
Wheaton & Heilbron 82;
Lightman & Brawer 90;
Bernstein 93;
Freund 07.
@ On physicists: Cropper 01 [from Galileo to Hawking];
Bernstein 01;
James 04 [from Galileo to Yukawa, r pw(04)apr,
Jones CP(05)];
Crease pw(08)jan [re Dictionary of Scientific Biography];
Parks a2007 [women's history in physics].
Online Resources > see AIP Center for History of Physics; Physics timeline.
"Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it."
George Santayana (in The Life of Reason, 1905)
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