Remarkable Physicists: From Galileo to Yukawa

Reviews:

'A useful reference …'. New Scientist

'James has researched the lives of his subjects with a keen eye for the fine details of their personal lives, as well as the science they contributed to.' Science Direct

' … this is an easily accessible text and should be of interest to all those who have an interest in physics, history or the history of physics …'. Mathematics Today

'It makes the lives of some important physicists accessible and convenient. You can dip into it and find something of interest about their lives … a welcome addition to the growing range of popular-science culture.' The Mathematical Gazette

Book Description:

This book is ideal for anyone who would like to read about the lives of some of the most remarkable physicists born since the second half of the seventeenth century. Each of the fifty-five physicists profiled have made important contributions to physics, through their ideas and teaching, or in other ways. The biographies are arranged chronologically by the physicists' dates of birth, so that, when read in sequence, they convey how physics developed over time. However, the book emphasizes their varied life stories, not the details of their achievements. Ioan James is Professor at the Mathematical Institute, University of Oxford. He is the author of Remarkable Mathematicians (Cambridge University Press, 2003) and Topological and Uniform Spaces (Springer-Verlag, 1999).

The 250 years from the second half of the 17th century saw the birth of modern physics and its growth into one of the most successful of the sciences. The reader will find here the lives of 55 of the most remarkable physicists from that era described in brief biographies. All the characters profiled have made important contributions to physics, either through their ideas, through their teaching or in other ways. The emphasis is on their varied life-stories, not on the details of their achievements, but when read in sequence the biographies, which are organised chronologically, convey in human terms something of the way in which physics was created. Scientific and mathematical detail is kept to a minimum, so the reader who is interested in physics, but perhaps lacks the background to follow technical accounts, will find this collection an inviting and easy path through the subject's modern development.


• Unique collection of profiles chosen to convey historical development of the birth of modern physics
• No equations and can be read as human interest, history or philosophy
• Every portrayal is accompanied by a portrait

Contents
Prologue;
1. From Galileo to Daniel Bernoulli;
2. From Franklin to Laplace;
3. From Rumford to Oersted;
4. From Somerville to Henry;
5. From Helmholtz to Rayleigh;
6. From Boltzmann to Volterra;
7. From Bragg to Langevin;
8. From Meitner to Born;
9. From Bohr to Simon;
10. From Bose to Heisenberg;
11. From Dirac to Yukawa;
Epilogue;
Further reading;
Acknowledgements.


About the Author:

Ioan James is the former Savilian Professor of Geometry at the University of Oxford. He won both the Junior Berwick and Whitehead Prizes of the London Mathematical Society.