A01=Helge Kragh
Alpha particle
Astronomer
Astronomy
Astrophysics
Atomic nucleus
Atomic physics
Atomic theory
Author_Helge Kragh
Beta decay
Big Science
Calculation
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CERN
Chemical element
Chemist
Classical electromagnetism
Cosmic ray
Cryogenics
Cyclotron
Electric charge
Electricity
Electromagnetism
Electron
Elementary particle
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Experimental physics
Gamma ray
General relativity
Hydrogen atom
J. J. Thomson
James Franck
Magnetic field
Mathematician
Max Born
Max Planck
Measurement
Meson
Modern physics
Molecule
Neutrino
Neutron
Nobel Prize
Nuclear fission
Nuclear physics
Nuclear power
Nuclear reaction
Nuclear reactor
Nuclear weapon
Nucleon
Particle physics
Pauli
Photon
Physical chemistry
Physical law
Physicist
Positron
Quantity
Quantum electrodynamics
Quantum field theory
Quantum gravity
Quantum mechanics
Scientist
Special relativity
Spectral line
Spectroscopy
Superconductivity
Technology
Theoretical physics
Theory
Theory of relativity
Transuranium element
X-ray
Year
Product details
- ISBN 9780691095523
- Weight: 765g
- Dimensions: 152 x 235mm
- Publication Date: 24 Mar 2002
- Publisher: Princeton University Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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At the end of the nineteenth century, some physicists believed that the basic principles underlying their subject were already known, and that physics in the future would only consist of filling in the details. They could hardly have been more wrong. The past century has seen the rise of quantum mechanics, relativity, cosmology, particle physics, and solid-state physics, among other fields. These subjects have fundamentally changed our understanding of space, time, and matter. They have also transformed daily life, inspiring a technological revolution that has included the development of radio, television, lasers, nuclear power, and computers. In Quantum Generations, Helge Kragh, one of the world's leading historians of physics, presents a sweeping account of these extraordinary achievements of the past one hundred years. The first comprehensive one-volume history of twentieth-century physics, the book takes us from the discovery of X rays in the mid-1890s to superstring theory in the 1990s. Unlike most previous histories of physics, written either from a scientific perspective or from a social and institutional perspective, Quantum Generations combines both approaches.
Kragh writes about pure science with the expertise of a trained physicist, while keeping the content accessible to nonspecialists and paying careful attention to practical uses of science, ranging from compact disks to bombs. As a historian, Kragh skillfully outlines the social and economic contexts that have shaped the field in the twentieth century. He writes, for example, about the impact of the two world wars, the fate of physics under Hitler, Mussolini, and Stalin, the role of military research, the emerging leadership of the United States, and the backlash against science that began in the 1960s. He also shows how the revolutionary discoveries of scientists ranging from Einstein, Planck, and Bohr to Stephen Hawking have been built on the great traditions of earlier centuries. Combining a mastery of detail with a sure sense of the broad contours of historical change, Kragh has written a fitting tribute to the scientists who have played such a decisive role in the making of the modern world.
Helge Kragh is Professor of History of Science at Aarhus University, Denmark. His previous books include An introduction to the Historiography of Science, Dirac A Scientific Biography, and Cosmology and Controversy: The Historical Development of Two Theories of the Universe (Princeton).
