Faust in Copenhagen: A Struggle for the Soul of PhysicsA fascinating look at the landmark 1932 gathering of the biggest names in physics Known by physicists as the “miracle year,” 1932 saw the discovery of the neutron and the first artificially induced nuclear transmutation. However, while physicists celebrated these momentous discoveries—which presaged the era of big science and nuclear bombs—Europe was moving inexorably toward totalitarianism and war. In April of that year, about forty of the world’s leading physicists—including Werner Heisenberg, Lise Meitner, and Paul Dirac—came to Niels Bohr’s Copenhagen Institute for their annual informal meeting about the frontiers of physics. Physicist Gino Segrč brings to life this historic gathering, which ended with a humorous skit based on Goethe’s Faust—a skit that eerily foreshadowed events that would soon unfold. Little did the scientists know the Faustian bargains they would face in the near future. Capturing the interplay between the great scientists as well as the discoveries they discussed and debated, Segrč evokes the moment when physics—and the world—was about to lose its innocence. |
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LibraryThing Review
User Review - satyridae - LibraryThingThe Faust component of the book was minuscule and the struggle for the soul of physics (whatever that might be) was to my eyes illusory. The book was, for the most part, a series of anecdotes- most of which have been more coherently told elsewhere. I was disappointed. Read full review
LibraryThing Review
User Review - pineapplejuggler - LibraryThingMy first impression is that this is one of my favorite books ever. The physicist-author's writing is very lucid and easy to follow, despite the heavy subject matter of quantum mechanics and nuclear ... Read full review
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
The Changing Times | 17 |
The 1920s a The Birth of the Quantum Why Copenhasen? | 39 |
The Front Row The Revolutionaries | 71 |
The Front Row The Young Ones | 95 |
The Periodic Table The New Kepler Gottingen in 1922 i | 129 |
The King in Decline | 155 |
Conservation of Energy | 181 |
The New Generation Comes of Age | 207 |
The Apprenticeship Copenhagen 1932 a The Blegdamsvej Faust | 224 |
Ehrenfests End | 249 |
Coda | 271 |
| 293 | |
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alpha particles alpha rays atomic became began Berlin beta rays Blegdamsvej Bohr and Einstein Bohr and Heisenberg Bohr's Born Cambridge Casimir Chadwick classical mechanics Copenhagen Faust Copenhagen interpretation Copenhagen meeting Dirac discovery discussions earlier electrons energy equation experiment experimental experimentalist explain Faust Fermi front row Gamow German Goethe Goethe's Gottingen Heisen helium hydrogen ideas institute Klein knew laboratory later lecture Leiden Letter from Einstein Letter from Pauli Lise Meitner Lorentz mathematical matrix mechanics Max Born Munich neutrino neutron never Niels Bohr Nobel Prize notion nuclear physics nucleus orbits paper Paul Dirac Paul Ehrenfest Peierls periodic table Planck principle problems professor proton quan quantum mechanics quantum theory quickly quoted radiation Rutherford Schrodinger Schrodinger's scientists seemed skit Solvay conference Sommerfeld talk theoretical physicists theoretical physics thought tion University wave Weimar Werner Heisenberg Wolfgang Pauli wrote young physicists Zurich
Bibliographic information
| Title | Faust in Copenhagen: A Struggle for the Soul of Physics |
| Author | Gino Segrč |
| Edition | reprint |
| Publisher | Penguin, 2007 |
| ISBN | 067003858X, 9780670038589 |
| Length | 310 pages |
| Subjects | › › History / Modern / 20th Century Science / History Science / Physics / General |
| Export Citation | BiBTeX EndNote RefMan |