Views of a Physicist: Selected Papers of N.G. Van KampenN G van Kampen is a well-known theoretical physicist who has had a long and distinguished career. His research covers scattering theory, plasma physics, statistical mechanics, and various mathematical aspects of physics. In addition to his scientific work, he has written a number of papers about more general aspects of science. An indefatigable fighter for intellectual honesty and clarity, he has pointed out repeatedly that the fundamental ideas of physics have been needlessly obscured.As those papers appeared in various journals, partly in Dutch, it was felt that it would be worthwhile to collect them (translating the Dutch material into English) and make them available to a larger audience. This is a book of major importance to scientists and university teachers. |
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Page 19 "there is a strong correlation between the prices on the New York Stock Exchange and the number of tailless cats." Tell that to your broker!
Contents
What is Science? | 14 |
The Theory of Everything | 34 |
Questions without Answers | 48 |
Probability in Theoretical Physics | 69 |
Probability and Noise in Physics | 83 |
From Statistical Mechanics to Quantum Theory | 100 |
Quantum Mechanics | 121 |
Postmodern Obscurantism | 138 |
The Danger of Popularization | 171 |
Great Physicists | 173 |
The Legacy of Smoluchowski and Einstein in Statistical Physics | 188 |
18941952 | 206 |
Einsteins Early Years | 223 |
Miscellaneous | 239 |
Memorable Events in History | 261 |
Physics and the Paranormal | 274 |
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