Black bodies and quantum cats
Subtitle: tales of pure genius and mad science
By: Jennifer Ouellette
Publisher: Oneworld
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Oxford, England
Language: eng
Number of pages: 320
ISBN-13: 9781851684991
Subjects: Physics; History
Other titles: Black bodes & quantum cats
Description: "Physics, one known as "natural philosophy," is the most basic science, explaining the world we live in, from the largest scale down to the very, very, very smallest; and our understanding of it has changed over many centuries. In Black Bodies and Quantum Cats, science writer Jennifer Ouellette traces key developments in the field, setting descriptions of the fundamentals of physics in their historical context as well as against a broad cultural backdrop. Newton's laws are illustrated via the film Addams Family Values, while Back to the Future demonstrates the finer points of special relativity Poe's "The Purloined Letter" serves to illuminate the mysterious nature of neutrinos, and Jeanette Winterson's novel Gut Symmetries provides an elegant metaphorical framework for string theory." "Black Bodies and Quantum Cats shows that physics is not an arcane field of study but a profoundly human endeavor - and a fundamental part of our everyday world."--BOOK JACKET.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (p. 286-293), webography (p. 293-295) and index.
Table of contents: title: Foreword  -- Alan Chodos -- 1.; title: Renaissance man : 1509 : publication of de divina proportione -- -- 2.; title: Talkin' 'bout a revolution : 1542 : publication of de revolutionibus -- -- 3.; title: Lens crafters : circa 1590 : invention of the microscope -- -- 4.; title: Good heavens : January 7, 1610 : Galileo discovers moons of Jupiter -- -- 5.; title: Gravity's guru : July 1687 : publication of Newton's principia -- -- 6.; title: Drawing down the fire : June 1752 : Franklin's kite experiment -- -- 7.; title: Trompe l'Oeil : 1807 : invention of the camera Lucida -- -- 8.; title: Rules of attraction : 1820 : first evidence of electromagnetism -- -- 9.; title: Ingenious engines : circa 1840s : Babbage's analytical engine -- -- 10.; title: Emperors of the air : September 24, 1852 : first dirigible takes flight -- -- 11.; title: Disorderly conduct : June 1871 : Maxwell and his demon -- -- 12.; title: Queens of science : November 1872 : death of Mary Somerville -- -- 13.; title: Calling Mister Watson : March 10, 1876 : first documented transmission of human speech -- -- 14.; title: Thrill seekers : 1884 : first U.S. roller coaster opens at Coney Island -- -- 15.; title: Current affairs : May 1888 : Tesla and electric power generation -- -- 16.; title: Shadow casters : February 2, 1893 : Edison films a sneeze -- -- 17.; title: Radio days : 1895 : tesla demonstrates wireless radio -- -- 18.; title: Mysterious rays : November 8, 1895 : Roentgen discovers X rays -- -- 19.; title: A thousand points of light : October 1897 : discovery of the electron -- -- 20.; title: Quantum leap : October 1900 : planck introduces quanta -- -- 21.; title: It's all relative : June 1905 : Einstein introduces special relativity -- -- 22.; title: Rocket man : March 16, 1926 : launch of the first liquid-fuel rocket -- -- 23.; title: That darn cat : 1935 : Schrodinger's quantum cat -- -- 24.; title: Copy that : October 1938 : first xerographic copy -- -- 25.; title: Life during wartime : July 1945 : the trinity test -- -- 26.; title: Gimme shelter : June 2-4, 1947 : the shelter island conference -- -- 27.; title: Tiny bubbles : 1948 Reddi-Wip appears on the market -- -- 28.; title: Mimicking mother nature : May 13, 1958 : Velcro trademark registered -- -- 29.; title: Energize me : December 1958 : invention of the laser -- -- 30.; title: Small world : December 29, 1959 : Feynman's classic caltech lecture -- -- 31.; title: Contemplating chaos : Circa January 1961 : Lorenz and the butterfly effect -- -- 32.; title: Kamikaze cosmos : July 1963 : discovery of cosmic microwave background radiation -- -- 33.; title: When particles collide : April 1994 : discovery of the top quark -- -- 34.; title: Checkmate : May 1997 : deep blue defeats Kasparov -- -- 35.; title: Much ado about nothing : December 1998 : discovery of the accelerating universe -- -- 36.; title: The case of the missing neutrinos : February 2001 : solution to solar neutrino problem -- -- 37.; title: Icarus descending : September 2002 : Schden found guilty of scientific misconduct -- -- 38.; title: String section : October 2003 : nova special on string theory.