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History and Philosophy of Physics papers — page 140

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Fermi and Szilard
Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard worked together at Columbia in 1939-40, just after nuclear fission was discovered, to ascertain the feasibility of a nuclear chain reaction, and then on the construction…
Nina ByersJun 3, 2003
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Fission and Fusion Come to San Diego
I will describe some of the events that led to the creation of General Atomic, a research and development organization founded in San Diego in 1956.
E. CreutzMay 8, 2003
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First Description of Discrete Stars Composing the Milk Way in Thomas Watson's Hekatompathia (1582)
We note that the first unambiguous description of the Milk Way as being composed of a large number of discrete stars is in Sonnet 31 of Thomas Watson's (d 1592) Hekatompathia (1582), nearly 30…
Eric Lewin Altschuler, William JansenMay 4, 2003
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Force on an Asymmetric Capacitor
When a high voltage (~30 kV) is applied to a capacitor whose electrodes have different physical dimensions, the capacitor experiences a net force toward the smaller electrode (Biefeld-Brown effect).…
Thomas B. Bahder, Chris FaziMar 12, 2003
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The dangerous misconceptions of Sir Karl Raimund Popper
Insofar as Sir Karl Raimund Popper's writings deal with political statements, they are evident; yet insofar as they deal with scientific issues, they are misleading. If applied to the concrete…
Karl SvozilMar 7, 2003
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Greek and Indian Cosmology: Review of Early History
The early Greek and Indian cosmologies are summarized in this paper. The two traditions appear to have developed independently although after the time of Alexander they were consciously aware of each…
Subhash KakFeb 28, 2003
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Babylonian and Indian Astronomy: Early Connections
Did the Indian and Babylonian astronomy evolve in isolation, was there mutual influence, or was one dependent on the other? Scholars have debated these questions for more than two centuries, and…
Subhash KakFeb 20, 2003
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Women in Physics in Fermi's Time
Enrico Fermi lived from 1901 to 1954, a period of great progress in physics and a period in which opportunities for women to study and work in institutions of higher learning increased significantly…
Nina ByersFeb 17, 2003
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Rejection of the Light Quantum: The Dark Side of Niels Bohr
Evidence is recalled of the strong opposition of Niels Bohr, at the time of the Old Quantum Theory 1.913-25, to the Lichtquanten hypothesis of Einstein. Some episodes with H.A. Kramers, J.C. Slater…
Luis J. BoyaDec 23, 2002
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Entropy and Eschatology: A Comment on Kutrovatz's Paper "Heat Death in Ancient and Modern Thermodynamics"
Recent intriguing discussion of heat death by Kutrovatz is critically examined. It is shown that there exists another way of answering the heat death puzzle, already present in the ancient…
Milan M. CirkovicNov 19, 2002
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An investigation into a half page from Newton's Principia in the wake of Chandra
There is a section in Chandrashekar's ''Newton's Principia for the Common Reader '', (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1995) in which he claims to find a small error in the Principia.…
R. Golub, W. M. SnowOct 24, 2002
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Physicists and the 1945 Decision to Drop the Bomb
In 1943 fear that the German war machine might use atomic bombs was abating and among physicists another fear was taking its place - that of a postwar nuclear arms race with worldwide proliferation…
Nina ByersOct 13, 2002
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Lochlainn O'Raifeartaigh, Fluids, and Noncommuting Fields
Lochlainn O'Raifeartaigh and his work are recalled; the connection between fluid mechanics -- his last research topic -- and noncommuting gauge fields is explained.
R. JackiwSep 30, 2002
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Aristotle: The first encyclopedist
Aristotle was the first to declare himself in the class of natural philosophers ( physiologoi) and he was the first physicist because he spelled out the first definitions of some basic physical…
H. C. RosuSep 17, 2002
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First in the Web, but Where are the Pieces?
As part of their efforts to consistently and reliably identify and preserve the archival records of their organizations, archivists are trying to address the issue of appraising and collecting World…
Jean M. DekenAug 14, 2002
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The Cyclic Universe: Some Historical Notes
The cyclic model of the universe has an old history in India. It has held the preeminent position regarding the origins of the universe, and it is described in astronomical texts, Puranic…
Subhash KakAug 2, 2002
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The Role of Astronomy in the History of Science
We discuss the extent to which the visibility of the heavens was a necessary condition for the development of science, with particular reference to the measurement of time. Our conclusion is that…
E B DaviesJul 10, 2002
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An Early History of Heavy Water
Since 1945 Canada has had a nuclear power industry based on reactor design which uses natural uranium and heavy water. The tortuous and improbable sequence of events which led to this situation is…
Chris WalthamJun 20, 2002
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Eddington & Uncertainty
Sir Arthur Eddington is considered one of the greatest astrophysicist of the twentieth century and yet he gained a stigma when, in the 1930s, he embarked on a quest to develop a unified theory of…
Ian T. DurhamApr 18, 2002
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Sur la solution de Sundman du probleme des trois corps
In contrast to a widely held opinion, the three-body problem has an analytic solution. This solution was found in 1909 by Sundman. The basic ideas behind it and its history are presented. -----…
Malte HenkelMar 1, 2002
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Chance and Necessity in Fermi's Discovery of the Properties of the Slow Neutrons
In October 1934 Fermi discovered that neutrons became particularly effective in rendering the elements radioactive after being slowed down by hydrogenous substances. His was described as an…
Alberto De GregorioJan 12, 2002
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Fermi and the Elucidation of Matter
Fermi helped establish a new framework for understanding matter, based on quantum theory. This framework refines and improves traditional atomism in two crucial respects. First, the elementary…
Frank WilczekDec 21, 2001
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Galileo's Discovery of Scaling Laws
Galileo's realization that nature is not scale invariant, motivating his subsequent discovery of scaling laws, is traced to two lectures he gave on the geography of Dante's Inferno.
Mark A. PetersonOct 9, 2001
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Marietta Blau's Work After World War II
This paper has been translated into German and will be included, in a somewhat altered form, in a book Sterne der Zertrummerung, Marietta Blau, Wegbereiterin der Moderne Teilchenphysik, Brigitte…
Arnold PerlmutterOct 8, 2001
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Anthropic Fluctuations vs. Weak Anthropic Principle
A modern assessment of the classical Boltzmann-Schuetz argument for large-scale entropy fluctuations as the origin of our observable cosmological domain is given. The emphasis is put on the central…
Milan M. CirkovicSep 28, 2001
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