Memories of a Theoretical Physicist

Memories of a Theoretical Physicist
Author :
Publisher : MIT Press
Total Pages : 339
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780262368902
ISBN-13 : 0262368900
Rating : 4/5 (02 Downloads)

Synopsis Memories of a Theoretical Physicist by : Joseph Polchinski

A groundbreaking theoretical physicist traces his career, reflecting on the successes and failures, triumphs and insecurities of a life cut short by cancer. The groundbreaking theoretical physicist Joseph Polchinski explained the genesis of his memoir this way: “Having only two bodies of knowledge, myself and physics, I decided to write an autobiography about my development as a theoretical physicist.” In this posthumously published account of his life and work, Polchinski (1954–2018) describes successes and failures, triumphs and insecurities, and the sheer persistence that led to his greatest discoveries. Writing engagingly and accessibly, with the wry humor for which he was known, Polchinski gives theoretical physics a very human face. Polchinski, famous for his contributions to string theory, may have changed the course of modern theoretical physics, but he was a late bloomer—doing most of his important work after the age of forty. His death from brain cancer at sixty-three cut short a career at its peak. Working on the memoir after his diagnosis, using a text-to-speech algorithm because he could no longer read words on a page, he was able to recapitulate his entire career, down to the details of problems he had worked on. For Polchinski, physics went deeper than words. This edition includes photographs from Polchinski’s professional and family life, as well as physics explainer boxes, other technical edits, and bibliographic notes by his former student Ahmad Almheiri, a foreword by Andrew Strominger, and an afterword by his wife Dorothy Chun and sons Steven and Daniel.

Landau: The Physicist & the Man

Landau: The Physicist & the Man
Author :
Publisher : Elsevier
Total Pages : 359
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781483286884
ISBN-13 : 1483286886
Rating : 4/5 (84 Downloads)

Synopsis Landau: The Physicist & the Man by : J B J B Sykes

The name of Lev Davidovich Landau is widely known as that of one of the greatest twentieth-century physicists. A brilliant teacher to those pupils he carefully chose, notoriously controversial in his outlook and opinions, the combination of his outstanding intellect and striking personality brought him almost legendary fame. This volume contains letters, papers and recollections by friends and pupils, describing Landau's views of science, culture and life, and provides the reader with a vivid portrait of a remarkable man.

The Order of Time

The Order of Time
Author :
Publisher : Penguin
Total Pages : 257
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780735216112
ISBN-13 : 0735216118
Rating : 4/5 (12 Downloads)

Synopsis The Order of Time by : Carlo Rovelli

One of TIME’s Ten Best Nonfiction Books of the Decade "Meet the new Stephen Hawking . . . The Order of Time is a dazzling book." --The Sunday Times From the bestselling author of Seven Brief Lessons on Physics, Reality Is Not What It Seems, Helgoland, and Anaximander comes a concise, elegant exploration of time. Why do we remember the past and not the future? What does it mean for time to "flow"? Do we exist in time or does time exist in us? In lyric, accessible prose, Carlo Rovelli invites us to consider questions about the nature of time that continue to puzzle physicists and philosophers alike. For most readers this is unfamiliar terrain. We all experience time, but the more scientists learn about it, the more mysterious it remains. We think of it as uniform and universal, moving steadily from past to future, measured by clocks. Rovelli tears down these assumptions one by one, revealing a strange universe where at the most fundamental level time disappears. He explains how the theory of quantum gravity attempts to understand and give meaning to the resulting extreme landscape of this timeless world. Weaving together ideas from philosophy, science and literature, he suggests that our perception of the flow of time depends on our perspective, better understood starting from the structure of our brain and emotions than from the physical universe. Already a bestseller in Italy, and written with the poetic vitality that made Seven Brief Lessons on Physics so appealing, The Order of Time offers a profoundly intelligent, culturally rich, novel appreciation of the mysteries of time.

"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character

Author :
Publisher : W. W. Norton & Company
Total Pages : 429
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780393355680
ISBN-13 : 0393355683
Rating : 4/5 (80 Downloads)

Synopsis "Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!": Adventures of a Curious Character by : Richard P. Feynman

One of the most famous science books of our time, the phenomenal national bestseller that "buzzes with energy, anecdote and life. It almost makes you want to become a physicist" (Science Digest). Richard P. Feynman, winner of the Nobel Prize in physics, thrived on outrageous adventures. In this lively work that “can shatter the stereotype of the stuffy scientist” (Detroit Free Press), Feynman recounts his experiences trading ideas on atomic physics with Einstein and cracking the uncrackable safes guarding the most deeply held nuclear secrets—and much more of an eyebrow-raising nature. In his stories, Feynman’s life shines through in all its eccentric glory—a combustible mixture of high intelligence, unlimited curiosity, and raging chutzpah. Included for this edition is a new introduction by Bill Gates.

Under the Spell of Landau

Under the Spell of Landau
Author :
Publisher : World Scientific
Total Pages : 560
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9789814436571
ISBN-13 : 9814436577
Rating : 4/5 (71 Downloads)

Synopsis Under the Spell of Landau by : M. Shifman

This invaluable collection of memoirs and reviews on scientific activities of the most prominent theoretical physicists belonging to the Landau School OCo Landau, Anselm, Gribov, Zeldovich, Kirzhnits, Migdal, Ter-Martirosyan and Larkin OCo are being published in English for the first time.The main goal is to acquaint readers with the life and work of outstanding Soviet physicists who, to a large extent, shaped theoretical physics in the 1950sOCo70s. Many intriguing details have remained unknown beyond the OC Iron CurtainOCO which was dismantled only with the fall of the USSR.

Asymptotic Realms of Physics

Asymptotic Realms of Physics
Author :
Publisher : MIT Press (MA)
Total Pages : 312
Release :
ISBN-10 : UCAL:B4513849
ISBN-13 :
Rating : 4/5 (49 Downloads)

Synopsis Asymptotic Realms of Physics by : Francis Eugene Low

The first few months of the universe, the MIT bag model, and grand unified theories are among the chief concerns of these essays and articles honoring MIT theoretical physicist Francis Low. The book opens with a cluster of dedicatory pieces by Murray Gell-Mann, Marvin L. Goldberger, Jeremy Bernstein, and Val L. Fitch. The remainder of the book consists of twenty technical essays by a small galaxy of distinguished scientists: Steven Weinberg; Kenneth A. Johnson; Sidney Drell; Geoffrey F. Chew; Mitchell J. Feigenbaum; Victor F. Weisskopf; Herman Feshbach; Carleton DeTar; John F. Donoghue; D. Danckaert, P. DeCausmaecker, R. Gastmans, W. Troost, and Tai Tsun Wu, writing jointly; Roman Jackiw; William I. Weisberger; Adrian Patrascioiu; Gino Segre; So-Young Î Asim Yildiz; Jogesh C. Pati, Abdus Salam, and J. Strathdee, in another collaborative contribution; and the three editors. Among the other topics are &"Why the Renormalization Group Is a Good Thing&" - the physics of asymptotic freedom - the topological bootstrap &"The Fixed Point of Classical Dynamical Evolution and Chaos&" - compound bags and hadron-hadron interactions - &"Gauge Invariance and Mass&" - Gribov ambiguities - &"The Simple Facts about the Baryon Asymmetry of the Universe&" - preons and supersymmetry - some speculations on the origin of the matter, energy, and entropy of the universe - the Chew-Low theory and the quark model - &"From Gell-Mann-Low to Unification.&" The editors are all affiliated with the Center for Theoretical Physics at MIT.

Statistical Thermodynamics

Statistical Thermodynamics
Author :
Publisher :
Total Pages : 286
Release :
ISBN-10 : UOM:39015017229751
ISBN-13 :
Rating : 4/5 (51 Downloads)

Synopsis Statistical Thermodynamics by : Erwin Schrödinger

Julian Schwinger: The Physicist, The Teacher, And The Man

Julian Schwinger: The Physicist, The Teacher, And The Man
Author :
Publisher : World Scientific
Total Pages : 212
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9789814499477
ISBN-13 : 9814499471
Rating : 4/5 (77 Downloads)

Synopsis Julian Schwinger: The Physicist, The Teacher, And The Man by : Jack Ng Yee

In the post-quantum-mechanics era, few physicists, if any, have matched Julian Schwinger in contributions to and influence on the development of physics. A deep and provocative thinker, Schwinger left his indelible mark on all areas of theoretical physics; an eloquent lecturer and immensely successful mentor, he was gentle, intensely private, and known for being “modest about everything except his physics”. This book is a collection of talks in memory of him by some of his contemporaries and his former students: A Klein, F Dyson, B DeWitt, W Kohn, D Saxon, P C Martin, K Johnson, S Deser, R Finkelstein, Y J Ng, H Feshbach, L Brown, S Glashow, K A Milton, and C N Yang. From it, one can get a glimpse of Julian Schwinger, the physicist, the teacher, and the man. Altogether, this book is a must for all physicists, physics students, and others who are interested in great legends.

Does Santa Exist?

Does Santa Exist?
Author :
Publisher : Penguin
Total Pages : 245
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9780698161399
ISBN-13 : 0698161394
Rating : 4/5 (99 Downloads)

Synopsis Does Santa Exist? by : Eric Kaplan

A humorous philosophical investigation into the existence of Santa from a co–executive producer of The Big Bang Theory—the perfect stocking stuffer for the deep thinker on everyone’s list. Emmy award–winning comedy writer and philosophy scholar Eric Kaplan brilliantly turns a search for the truth about Santa into a laugh-out-loud metaphysical romp. Surveying everything from the analytic philosophy of Bertrand Russell and Ludwig Wittgenstein to Buddhism, Taoism, and Kabbalah, Kaplan alights on comedy—including The Big Bang Theory and Monty Python—as the best way to resolve life’s most profound paradoxes, including the existence of perfect moments, Santa, and even God.

D-Branes

D-Branes
Author :
Publisher : Cambridge University Press
Total Pages : 580
Release :
ISBN-10 : 0521030056
ISBN-13 : 9780521030052
Rating : 4/5 (56 Downloads)

Synopsis D-Branes by : Clifford V. Johnson

Self-contained and pedagogical introduction to key string theory ideas and techniques needed to understand D-branes.