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Excerpt from Collected Papers in Physics and Engineering It is well known - chiefly through references to his work by other physicists such as his brother Lord Kelvin, Thomas Andrews, James Clerk Maxwell, Osborne Reynolds, J.Willard Gibbs - that the scientific activity of James Thomson has left permanent marks on the history of several branches of physical science. The collection into readily accessible form, in one volume, of his published contributions to knowledge, has thus been desirable, especially in view of the scattered local journals, often remote from modern facilities for reference, in which much of the work originally appeared. The project of a posthumous collection of his brother's work was constantly encouraged and looked forward to by Lord Kelvin during his later years, but his numerous pre-occupations prevented active assistance. On the recent completion of the Collected Edition of Lord Kelvin's own scientific work, the idea has impressed itself on others that there should be available a full record of the work - very different in general type from his own - of his brother who was his lifelong companion and scientific associate. The materials for the present collection have been brought together mainly by the care of his son, James Thomson, of the Elswick Engineering Works, Newcastle-on-Tyne, assisted zealously by his wife who has not survived to see the completion of her work; while the Biographical Memoir, containing passages of high interest as regards the personal aspect of the progress of Physical and Engineering Science in this country in the middle of the last century, has been constructed largely out of narratives and recollections obtained by his daughter Mary Hancock Thomson. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.

Among the founding fathers of modern quantum physics few have contributed to our basic understanding of its concepts as much as E.P. Wigner. His articles on the epistemology of quantum mechanics and the measurement problem, and the basic role of symmetries were of fundamental importance for all subsequent work. He was also the first to discuss the concept of consciousness from the point of view of modern physics. G.G. Emch edited most of those papers and wrote a very helpful introduction into Wigner's contributions to Natural Philosophy. The book should be a gem for all those interested in the history and philosophy of science.