Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist

by Russell McCormmach

Book Overview

It is the end of an historical epoch, but to an old professor of physics, Victor Jakob, sitting in his unlighted study, eating dubious bread with jam made from turnips, it is the end of a way of thinking in his own subject. Younger men have challenged the classical world picture of physics and are looking forward to observational tests of Einstein's new theory of relativity as well as the creation of a quantum mechanics of the atom. It is a time...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0674624610
• ISBN13: 9780674624610
• Release Date: March 1991
• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.74 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

trapped in shifting paradigms

Victor Jakob, an aging German physicist in 1918 faces the destruction of Germany after World War I, but even more, tries to salvage something from the realization that his life's work has been in vain. He realizes that his personal search for the world-ether has been as hopeless as the Reich's effort at domination. After a century of living with the implications of quantum mechanics and general relativity, and in a time when string theory attempts to explain it all, it's difficult to understand the unsettling options that bewildered physicists at the turn of the century >>><br>An interesting analogy is given by the old physicist, which takes even greater relevance with the discoveries in superstring theory that emerged after this book was written: <br><<<<They would remember that mathematical physics began with music and the Greeks, with Pythagoras. Mathematical physics long ago separated off from music but the original inspiration of music to scientific thought persisted. Without it, he told them, Kepler wouldn't have discovered the harmonies of the planetary world on which Newton's work and with it all of modern physics rested. So if they reflected on t for a moment, they would see that without music and thee exact way of thinking about the world it inspired, this physical institute wouldn't be here, and neither would he or they.>>>><br>This novel is sadly lyric and brings together musings on many fundamental themes.

Not an easy read, but thought provoking.

Did you know that before quantum physics or atomic physics, classical physics maintained that there was a world ether through which light waves traveled? I had no idea what the struggle this old physicist was having because I did't even know that what he was losing had ever existed. However, I learned a lot, not only about the history of physics, but about a German scientist's view of science and his home land. If you would like a challenge, try this one, but don't take it to the beach.