Quantum Generations: A History of Physics in the Twentieth Century

by Helge Kragh

Book Overview

At the end of the nineteenth century, some physicists believed that the basic principles underlying their subject were already known, and that physics in the future would only consist of filling in the details. They could hardly have been more wrong. The past century has seen the rise of quantum mechanics, relativity, cosmology, particle physics, and solid-state physics, among other fields. These subjects have fundamentally changed our understanding...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0691095523
• ISBN13: 9780691095523
• Release Date: March 2002
• Publisher: Princeton University Press
• Length: 512 Pages
• Weight: 0.04 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.2" x 6.1" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

A well done history of modern physics.

I regard Abraham Pais as one of the best physics historians. Helge Kragh in this book manages to present quality and attention to detail as comparable to Pais as can expected without being inundated with equations. Kragh is capable of biographies as complete in detail as Pais; i.e. "Dirac: A Scientific Biography" A fraction of this book provides incidental historical details complete with charts and graphs, i.e. the number of spectroscopy papers written between 1890 and 1910, or the raise of physics in the USA, and effects of the war on physics, etc. Now historians proper, will expect this in a history of twentieth century physics, but if you are purely interested in the development of modern physics theories, this will seem like padding, although perhaps interesting. Nevertheless, I thoroughly enjoyed this book and recommend it highly.

Physics in a nutshell . . .

Quantum Generations is a history of physics in the twentieth Century. What a pleasure to have the history put into perspective and all in one place. From fundamental theories to particle discoveries, to the growth and progress physics and other sciences have given our society, this book keeps our interest. Those who enjoy physics or history will find this book compelling. Ever wonder what people mean when they are talking about "unification theory?" How about Quantum Cosmology? Well, you can get an excellent overview of these topics in Kragh's book. To further assist the reader, the appendix lists, for each chapter, relevant books for additional study. I have found the information here to fill in the gaps that were left from my own engineering training and recent self-directed learning. Kragh's book will definitely be on my reference shelf as I continue to try and understand where we are heading with science and technology these days. But most of all, I hope books such as this might inspire our young people to decide to matriculate in the sciences so that we can be assured of continued increases in our knowledge of the universe.

a means to understanding what happened...

I am extraordinarily relieved to find this book. My previous attempts at understanding quantum physics fell into confusion due to an absence of context. It is only this meticulously crafted abstraction of all of the various discoveries, speculations and personalities that has equipped me with sufficient knowledge to begin a coherent understanding of what happened to physics, metaphysics and philosophy.The author achieves a sublime sense of distance from the controversies that captures the basic processes without twisting them to any apparent agenda. I would recommend this book to every inquisitive individual as an antidote for the last few decades of nonsense that has passed for popular physics. The math is minimal and not essential to the information about processes.This book would be especially useful to any high school student who feels the allure of revolutionary discoveries in science.

Outstanding book in a field with many good histories.

This book stands out for having fresh insights and authoritative writing even in a field, history of modern physics, with much competition. Probably not a good first book on the subject but if you have familiarity with the subject at all, this is a must. Not the only book that shows how development of QM was different than we were taught in elementary courses, but one of the clearest. More details of the physics would be great but somehow its lack does not compromise the virtues of this book.

Excellent Overview of a Difficult Topic

This is an admirable and well written survey of the development of physics in the last century. Kragh deals with a number of related and interesting topics; the emergence of relativity and quantum theory, growth of American physics, and development of whole new fields of physics such as cosmology, nuclear and solid state physics. Kragh deals with these areas in a series of chronologically overlapping chapters, which is probably the best way of organizing the book. Topics are dealt with concisely but thoroughly with the internal history of physics leavened by sociological and appropriate general historical background. This is really an impressive book. To understand this book, however, you need to know some physics and chemistry, at least to the level of introductory college courses. Most natural scientists will be able to read this book readily but it will be beyond the general public and most historians. Still, the narrative and general conclusions are presented clearly and this book will be a basic source of information about 20th century science. A particularly interesting aspect of this book is that Kragh challenges the late Thomas Kuhn's view of the history of 20th physics. Kuhn's very influential book, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, based largely on the history of early 20th century physics, has had a broad impact on philosophy of science and general culture. Kuhn presented a model, which he suggested generalized to science as a whole, of progress by saltatory revolutions in theory, often driven by subjective or cultural forces. This model has served as a basis for criticism of the nature of science and is cited as evidence of the non-objective nature of scientific knowledge. Kragh views 20th century physics as being much more incremental in nature and sees deep continuity in physics from the 1890s to the present. In Kragh's view, the pattern of 20th century physics is much closer to what Kuhn describes as incremental "normal science" than the revolutions Kuhn saw as necessary to major developments. Kragh's analysis is impressive and he sustains his arguments with a much broader and deeper scholarly discussion than Kuhn's relatively short book. While Kuhn's model remains fascinating, I think that Kragh is correct.