Download or read book Einstein s Italian Mathematicians written by Judith R. Goodstein and published by American Mathematical Soc.. This book was released on 2018-07-20 with total page 231 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the first decade of the twentieth century as Albert Einstein began formulating a revolutionary theory of gravity, the Italian mathematician Gregorio Ricci was entering the later stages of what appeared to be a productive if not particularly memorable career, devoted largely to what his colleagues regarded as the dogged development of a mathematical language he called the absolute differential calculus. In 1912, the work of these two dedicated scientists would intersect—and physics and mathematics would never be the same. Einstein's Italian Mathematicians chronicles the lives and intellectual contributions of Ricci and his brilliant student Tullio Levi-Civita, including letters, interviews, memoranda, and other personal and professional papers, to tell the remarkable, little-known story of how two Italian academicians, of widely divergent backgrounds and temperaments, came to provide the indispensable mathematical foundation—today known as the tensor calculus—for general relativity.
Download or read book Italian Mathematics Between the Two World Wars written by Angelo Guerraggio and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2006-01-20 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book describes Italian mathematics in the period between the two World Wars. It analyzes the development by focusing on both the interior and the external influences. Italian mathematics in that period was shaped by a colorful array of strong personalities who concentrated their efforts on a select number of fields and won international recognition and respect in an incredibly short time. Consequently, Italy was considered a third mathematical power after France and Germany.
Download or read book Vector written by Robyn Arianrhod and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2024-05-30 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "The stars of the latest book by award-winning science writer and mathematician Robyn Arianrhod are unlikely celebrities--vectors and tensors. If you took a high school physics course, the word "vector" might remind you of the mathematics needed to determine forces on an amusement park ride, say; or of cross products, a special kind of multiplication using a bespoke table and a right-hand rule. You might also remember the introductory definition of a vector as a quantity that has magnitude and (this is the key) direction. Velocity--for example, 25 miles per hour northwest--is a vector; speed, such as 25 miles per hour, is not. Put another way, a velocity vector in space contains not one number, but three-a measurement of speed along each of three dimensions. It sounds simple, in hindsight--yet, as Arianrhod shows in this intriguing story, the idea of a single symbol expressing several things at once is a sophisticated one, millennia in the making. Vectors are examples of an even more sophisticated idea, the tensor. And it's not just space that vectors and tensors can represent, but information, too. Which means that whenever you use a search engine, say, or AI bot, computer graphics, or a host of other digital applications, vectors and tensors are there somewhere in the software. As for physics, there's much more to it than velocities and simple forces! Arianrhod shows how the discovery of vectors and tensors enabled physicists and mathematicians to think brand new thoughts-such as Maxwell did when he ushered in the wireless electromagnetic age, and Einstein when he predicted the curving of four-dimensional space-time and the existence of gravitational waves. Quantum theory, too, makes fine use of these ideas. In other words, vectors and tensors have been critical not only to the way we see our universe, but also to the invention of Wi-Fi, GPS, micro-technology, and so much else that we take for granted today. In exploring the history and significance of vectors and tensors-and introducing the fascinating people who gave them to us--Arianrhod takes readers on an extraordinary, five-thousand-year journey through the human imagination. A celebration of an idea, Vector shows the genius required to imagine the world in new dimensions-and how a clever mathematical construct can direct the future of discovery"--
Download or read book Making 20th Century Science written by Stephen G. Brush and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2015 with total page 553 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Historically, the scientific method has been said to require proposing a theory, making a prediction of something not already known, testing the prediction, and giving up the theory (or substantially changing it) if it fails the test. A theory that leads to several successful predictions is more likely to be accepted than one that only explains what is already known but not understood. This process is widely treated as the conventional method of achieving scientific progress, and was used throughout the twentieth century as the standard route to discovery and experimentation. But does science really work this way? In Making 20th Century Science, Stephen G. Brush discusses this question, as it relates to the development of science throughout the last century. Answering this question requires both a philosophically and historically scientific approach, and Brush blends the two in order to take a close look at how scientific methodology has developed. Several cases from the history of modern physical and biological science are examined, including Mendeleev's Periodic Law, Kekule's structure for benzene, the light-quantum hypothesis, quantum mechanics, chromosome theory, and natural selection. In general it is found that theories are accepted for a combination of successful predictions and better explanations of old facts. Making 20th Century Science is a large-scale historical look at the implementation of the scientific method, and how scientific theories come to be accepted.
Download or read book Albert Einstein Italian Memories written by Sandra Linguerri and published by Springer. This book was released on 2024-06-24 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is dedicated to Einstein’s personal and scientific relationships with Italy, which began as early as adolescence and continued over various stages of his life. It collects together a wealth of historical documentation including the letters in which Einstein recalls having lived as a young man with his family in Lombardy, Pavia and Milan; the texts of three lectures delivered by Einstein in Italian in October 1921 in Bologna at the invitation of the mathematician Federigo Enriques, the only lectures he held in Italy; the correspondence with Enriques and other Italian intellectuals, together with the letter that Einstein sent in 1931 to the Minister of Justice Alfredo Rocco to try to avoid the infamy of the oath of allegiance to the fascist regime imposed by Mussolini on university professors. The book closes with some writings on relativity from 1907 to 1914 (Einstein, Abraham, Corbino, Castelnuovo) and the 1920s debate between pro-relativists and anti-relativists published in the international journal “Scientia”, founded in 1907 by Enriques.
Download or read book The Roots of Special Relativity written by Peter Galison and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2013-09-13 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern science has changed every aspect of life in ways that cannot be compared to developments of previous eras. This four-volume set presents key developments within modern physical science and the effects of these discoveries on modern global life. The first two volumes explore the history of the concept of relativity, the cultural roots of science, the concept of time and gravity before, during, and after Einstein's theory, and the cultural reception of relativity. Volume 3 explores the impact of modern science upon global politics and the creation of a new kind of war, and Volume 4 details the old and new efforts surrounding the elucidation of the quantum world, as well as the cultural impact of particle physics. This reprint collection pools the best scholarship available, collected from a large array of difficult to acquire books, journals, and pamphlets. Each volume begins with an introductory essay, written by one of the top scholars in the history of science. Students and scholars of modern culture, science, and society will find these volumes a veritable research gold mine.
Download or read book Einstein s Wife written by Allen Esterson and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2020-02-25 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The real-life story behind Marie Benedict’s The Other Einstein—a fascinating profile of mathematician Mileva Einstein-Marić and her contributions to her husband’s scientific discoveries. Albert Einstein’s first wife, Mileva Einstein-Marić, was forgotten for decades. When a trove of correspondence between them beginning in their student days was discovered in 1986, her story began to be told. Some of the tellers of the “Mileva Story” made startling claims: that she was a brilliant mathematician who surpassed her husband, and that she made uncredited contributions to his most celebrated papers in 1905, including his paper on special relativity. This book, based on extensive historical research, uncovers the real “Mileva Story.” Mileva was one of the few women of her era to pursue higher education in science; she and Einstein were students together at the Zurich Polytechnic. Mileva’s ambitions for a science career, however, suffered a series of setbacks—failed diploma examinations, a disagreement with her doctoral dissertation adviser, an out-of-wedlock pregnancy by Einstein. She and Einstein married in 1903 and had two sons, but the marriage failed. So was Mileva her husband’s uncredited coauthor, unpaid assistant, or his essential helpmeet? It’s tempting to believe that she was her husband’s secret collaborator, but the authors of Einstein's Wife look at the actual evidence, and a chapter by Ruth Lewin Sime offers important historical context. The story they tell is that of a brave and determined young woman who struggled against a variety of obstacles at a time when science was not very welcoming to women. Given the barriers women in science still face, [Mileva’s] story remains relevant.” —Washington Post
Download or read book Einstein s Unification written by Jeroen van Dongen and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 2010-06-10 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shedding new light on Einstein's study of unified field theory, this book will interest physicists, historians and philosophers of science.
Download or read book Walter Isaacson Great Innovators e book boxed set written by Walter Isaacson and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2011-10-24 with total page 1707 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This includes the exclusive biography of Steve Jobs and bestselling biographies Benjamin Franklin and Einstein.
Download or read book Nature Mathematized written by W. R. Shea and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 1983 with total page 346 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These remarks preface two volumes consisting of the proceedings of the Third International Conference on the History and Philosophy of Science of the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science. The conference was held under the auspices of the Union, The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Science. The meetings took place in Montreal, Canada, 25--29 August 1980, with Concordia University as host institution. The program of the conference was arranged by a Joint Commission of the International Union of History and Philosophy of Science consisting of Robert E. Butts (Canada), John Murdoch (U. S. A. ), Vladimir Kirsanov (U. S. S. R. ), and Paul Weingartner (Austria). The Local Arrangements Committee consisted of Stanley G. French, Chair (Concordia), Michel Paradis, treasurer (McGill), Franyois Duchesneau (Universite de Montreal), Robert Nadeau (Universite du Quebec a Montreal), and William Shea (McGill University). Both committees are indebted to Dr. G. R. Paterson, then President of the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Science, who shared his expertise in many ways. Dr. French and his staff worked diligently and efficiently on behalf of all participants. The city of Montreal was, as always, the subtle mixture of extravagance, charm, warmth and excitement that retains her status as the jewel of Canadian cities. The funding of major international conferences is always a problem.
Download or read book Visual Differential Geometry and Forms written by Tristan Needham and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-07-13 with total page 530 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An inviting, intuitive, and visual exploration of differential geometry and forms Visual Differential Geometry and Forms fulfills two principal goals. In the first four acts, Tristan Needham puts the geometry back into differential geometry. Using 235 hand-drawn diagrams, Needham deploys Newton’s geometrical methods to provide geometrical explanations of the classical results. In the fifth act, he offers the first undergraduate introduction to differential forms that treats advanced topics in an intuitive and geometrical manner. Unique features of the first four acts include: four distinct geometrical proofs of the fundamentally important Global Gauss-Bonnet theorem, providing a stunning link between local geometry and global topology; a simple, geometrical proof of Gauss’s famous Theorema Egregium; a complete geometrical treatment of the Riemann curvature tensor of an n-manifold; and a detailed geometrical treatment of Einstein’s field equation, describing gravity as curved spacetime (General Relativity), together with its implications for gravitational waves, black holes, and cosmology. The final act elucidates such topics as the unification of all the integral theorems of vector calculus; the elegant reformulation of Maxwell’s equations of electromagnetism in terms of 2-forms; de Rham cohomology; differential geometry via Cartan’s method of moving frames; and the calculation of the Riemann tensor using curvature 2-forms. Six of the seven chapters of Act V can be read completely independently from the rest of the book. Requiring only basic calculus and geometry, Visual Differential Geometry and Forms provocatively rethinks the way this important area of mathematics should be considered and taught.
Download or read book A Mathematical Journey to Relativity written by Wladimir-Georges Boskoff and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on with total page 556 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Traveling at the Speed of Thought written by Daniel Kennefick and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2016-03-29 with total page 334 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Since Einstein first described them nearly a century ago, gravitational waves have been the subject of more sustained controversy than perhaps any other phenomenon in physics. These as yet undetected fluctuations in the shape of space-time were first predicted by Einstein's general theory of relativity, but only now, at the dawn of the twenty-first century, are we on the brink of finally observing them. Daniel Kennefick's landmark book takes readers through the theoretical controversies and thorny debates that raged around the subject of gravitational waves after the publication of Einstein's theory. The previously untold story of how we arrived at a settled theory of gravitational waves includes a stellar cast from the front ranks of twentieth-century physics, including Richard Feynman, Hermann Bondi, John Wheeler, Kip Thorne, and Einstein himself, who on two occasions avowed that gravitational waves do not exist, changing his mind both times. The book derives its title from a famously skeptical comment made by Arthur Stanley Eddington in 1922--namely, that "gravitational waves propagate at the speed of thought." Kennefick uses the title metaphorically to contrast the individual brilliance of each of the physicists grappling with gravitational-wave theory against the frustratingly slow progression of the field as a whole. Accessibly written and impeccably researched, this book sheds new light on the trials and conflicts that have led to the extraordinary position in which we find ourselves today--poised to bring the story of gravitational waves full circle by directly confirming their existence for the very first time.
Download or read book Cosmology and Controversy written by Helge Kragh and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2021-03-09 with total page 515 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: For over three millennia, most people could understand the universe only in terms of myth, religion, and philosophy. Between 1920 and 1970, cosmology transformed into a branch of physics. With this remarkably rapid change came a theory that would finally lend empirical support to many long-held beliefs about the origins and development of the entire universe: the theory of the big bang. In this book, Helge Kragh presents the development of scientific cosmology for the first time as a historical event, one that embroiled many famous scientists in a controversy over the very notion of an evolving universe with a beginning in time. In rich detail he examines how the big-bang theory drew inspiration from and eventually triumphed over rival views, mainly the steady-state theory and its concept of a stationary universe of infinite age. In the 1920s, Alexander Friedmann and Georges Lemaître showed that Einstein's general relativity equations possessed solutions for a universe expanding in time. Kragh follows the story from here, showing how the big-bang theory evolved, from Edwin Hubble's observation that most galaxies are receding from us, to the discovery of the cosmic microwave background radiation. Sir Fred Hoyle proposed instead the steady-state theory, a model of dynamic equilibrium involving the continuous creation of matter throughout the universe. Although today it is generally accepted that the universe started some ten billion years ago in a big bang, many readers may not fully realize that this standard view owed much of its formation to the steady-state theory. By exploring the similarities and tensions between the theories, Kragh provides the reader with indispensable background for understanding much of today's commentary about our universe.
Download or read book Marcel Grossmann written by Claudia Graf-Grossmann and published by Springer. This book was released on 2018-06-08 with total page 271 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Zurich, summer 1912. Albert Einstein has just returned from Prague to the city on the Limmat. He sends a plea for help to his former fellow student, the mathematician Marcel Grossmann (1878-1936), for he is in need of assistance with the mathematical calculations of his general theory of relativity. What then follows is one of the most fascinating chapters of science history, with far-reaching consequences for the lives of the two friends. Marcel Grossmann’s granddaughter paints here a picture of a fiery and many-talented scientist and patriot. She traces the influence of an entrepreneurial family during Germany’s rapid industrial expansion in the late 19th century. The family’s fluctuating fortunes take the story to the vibrant city of Budapest on the Danube; they enable readers to sense the pioneering spirit at Zurich’s young Polytechnic Institute (now ETH Zurich) – but also reflect the worries and hardships of the First World War and interwar years. The Foreword is written by Prof. Remo Ruffini, founder and president of the International Center for Relativistic Astrophysics and the Marcel Grossmann Meetings. Last but not least, an extensive contribution by Dr. Tilman Sauer offers a scientific-historical appreciation of Marcel Grossmann’s enduring contributions.
Download or read book Landmark Writings in Western Mathematics 1640 1940 written by Ivor Grattan-Guinness and published by Elsevier. This book was released on 2005-02-11 with total page 1042 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book contains around 80 articles on major writings in mathematics published between 1640 and 1940. All aspects of mathematics are covered: pure and applied, probability and statistics, foundations and philosophy. Sometimes two writings from the same period and the same subject are taken together. The biography of the author(s) is recorded, and the circumstances of the preparation of the writing are given. When the writing is of some lengths an analytical table of its contents is supplied. The contents of the writing is reviewed, and its impact described, at least for the immediate decades. Each article ends with a bibliography of primary and secondary items. First book of its kind Covers the period 1640-1940 of massive development in mathematics Describes many of the main writings of mathematics Articles written by specialists in their field
Download or read book Proving Einstein Right written by S. James Gates, and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2019-09-24 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A thrilling adventure story chronicling the perilous journey of the scientists who set out to prove the theory of relativity--the results of which catapulted Albert Einstein to fame and forever changed our understanding of the universe. In 1911, a relatively unknown physicist named Albert Einstein published his preliminary theory of gravity. But it hadn't been tested. To do that, he needed a photograph of starlight as it passed the sun during a total solar eclipse. So began a nearly decade-long quest by seven determined astronomers from observatories in four countries, who traveled the world during five eclipses to capture the elusive sight. Over the years, they faced thunderstorms, the ravages of a world war, lost equipment, and local superstitions. Finally, in May of 1919, British expeditions to northern Brazil and the island of Príncipe managed to photograph the stars, confirming Einstein's theory. At its heart, this is a story of frustration, faith, and ultimate victory--and of the scientists whose efforts helped build the framework for the big bang theory, catapulted Einstein to international fame, and shook the foundation of physics.
