Download or read book Come gli hippie hanno salvato la fisica written by David Kaiser and published by LIT EDIZIONI . This book was released on 2012-03-07T00:00:00+01:00 with total page 569 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: La teoria dei quanti rappresenta, ancora oggi, uno dei più eccitanti orizzonti della fisica. Eppure, in pochi conoscono il grande contributo che a questa disciplina hanno dato gli eccessi del movimento New Age degli anni Settanta. Molte delle idee che sono alla base della fisica dei quanti ebbero origine dalla frenetica controcultura di quegli anni, da un fecondo miscuglio di bong, viaggi con Lsd, misticismo orientale, teorie del complotto ed entusiastiche fedi nell'Età dell'Acquario, santoni piegatori di cucchiai e altri bizzarri personaggi. Del resto, gli stessi padri della scienza moderna, Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg e Schrödinger, avevano intuito che l'unica possibilità per la fisica di progredire era quella delle vie traverse, in cui era necessario affrontare a testa bassa alcune grandi sfide filosofiche: il semplice utilizzo delle equazioni a fini di calcolo non sarebbe mai bastato. Ad applicare alla lettera questi suggerimenti furono i membri del Fundamental Fysiks Group, che rifiutando l'imperativo dominante nel mondo accademico "zitto e calcola" avviarono un processo di rinnovamento che rivoluzionò per sempre il futuro della fisica. David Kaiser, docente di fisica al Mit, svela i retroscena di quegli anni con ironia, ricostruendo rigorosamente le vicissitudini di un gruppo di sognatori che si sono ribellati alle convenzioni e hanno esplorato "il lato ignoto e selvaggio della scienza", gettando le basi di una nuova e "stupefacente" storia della fisica.
Download or read book The Heritage Machine written by Pablo Alonso González and published by Pluto Press (UK). This book was released on 2019 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A radical critique of the heritage industries.
Download or read book Quantum Strangeness written by George S. Greenstein and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2019-05-28 with total page 157 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A physicist's efforts to understand the enigma that is quantum mechanics. Quantum mechanics is one of the glories of our age. The theory lies at the heart of modern society. Quantum mechanics is one of our most valuable forecasters—a “great predictor.” It has immeasurably altered our conception of the natural world. Its philosophical implications are earthshaking. But quantum mechanics steadfastly refuses to speak of many things; it deals in probabilities rather than giving explicit descriptions. It never explains. Einstein, one of its creators, considered the theory incomplete. Even now, many years after the creation of quantum mechanics, physicists continue to argue about it. Astrophysicist George Greenstein has been both fascinated and confused by quantum mechanics for his entire career. In this book, he describes, engagingly and accessibly, his efforts to understand the enigma that is quantum mechanics. The fastest route to the insight into the ultimate nature of reality revealed by quantum mechanics, Greenstein writes, is through Bell's Theorem, which concerns reality at the quantum level; and Bell's 1964 discovery drives Greenstein's quest. Greenstein recounts a scientific odyssey that begins with Einstein, continues with Bell, and culminates with today's push to develop an industry of quantum machines. Along the way, he discusses spin, entanglement, experimental metaphysics, and quantum teleportation, often with easy-to-grasp analogies. We have known for decades that the world of the quantum was strange, but, Greenstein says, not until John Bell came along did we know just how strange.
Download or read book How the Hippies Saved Physics written by David Kaiser and published by W.W. Norton & Company. This book was released on 2012-06-29 with total page 372 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Today, quantum information theory is among the most exciting scientific frontiers, attracting billions of dollars in funding and thousands of talented researchers. But as MIT physicist and historian David Kaiser reveals, this cutting-edge field has a surprisingly psychedelic past. How the Hippies Saved Physics introduces us to a band of freewheeling physicists who defied the imperative to "shut up and calculate" and helped to rejuvenate modern physics. For physicists, the 1970s were a time of stagnation. Jobs became scarce, and conformity was encouraged, sometimes stifling exploration of the mysteries of the physical world. Dissatisfied, underemployed, and eternally curious, an eccentric group of physicists in Berkeley, California, banded together to throw off the constraints of the physics mainstream and explore the wilder side of science. Dubbing themselves the "Fundamental Fysiks Group," they pursued an audacious, speculative approach to physics. They studied quantum entanglement and Bell's Theorem through the lens of Eastern mysticism and psychic mind-reading, discussing the latest research while lounging in hot tubs. Some even dabbled with LSD to enhance their creativity. Unlikely as it may seem, these iconoclasts spun modern physics in a new direction, forcing mainstream physicists to pay attention to the strange but exciting underpinnings of quantum theory. A lively, entertaining story that illuminates the relationship between creativity and scientific progress, How the Hippies Saved Physics takes us to a time when only the unlikeliest heroes could break the science world out of its rut.
Download or read book NFL 1965 written by David Kaiser and published by McFarland. This book was released on 2021-11-09 with total page 168 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In the mid-1960s, when pro football eclipsed baseball as America's leading spectator sport, the NFL had the most exciting season in its history. The Eastern Conference Cleveland Browns were the champions in 1965 yet most of the action was in the Western Conference, where the reigning Baltimore Colts contended with the formidable Green Bay Packers and Chicago Bears. All three teams played two games apiece against the Detroit Lions, a power earlier in the decade, and the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams, who were becoming dominant in the league. In those days the NFL played a wide-open game--long touchdown passes, fumbles and interceptions kept fans on the edges of their seats through seven games each weekend. The league's deep bench included such players as Jim Brown, Johnny Unitas, Tom Matte, Bart Starr, Paul Hornung and Dave Robinson, rookies Gale Sayers and Dick Butkus, and key coaches Don Shula, Vince Lombardi and George Halas. A fantastic final weekend led to a one-game playoff for the right to face the Browns for the championship. Drawing on interviews with surviving players and executives, this book recounts the thrilling drama of the '65 season and places it in the broader context of NFL history.
Download or read book Science Askew written by Donald E Simanek and published by CRC Press. This book was released on 2001-10-01 with total page 324 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Copiously illustrated throughout with many fine drawings by John C. Holden, Science Askew: A Light-Hearted Look at the Scientific World is a refreshing antidote to the daily grind. From continental drip to the life of Konrad Finagle via the murky depths of Loch Ness, we are treated to an off-kilter trip through the scientific world. This pocket-siz
Download or read book Science and the American Century written by Sally Gregory Kohlstedt and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2013-03-14 with total page 483 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The twentieth century was one of astonishing change in science, especially as pursued in the United States. Against a backdrop of dramatic political and economic shifts brought by world wars, intermittent depressions, sporadic and occasionally massive increases in funding, and expanding private patronage, this scientific work fundamentally reshaped everyday life. Science and the American Century offers some of the most significant contributions to the study of the history of science, technology, and medicine during the twentieth century, all drawn from the pages of the journal Isis. Fourteen essays from leading scholars are grouped into three sections, each presented in roughly chronological order. The first section charts several ways in which our knowledge of nature was cultivated, revealing how scientific practitioners and the public alike grappled with definitions of the “natural” as they absorbed and refracted global information. The essays in the second section investigate the changing attitudes and fortunes of scientists during and after World War II. The final section documents the intricate ways that science, as it advanced, became intertwined with social policies and the law. This important and useful book provides a thoughtful and detailed overview for scholars and students of American history and the history of science, as well as for scientists and others who want to better understand modern science and science in America.
Download or read book Wonders of Numbers written by Clifford A. Pickover and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2003-01-16 with total page 420 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who were the five strangest mathematicians in history? What are the ten most interesting numbers? Jam-packed with thought-provoking mathematical mysteries, puzzles, and games, Wonders of Numbers will enchant even the most left-brained of readers. Hosted by the quirky Dr. Googol--who resides on a remote island and occasionally collaborates with Clifford Pickover--Wonders of Numbers focuses on creativity and the delight of discovery. Here is a potpourri of common and unusual number theory problems of varying difficulty--each presented in brief chapters that convey to readers the essence of the problem rather than its extraneous history. Peppered throughout with illustrations that clarify the problems, Wonders of Numbers also includes fascinating "math gossip." How would we use numbers to communicate with aliens? Check out Chapter 30. Did you know that there is a Numerical Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder? You'll find it in Chapter 45. From the beautiful formula of India's most famous mathematician to the Leviathan number so big it makes a trillion look small, Dr. Googol's witty and straightforward approach to numbers will entice students, educators, and scientists alike to pick up a pencil and work a problem.
Download or read book Well Doc You re In written by David Kaiser and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2022-10-25 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The life and work of Freeman Dyson—renowned scientist, visionary, and iconoclast—and his particular way of thinking about deep questions. Freeman Dyson (1923–2020)—renowned scientist, visionary, and iconoclast—helped invent modern physics. Not bound by disciplinary divisions, he went on to explore foundational topics in mathematics, astrophysics, and the origin of life. General readers were introduced to Dyson’s roving mind and heterodox approach in his 1979 book Disturbing the Universe, a poignant autobiographical reflection on life and science. “Well, Doc, You’re In” (the title quotes Richard Feynman’s remark to Dyson at a physics conference) offers a fresh examination of Dyson’s life and work, exploring his particular way of thinking about deep questions that range from the nature of matter to the ultimate fate of the universe. The chapters—written by leading scientists, historians, and science journalists, including some of Dyson’s colleagues—trace Dyson’s formative years, his budding interests and curiosities, and his wide-ranging work across the natural sciences, technology, and public policy. They describe Dyson’s innovations at the intersection of quantum theory and relativity, his novel nuclear reactor design (and his never-realized idea of a spacecraft powered by nuclear weapons), his years at the Institute for Advanced Study, and his foray into cosmology. In the coda, Dyson’s daughter Esther reflects on growing up in the Dyson household. “Well, Doc, You’re In” assesses Dyson’s successes, blind spots, and influence, assembling a portrait of a scientist’s outsized legacy. Contributors Jeremy Bernstein, Robbert Dijkgraaf, Esther Dyson, George Dyson, Ann Finkbeiner, Amanda Gefter, Ashutosh Jogalekar, David Kaiser, Caleb Scharf, William Thomas
Download or read book Drawing Theories Apart written by David Kaiser and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2009-11-15 with total page 376 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Winner of the 2007 Pfizer Prize from the History of Science Society. Feynman diagrams have revolutionized nearly every aspect of theoretical physics since the middle of the twentieth century. Introduced by the American physicist Richard Feynman (1918-88) soon after World War II as a means of simplifying lengthy calculations in quantum electrodynamics, they soon gained adherents in many branches of the discipline. Yet as new physicists adopted the tiny line drawings, they also adapted the diagrams and introduced their own interpretations. Drawing Theories Apart traces how generations of young theorists learned to frame their research in terms of the diagrams—and how both the diagrams and their users were molded in the process. Drawing on rich archival materials, interviews, and more than five hundred scientific articles from the period, Drawing Theories Apart uses the Feynman diagrams as a means to explore the development of American postwar physics. By focusing on the ways young physicists learned new calculational skills, David Kaiser frames his story around the crafting and stabilizing of the basic tools in the physicist's kit—thus offering the first book to follow the diagrams once they left Feynman's hands and entered the physics vernacular.
Download or read book Monsterhearts written by Luis Silva and published by . This book was released on 2021-08-06 with total page pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Biology and the Riddle of Life written by Charles Birch and published by UNSW Press. This book was released on 1999 with total page 178 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Annotation. "What is life? What does it means to be alive? Is the Earth a super-organism? Is God necessary? In Biology and the Riddle of Life Charles Birch confronts these fundamental questions at a time when such topics as genetic engineering, cloning and ecology have been prominent in the news. Birch confronts the impression that modern biology has answers to all that there is to be known about life. We need to move towards an understanding of living creatures as subjects, and not only as objects, in order to probe life's hidden secrets - what it is to be alive, what it is to experience pain, and what it is to be in love. The answer must include the meaning of life for us as individuals. Birch proposes a new perspective to bring subject and object together. This is the black box he has opened."--BOOK JACKET. Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Download or read book Comics through Time 4 volumes written by M. Keith Booker and published by Bloomsbury Publishing USA. This book was released on 2014-10-28 with total page 2104 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Focusing especially on American comic books and graphic novels from the 1930s to the present, this massive four-volume work provides a colorful yet authoritative source on the entire history of the comics medium. Comics and graphic novels have recently become big business, serving as the inspiration for blockbuster Hollywood movies such as the Iron Man series of films and the hit television drama The Walking Dead. But comics have been popular throughout the 20th century despite the significant effects of the restrictions of the Comics Code in place from the 1950s through 1970s, which prohibited the depiction of zombies and use of the word "horror," among many other rules. Comics through Time: A History of Icons, Idols, and Ideas provides students and general readers a one-stop resource for researching topics, genres, works, and artists of comic books, comic strips, and graphic novels. The comprehensive and broad coverage of this set is organized chronologically by volume. Volume 1 covers 1960 and earlier; Volume 2 covers 1960–1980; Volume 3 covers 1980–1995; and Volume 4 covers 1995 to the present. The chronological divisions give readers a sense of the evolution of comics within the larger contexts of American culture and history. The alphabetically arranged entries in each volume address topics such as comics publishing, characters, imprints, genres, themes, titles, artists, writers, and more. While special attention is paid to American comics, the entries also include coverage of British, Japanese, and European comics that have influenced illustrated storytelling of the United States or are of special interest to American readers.
Download or read book Groovy Science written by David Kaiser and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2016-05-31 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Did the Woodstock generation reject science—or re-create it? An “enthralling” study of a unique period in scientific history (New Scientist). Our general image of the youth of the late 1960s and early 1970s is one of hostility to things like missiles and mainframes and plastics—and an enthusiasm for alternative spirituality and getting “back to nature.” But this enlightening collection reveals that the stereotype is overly simplistic. In fact, there were diverse ways in which the era’s countercultures expressed enthusiasm for and involved themselves in science—of a certain type. Boomers and hippies sought a science that was both small-scale and big-picture, as exemplified by the annual workshops on quantum physics at the Esalen Institute in Big Sur, or Timothy Leary’s championing of space exploration as the ultimate “high.” Groovy Science explores the experimentation and eclecticism that marked countercultural science and technology during one of the most colorful periods of American history. “Demonstrate[s] that people and groups strongly ensconced in the counterculture also embraced science, albeit in untraditional and creative ways.”—Science “Each essay is a case history on how the hippies repurposed science and made it cool. For the academic historian, Groovy Science establishes the ‘deep mark on American culture’ made by the countercultural innovators. For the non-historian, the book reads as if it were infected by the hippies’ democratic intent: no jargon, few convoluted sentences, clear arguments and a sense of delight.”—Nature “In the late 1960s and 1970s, the mind-expanding modus operandi of the counterculture spread into the realm of science, and sh-t got wonderfully weird. Neurophysiologist John Lilly tried to talk with dolphins. Physicist Peter Phillips launched a parapsychology lab at Washington University. Princeton physicist Gerard O’Neill became an evangelist for space colonies. Groovy Science is a new book of essays about this heady time.”—Boing Boing
Download or read book Becoming MIT written by David Kaiser and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2010 with total page 218 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The evolution of MIT, as seen in a series of crucial decisions over the years.
Download or read book War Politics and Superheroes written by Marc Di Paolo and published by McFarland Publishing. This book was released on 2011 with total page 330 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Superhero adventure comics have a long history of commenting upon American public opinion and government policy, and the surge in the popularity of comics since the events of September 11, 2001, ensures their continued relevance. This critical text examines the seventy-year history of comic book superheroes on film and in comic books and their reflections of the politics of their time. Superheroes addressed include Batman, Wonder Woman, Spider-Man, Superman, the Fantastic Four and the X-Men, and topics covered include American wars, conflicts, and public policy. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.
Download or read book Pedagogy and the Practice of Science written by David Kaiser and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2005 with total page 450 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Studies examining the ways in which the training of engineers and scientists shapes their research strategies and scientific identities.
