QED and the Men Who Made It (eBook)

Dyson, Feynman, Schwinger, and Tomonaga

S. S. Schweber (Autor)

eBook Download: PDF

2020
768 Seiten
Princeton University Press (Verlag)
978-0-691-21328-6 (ISBN)

Infos

In the 1930s, physics was in a crisis. There appeared to be no way to reconcile the new theory of quantum mechanics with Einstein's theory of relativity. Several approaches had been tried and had failed. In the post-World War II period, four eminent physicists rose to the challenge and developed a calculable version of quantum electrodynamics (QED), probably the most successful theory in physics. This formulation of QED was pioneered by Freeman Dyson, Richard Feynman, Julian Schwinger, and Sin-Itiro Tomonaga, three of whom won the Nobel Prize for their work. In this book, physicist and historian Silvan Schweber tells the story of these four physicists, blending discussions of their scientific work with fascinating biographical sketches. Setting the achievements of these four men in context, Schweber begins with an account of the early work done by physicists such as Dirac and Jordan, and describes the gathering of eminent theorists at Shelter Island in 1947, the meeting that heralded the new era of QED. The rest of his narrative comprises individual biographies of the four physicists, discussions of their major contributions, and the story of the scientific community in which they worked. Throughout, Schweber draws on his technical expertise to offer a lively and lucid explanation of how this theory was finally established as the appropriate way to describe the atomic and subatomic realms.

Produkt-Details

• Erscheint lt. Verlag: 26.5.2020
• Reihe/Serie: Princeton Series in Physics
• Reihe/Serie: Princeton Series in Physics
• Zusatzinfo: 28 halftones 47 line illus.
• Sprache: englisch
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Biografien / Erfahrungsberichte
• Themenwelt: Literatur ► Romane / Erzählungen
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Elektrodynamik
• Themenwelt: Naturwissenschaften ► Physik / Astronomie ► Quantenphysik
• Schlagworte: Aage Bohr • Abraham Pais • adiabatic theorem • Alfred Schild • Arnold Nordsieck • Arnold Sommerfeld • Arthur Compton • Arthur Eddington • beta decay • Bromberg, Joan • Calculation • canonical quantization • Charles Critchfield • classical electromagnetism • Correspondence principle • Coulomb's Law • Covariant field theory • David Bohm • Dirac equation • Dirac Operator • DuBridge, Lee • Ebenezer Cunningham • Edward Teller • Edwin C. Kemble • energy level • Ernest Lawrence • Ernst Mach • Erwin Schrödinger • Eugene Wigner • Felix Bloch • Feshbach, Herman • Feynman diagram • Fierz, Markus • Frederick Seitz • Freeman Dyson • Furry, Wendell H. • Gauge Invariance • George Gamow • Goldberger, Marvin • Gregory Breit • Hans Bethe • Harold Urey • Heisenberg picture • Henri Bergson • Herman Feshbach • Hermann Weyl • Immanuel Velikovsky • irving langmuir • Isidor Isaac Rabi • Jack Steinberger • Jewett, Frank • J. J. Thomson • John Archibald Wheeler • John C. Slater • Josiah Willard Gibbs • J. Robert Oppenheimer • Julian Schwinger • Kemble, Edwin • Kuhn, Thomas • Lamb shift • Lars Onsager • Lecture • Lewis, H. A. • Magnetic moment • Markus Fierz • Mark Zemansky • Mass renormalization • Max Born • Meson • Morrison, Philip • Murray Gell-Mann • Nathan Rosen • Niels Bohr • Nobel prize • Nordsieck, Arnold • Norris Bradbury • Nucleon • Opechowski, W. • pair production • Paul Dirac • Pauli • Perturbation theory (quantum mechanics) • Peter Debye • Philip Morrison • Phillips, Melba • Photon • physicist • positron • quantum electrodynamics • quantum field theory • quantum mechanics • renormalization • Renormalization theory • Richard Feynman • Robert Marshak • Robert Retherford • Robert Serber • Robert Watson-Watt • Rudolf Peierls • Saxon, David • scattering • Schrödinger equation • Second Quantization • self-energy • Shelter Island Conference • Sidney Dancoff • S-Matrix • S-Matrix Theory • Solvay Conference • Stanley Deser • Taylor, G. I. • theoretical physics • theory • The Principles of Quantum Mechanics • Thomas Kuhn • Vacuum self-energy • Variational Principle • Victor Weisskopf • Vito Volterra • Walter Heitler • Warsaw Conference • Weinberg, Steve • Werner Heisenberg • Wightman axioms • Wilhelm Lenz • Willis Lamb
• ISBN-10: 0-691-21328-3 / 0691213283
• ISBN-13: 978-0-691-21328-6 / 9780691213286