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Politische Themen mit wissenschaftlichem Bezug werden medial immer präsenter. In Talkshows, Zeitungen und politischen Beratungsgremien finden oft Expertinnen und Experten mit Physikausbildung Gehör. Egal, ob es um Klimawandel, Finanzmarktcrashs, Pandemiepolitik oder erneuerbare Energien geht: wir müssen den Aussagen dieser Expertinnen und Experten blind vertrauen, wenn wir selbst kein Fachwissen besitzen. In diesem Buch werden physikalische Grundlagen hinter gesellschaftlich relevanten Themen auf eine allgemeinverständliche Weise erklärt. Dabei geht es vor allem darum, die für die Physik typischen Denkweisen klar zu machen. Auf welchen Grundlagen (Mechanik, Elektrodynamik, Quantentheorie, Feldtheorien, Relativitätstheorien, Statistische Physik) beruhen eigentlich physikalische Aussagen? Wie sind diese Grundlagen entstanden? Wie erstellt man in der Physik Modelle zur Beschreibung komplexer Themen? Was ist „Wahrheit'in Wissenschaften?Wie ist das Verhältnis von Modellen zur Wirklichkeit? Beim Beantworten dieser und vieler weiterer Fragen hat der Autor darauf geachtet, nur Mathematik vorauszusetzen, die das Niveau der Mittelstufe nicht überschreitet. Der vorliegende Band richtet sich an alle, die für Entscheidungen und Urteile ein einfaches aber solides Verständnis des physikalischen Denkens suchen: sei es im Alltag, in Unternehmen oder in der Politik.

This is a personal story about being involved in the study of nonlinear phenomena for more than half a century. The focus is on the development of ideas and the resulting knowledge. This is the visible part of research, but much is usually hidden. The author describes how the ideas were generated and how an “invisible college” of friends and colleagues has emerged. The presentation is spiced by thoughts about the beauty of science and philosophical considerations on the complex world, where nonlinear interactions play an important role. The book is in some sense a biography but not so much about the personal life of the author – it is about science and its actors. Based on the author's experience in many European research centres and science policy institutions, it reflects on the development of knowledge in nonlinear dynamics as well as science policy actions over the second half of the 20th century and the first quarter of the 21st century. Graduates and postgraduates interested in the progress of research will find the book particularly engaging.

Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens (1629-1695) left an indelible mark on the fields of mathematics, physics, astronomy, and geophysics. Despite his groundbreaking contributions, history has often overlooked his pivotal role. While two of the most famous achievements in physics are Newton's theory of gravity and Einstein's general theory of relativity, less well-known is that Huygens provided central elements to these theories. This book stands to correct that deficit. For example, we show how Huygens used symmetry arguments to derive conservation laws for momentum and for energy, and what Einstein later called the principle of equivalence to derive the formula for centrifugal force. In 1689, Huygens visited Newton. Together, they walked the streets of London. Newton had recently finished his masterpiece, Principia, expounding his laws of motion and the law of universal gravitation. Huygens had essentially completed his life's work by then, building on Archimedes, Leonardo da Vinci, Galileo, Descartes, Fermat, Pascal and his own ingenuity. He had established fame as an instrument maker (telescope, pendulum clock, planetarium). He had invented the 31 tone system. He had pioneered the first principles of remote sensing. He had discovered the rings of Saturn. He had formulated the wave theory of light. What would walking with Christiaan reveal? This book gives the result in nine chapters, namely: spontaneous order, the speed of light, Huygens'principle, the telescope, the pendulum clock, Huygens-Fresnel principle, special relativity, centrifugal force, and curvature. In addition, there is a chapter titled What Huygens could have written on diffraction, and a chapter titled Huygens and Geophysics. Mentally walking with Christiaan, browsing his collected works — a true treasure trove for puzzle enthusiasts — and rethinking his ideas creates a vivid impression of scientific life in the 17th century, an appreciation that it is remarkably similar to ours, and an understanding of Huygens'significant and lasting contributions to science.

This book focuses on continuing the long-standing productive dialogue between physical science and the philosophy of science. Researchers and readers who want to keep up to date on front-line scientific research in fluid mechanics and gravitational wave astrophysics will find timely and well-informed analyses of this scientific research and its philosophical significance. These exciting frontiers of research pose deep scientific problems, and raise key questions in the philosophy of science related to scientific explanation and understanding, theory change and assessment, measurement, interpretation, realism, and modeling. The audience of the book includes philosophers of science, philosophers of mathematics, scientists with philosophical interests, and students in philosophy, history, mathematics, and science. Anyone who is interested in the methods and philosophical questions behind the recent exciting work in physics discussed here will profit from reading this book.