Search

Quantentheorie und Relativitätstheorie haben das Weltbild der Physik revolutioniert. Beide Theorien gelten jedoch als unanschaulich und schwer verständlich. Dieses Sachbuch schafft neue Zugänge und lädt zum Mitdenken ein. Renommierte Experten aus Physik und Philosophie erläutern Grundbegriffe, Erkenntnisfortschritte und Deutungsfragen zu Raum, Zeit und Materie.Dabei kommen typische Themen aus der Philosophie der Physik zur Sprache, wie etwa die Interpretationsdebatte der Quantentheorie oder Modellbildungen in der Kosmologie. Weltbildrelevante Fragen nach dem Verhältnis von Mathematik, Empirie und Anschauung oder nach der Verlässlichkeit physikalischer Erkenntnis erfordern die Verbindung von Physik und Philosophie, von fachwissenschaftlicher Grundlagenforschung und methodenkritischer Reflexion. Der thematische Bogen geht zurück auf ein hochkarätig besetztes Symposium mit populärwissenschaftlicher Ausrichtung. Das Buch enthält Beiträge von Andreas Bartels, RobertHarlander, Paul Hoyningen-Huene, Gert-Ludwig Ingold, Claus Kiefer, Meinard Kuhlmann, Klaus Mainzer, Oliver Passon, Manfred Stöckler, Rüdiger Vaas und Reinhard Werner.

This book sheds new light on the biographical approach in the history of physics by including the biographies of scientific objects, institutions, and concepts. What is a biography? Can biographies also be written for non-human subjects like scientific instruments, institutions or concepts? The respective chapters of this book discuss these controversial questions using examples from the history of physics. By approaching biography as metaphor, it transcends the boundaries between various perspectives on the history of physics, and enriches our grasp of the past.

Photon correlation is a kind of spectroscopy designed to identify optical frequency shifts and line-broadening effects in the range of many MHz down to a few Hz. The optical intensity is measured in terms of single photon­ detection events which result in current pulses at the output of photomulti­ plier tubes. This signal is processed in real time in a special-purpose paral­ lel processor known as a correlator. The resulting photon correlation func­ tion, a function in the time domain, contains the desired spectral informa­ tion, which may be extracted by a suitable algorithm. Due to the non-intrusive nature and the sound theoretical basis of photon correlation, the phenomena under study are not disturbed, and the parameters in question can be precisely evaluated. For these reasons photon correlation has become a valuable and in many instances indispensable technique in two distinct fields. One of these is velocimetry in fluid flow. This includes hydro- and aerodynamic processes in liquids, gases, or flames where the velo­ city field may be stationary, time periodic, or turbulent, and may range from micrometers per second for motion inside biological cells to one kilometer per second for supersonic flow. The other major field is stochastic particle propagation due to Brownian motion.

Although microwaves and coherent optics, being two of the largest and most useful branches of electrical engineering to emerge technologically, are usually considered as distinct subjects, many of the underlying fundamental principles, scientific achievements, and practical applications have common features. Following the evolvment of the initial principles and techniques during the closing decade of the last century, microwave engineering has long matured to a stage of ready availability of components, automation and accuracy of measurement, economical manufacturing methods, and application of sophisticated systems. Further, this development of electromagnetic phenomena having spatial and temporal coherence has, based on several centuries of study and practice of noncoherent light, in the last two decades reached the optical region. Hence, it is now practicable to consider a comprehensive treatment of these two fields, division being made by subject matter rather than by the artificial distinctions of frequency and/or wavelength ranges. However, a full text on the combined subjects would be very large and unwieldy and, thus, this Bibliography is presented in the hope that it will prove useful as a compact reference source to a large body of workers and, by putting forward the latest scientific and technical advances, stimulate a multi-disciplinary approach. The material of the book commences with the fundamentals of radiation and matter, progressing through components and devices, amplification and generation, transmission, reception and processing of information, and methods of measurement to conclude with a wide range of applications.

The most exciting and significant episode of scientific progress is the development of thermodynamics and electrodynamics in the 19th century and early 20th century. The nature of heat and temperature was recognized, the conservation of energy was discovered, and the realization that mass and energy are equivalent provided a new fuel, – and unlimited power. Much of this occurred in unison with the rapid technological advance provided by the steam engine, the electric motor, internal combustion engines, refrigeration and the rectification processes of the chemical industry. The availability of cheap power and cheap fuel has had its impact on society: Populations grew, the standard of living increased, the envir- ment became clean, traffic became easy, and life expectancy was raised. Knowledge fairly exploded. The western countries, where all this happened, gained in power and influence, and western culture – scientific culture – spread across the globe, and is still spreading. At the same time, thermodynamics recognized the stochastic and probabilistic aspect of natural processes. It turned out that the doctrine of energy and entropy rules the world; the first ingredient – energy – is deterministic, as it were, and the second – entropy – favours randomness. Both tendencies compete, and they find the precarious balance needed for stability and change alike.