The electron is fundamental to almost all aspects of modern life, controlling the behavior of atoms and how they bind together to form gases, liquids, and solids. Flash of the Cathode Rays: A History of J.J. Thomson's Electron presents the compelling story of the discovery of the electron and its role as the first subatomic particle in nature. The book traces the evolution of the concept of electrical charge, from the earliest glow discharge studies to the final cathode ray and oil drop experiments of J.J. Thomson and Robert Millikan. It also provides an overview of the history of modern physics up to the advent of the old quantum theory around 1920. Consolidating scholarly material while incorporating new material discovered by the well-respected author, the book covers the continental and English race for the source of the cathode rays, culminating in Thomson's corpuscle in 1897. It explores the events leading to Millikan's unambiguous isolation of the electron and the simultaneous circumstances surrounding the birth of Ernest Rutherford's nuclear atom and the discovery of radioactivity in 1896. The author also focuses on the controversies over N-rays, Becquerel's positive electron, and the famous Ehrenhaft-Millikan dispute over subelectrons. Scholarly yet accessible to those with basic physics knowledge, this book should be of interest to historians of science, professional scientists and engineers, teachers and students of physics, and general readers interested in the development of modern physics.

Both a history and a metahistory, Representing Electrons focuses on the development of various theoretical representations of electrons from the late 1890s to 1925 and the methodological problems associated with writing about unobservable scientific entities. Using the electron—or rather its representation—as a historical actor, Theodore Arabatzis illustrates the emergence and gradual consolidation of its representation in physics, its career throughout old quantum theory, and its appropriation and reinterpretation by chemists. As Arabatzis develops this novel biographical approach, he portrays scientific representations as partly autonomous agents with lives of their own. Furthermore, he argues that the considerable variance in the representation of the electron does not undermine its stable identity or existence. Raising philosophical issues of contentious debate in the history and philosophy of science—namely, scientific realism and meaning change—Arabatzis addresses the history of the electron across disciplines, integrating historical narrative with philosophical analysis in a book that will be a touchstone for historians and philosophers of science and scientists alike.

In this richly-illustrated 2004 book the author combines history with real science. Using an original approach he presents the major achievements of twentieth-century physics - for example, relativity, quantum mechanics, atomic and nuclear physics, the invention of the transistor and the laser, superconductivity, binary pulsars, and the Bose-Einstein condensate - each as they emerged as the product of the genius of those physicists whose labours, since 1901, have been crowned with a Nobel Prize. Here, in the form of a year-by-year chronicle, biographies and revealing personal anecdotes help bring to life the main events of the past hundred years. The work of the most famous physicists of the twentieth century - great names, like the Curies, Bohr, Heisenberg, Einstein, Fermi, Feynman, Gell-Mann, Rutherford, and Schrödinger - is presented, often in the words and imagery of the prize-winners themselves.

With contributions by leading quantum physicists, philosophers and historians, this comprehensive A-to-Z of quantum physics provides a lucid understanding of key concepts of quantum theory and experiment. It covers technical and interpretational aspects alike, and includes both traditional and new concepts, making it an indispensable resource for concise, up-to-date information about the many facets of quantum physics.

Origin, Scope, and Plan of this Book In July 1962 the fiftieth anniversary of Max von Laue's discovery of the Diffraction of X-rays by crystals is going to be celebrated in Munich by a large international group of crystallographers, physi cists, chemists, spectroscopists, biologists, industrialists, and many others who are employing the methods based on Laue's discovery for their own research. The invitation for this celebration will be issued jointly by the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, where the discovery was made, by the Bavarian Academy of Sciences, where it was first made public, and by the International Union of Crystallo graphy, which is the international organization of the National Committees of Crystallography formed in some 30 countries to repre sent and advance the interests of the 3500 research workers in this field. The year 1912 also is the birth year of two branches of the physical sciences which developed promptly from Laue's discovery, namely X-ray Crystal Structure Analysis which is most closely linked to the names ofW. H. (Sir William) Bragg and W. L. (Sir Lawrence) Bragg, and X-ray Spectroscopy which is associated with the names of W. H. Bragg, H. G. J. Moseley, M. de Broglie and Manne Siegbahn. Crystal Structure Analysis began in November 1912 with the first papers ofW. L. Bragg, then still a student in Cambridge, in which, by analysis of the Laue diagrams _of zinc blende, he determined the correct lattice upon which the structure of this crystal is built.

Accompanyind CR-ROM conrtains The Encyclopedia of Materials Science and Technology on a web access disc.

Volume Two of the Science in the Making Series covers the scientific advancements of the day between 1850 and 1900 as reported in the Philosophical Magazine. This period culminated with the discovery of the electron, Xrays and radioactivity. This beautifully produced volume contains facsimiles of original papers by eminent scientists including Kelv

The Magnificent Scientists and their Fabulous Accomplishments A Fantastic Dream and Journey into the Past, Present and Future In the World of Chemistry