Volume II: 1862-1873 contains texts which illuminate Maxwell's scientific maturity. In this period he wrote the classic works on field physics and statistical molecular theory which established his unique status in the history of science. His important correspondence with Thomson and Tait provides remarkable insight into the major themes of his physics.

Beginning with a couple of essays dealing with the experimental and mathematical foundations of physics in the work of Henry Cavendish and Joseph Fourier, the volume goes on to consider the broad areas of investigation that constituted the central foci of the development of the physics discipline in the nineteenth century: electricity and magnetism, including especially the work of Michael Faraday, William Thomson, and James Clerk Maxwell; and thermodynamics and matter theory, including the theoretical work and legacy of Josiah Willard Gibbs, some experimental work relating to thermodynamics and kinetic theory of Heinrich Hertz, and the work of Felix Seyler-Hoppe on hemoglobin in the neighboring field of biophysics/biochemistry. Moving on to the beginning of the twentieth century, a set of three articles on Albert Einstein deal with his early career and various influences on his work. Finally, a set of historiographical issues important for the history of physics are discussed, and the chronological conclusion of the volume is an article on the Solvay Conference of 1933. For physicists interested in the history of their discipline, historians and philosophers of science, and graduate students in these and related disciplines.

An innovative integrated approach to classical physics and the beginnings of quantum physics through a sequence of historical case studies.

Physics in Oxford, 1839-1939 offers a challenging new interpretation of pre-war physics at the University of Oxford, which was far more dynamic than most historians and physicists have been prepared to believe. It explains, on the one hand, how attempts to develop the University's Clarendon Laboratory by Robert Clifton, Professor of Experimental Philosophy from 1865 to 1915, were thwarted by academic politics and funding problems, and latterly by Clifton's idiosyncratic concern with precision instrumentation. Conversely, by examining in detail the work of college fellows and their laboratories, the book reconstructs the decentralized environment that allowed physics to enter on a period of conspicuous vigour in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, especially at the characteristically Oxonian intersections between physics, physical chemistry, mechanics, and mathematics. Whereas histories of Cambridge physics have tended to focus on the self-sustaining culture of the Cavendish Laboratory, it was Oxford's college-trained physicists who enabled the discipline to flourish in due course in university as well as college facilities, notably under the newly appointed professors, J. S. E. Townsend from 1900 and F. A. Lindemann from 1919. This broader perspective allows us to understand better the vitality with which physicists in Oxford responded to the demands of wartime research on radar and techniques relevant to atomic weapons and laid the foundations for the dramatic post-war expansion in teaching and research that has endowed Oxford with one of the largest and most dynamic schools of physics in the world.

This unprecedented collection of 27,000 quotations is the most comprehensive and carefully researched of its kind, covering all fields of science and mathematics. With this vast compendium you can readily conceptualize and embrace the written images of scientists, laymen, politicians, novelists, playwrights, and poets about humankind's scientific achievements. Approximately 9000 high-quality entries have been added to this new edition to provide a rich selection of quotations for the student, the educator, and the scientist who would like to introduce a presentation with a relevant quotation that provides perspective and historical background on his subject. Gaither's Dictionary of Scientific Quotations, Second Edition, provides the finest reference source of science quotations for all audiences. The new edition adds greater depth to the number of quotations in the various thematic arrangements and also provides new thematic categories.

This is a comprehensive edition of Maxwell's manuscript papers published virtually complete and largely for the first time. Maxwell's work was of central importance in establishing and developing the major themes of the physics of the nineteenth century: his theory of the electromagnetic field and the electromagnetic theory of light and his special place in the history of physics. His fecundity of imagination and the sophistication of his examination of the foundations of physics give particular interest and importance to his writings. Volume I: 1846-1862 documents Maxwell's education and early scientific work and his major period of scientific innovation - his first formulation of field theory, the electromagnetic theory of light and the statistical theory of gases. Important letters and manuscript drafts illuminate this fundamental early work and the volume includes his letters to friends and family, general essays and lectures and juvenilia.

A signature feature of living organisms is their ability to carry out purposeful actions by taking stock of the world around them. To that end, cells have an arsenal of signaling molecules linked together in signaling pathways, which switch between inactive and active conformations. The Molecular Switch articulates a biophysical perspective on signaling, showing how allostery—a powerful explanation of how molecules function across all biological domains—can be reformulated using equilibrium statistical mechanics, applied to diverse biological systems exhibiting switching behaviors, and successfully unify seemingly unrelated phenomena. Rob Phillips weaves together allostery and statistical mechanics via a series of biological vignettes, each of which showcases an important biological question and accompanying physical analysis. Beginning with the study of ligand-gated ion channels and their role in problems ranging from muscle action to vision, Phillips then undertakes increasingly sophisticated case studies, from bacterial chemotaxis and quorum sensing to hemoglobin and its role in mammalian physiology. He looks at G-protein coupled receptors as well as the role of allosteric molecules in gene regulation. Phillips concludes by surveying problems in biological fidelity and offering a speculative chapter on the relationship between allostery and biological Maxwell demons. Appropriate for graduate students and researchers in biophysics, physics, engineering, biology, and neuroscience, The Molecular Switch presents a unified, quantitative model for describing biological signaling phenomena.

With the invention of telecommunications technologies in the late nineteenth century, the radio-electric spectrum became a tool for rethinking the world in which we live. The emission of radio waves did away with physical distances, crossing borders and cultures and acting as a powerful catalyst for trade. Moreover, the radio spectrum is the invisible infrastructure on which our information and communication technologies have been built. The history of its scientific discovery and how it was gradually colonized by the media, the military complex, and activists and hackers is one of the most fascinating stories of the twentieth century. The future uses of the radio-electric spectrum in the twenty-first century and its new potential are being decided now, with the end of analogue TV broadcasting worldwide marking the most important transformation of uses in the radio-electric space in decades. This catalog sets out to examine these issues and shed a little light on the most intriguing stories about the radio-electric spectrum.

For most of human history, we have had a close relationship with the stars. Once they shaped our religious beliefs, power structures, scientific advances and even our biology. But over the last few centuries we have separated ourselves from the universe that surrounds us. And it comes at a cost. The Human Cosmos is a tour of this history: from the Hall of the Bulls in Lascaux to Tahitian sailors navigating by the stars; from medieval monks grappling with the nature of time to Einstein realising that space and time are the same. It shows we need to rediscover the universe we inhabit, its effect on our health, and its potential for inspiration and revelation.

This is a comprehensive edition of Maxwell's manuscript papers published virtually complete and largely for the first time.