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History 181B: Modern Physics

Class 9 (2/10/03)
Classical world pictures (2)

 

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Outline What does a scientific theory aim for?
    Duhem (brief reminder)
    Mach

Where does this leave late 19th-century physics?

World pictures
    Rethinking mechanics: Hertz
        Force and hidden masses
        How do we judge a physical theory?
    The energetic world picture
    The electromagnetic world picture
        A new foundation under mechanics
        Maxwellian EM: vortices
        Lorentz's reconstruction of Maxwell's theory
        Newtonian mechanics as a first approximation

Names and terms
Primary Secondary
Pierre Duhem (1861-1916)
Ernst Mach (1838-1916)
economy of thought
antimetaphysics, conventionalism
Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894)
Principles of Mechanics Presented in a New Form (1894)
electron, ion
Hendrik Antoon Lorentz (1853-1928)
Wilhelm Ostwald (1853-1932)
Joseph Larmor (1857-1942)
Assignment Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist : See separate instructions for the writing assignment .
Copyright © Cathryn Carson 2003