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History 181B:  Modern Physics

Books on reserve

 
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Course texts
  • Course reader (library use only)
  • Michael Frayn, Copenhagen, Anchor Books, 2000, PR6056.R3 C66 1998
  • Russell McCormmach, Night thoughts of a classical physicist, Harvard, 1991, QC7.M35
Other sources Different works will be useful for different topics. Consider your options first. If you want an introduction to the wider literature, look at the excellent bibliographic essays at the back of the books by Nye, Harman, and Kragh.

The following works are listed in roughly chronological order:

  • Mary Jo Nye, Before Big Science: The Pursuit of Modern Chemistry and Physics, 1800-1940, Twayne, 1996, QD11.N94 1996
  • Robert D. Purrington, Physics in the Nineteenth Century, Rutgers, 1997, QC7.P84 1997
  • P.M. Harman, Energy, Force, and Matter: The Conceptual Development of Nineteenth-Century Physics, Cambridge, 1982, QC7.H257
  • Gerald Holton, Thematic Origins of Scientific Thought: Kepler to Einstein, rev. ed., Harvard, 1988, Q125.H7221 1988
  • Helge Kragh, Quantum Generations: A History of Physics in the 20th Century, Princeton, 1999, QC7.K7 1999
  • Albert Einstein, Relativity: The Special and the General Theory, Bonanza Books, 1961, QC6.E57
  • Robert Resnick and David Halliday, Basic Concepts in Relativity and Early Quantum Theory, 2nd ed., rev. printing, Macmillan, 1992, QC173.55.R47
  • Abraham Pais, "Subtle is the Lord...": The Science and the Life of Albert Einstein, Oxford, 1982, QC16.E5 .P26 1982
  • Abraham Pais, Inward Bound: Of Matter and Forces in the Physical World, Oxford, 1986, QC21.2.P351 1986
  • Werner Heisenberg, Physics and Philosophy: The Revolution in Modern Science, Harper & Row, 1958, QC6.H39
  • Andrew Whitaker, Einstein, Bohr and the Quantum Dilemma, Cambridge, 1996, QC174.12.W48 1996
  • Henry A. Boorse, Lloyd Motz, and Jefferson Hane Weaver, The Atomic Scientists: A Biographical History, John Wiley & Sons, 1989, QC773.B66 1989
  • Sir Harrie Massey, The New Age in Physics, 2nd ed, Basic Books, 1966, QC7.M3 1966
  • Laurie M. Brown, Abraham Pais, and Sir Brian Pippard, ed., Twentieth Century Physics, 3 v., Institute of Physics, 1995, QC7.B685 1995
These four books have material relevant to the entire course:
  • Spencer R. Weart and Melba Phillips, ed., History of Physics, American Institute of Physics, 1985, QC7.H694 1985
  • Daniel J. Kevles, The Physicists: The History of a Scientific Community in Modern America, Harvard, 1978, QC9.U5 K48 1978
  • James T. Cushing, Philosophical Concepts in Physics: The Historical Relation between Philosophy and Scientific Theories, Cambridge, 1998, QC6.C85 1998
  • Larry Gonick, The Cartoon Guide to Physics, Harper, 1991, QC24.5.G66 1991.
Copyright © Cathryn Carson 2003