In "An den Grenzen der wissenschaftlichen Vernunft" untersucht Arthur I. Miller die Freundschaft zwischen C. G. Jung und Wolfgang Pauli, die gemeinsam der Frage nachgingen, ob die Zahl 137 eine kosmische Urzahl ist. Die Doppelbiografie beleuchtet das faszinierende Zusammenspiel zwischen Physik und Psychologie.
Ein genialer Einfall verändert unsere Vorstellung vom Universum Der Krieg der Astronomen ist die Geschichte eines genialen Außenseiters, der mit einer wichtigen Entdeckung zunächst an der Ignoranz und den Vorurteilen eines berühmten Kollegen und des wissenschaftlichen Establishments scheitert. Und es ist die Geschichte eines Meilensteins in der Erforschung des Universums. Der junge Inder Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar (Foto links), genannt Chandra (1910 bis 1995), bewies 1930 mathematisch, daß Sterne ab einer bestimmten Größe am Ende ihres Lebens zu unendlich dichten Gebilden zusammenstürzen, die man später als Schwarze Löcher bezeichnete. Nicht nur Einstein bezweifelte, daß dies möglich sei. Der englische Astrophysiker Arthur S. Eddington verwarf 1935 öffentlich Chandras Erkenntnis schlicht als absurd. Praktisch alle Kollegen schlossen sich ihm an. Erst in den sechziger Jahren erkannte man die Richtigkeit und Bedeutung der Entdeckung, für die Chandrasekhar schließlich 1983 den Nobelpreis erhielt.
An analysis of one of the three great papers Einstein published in 1905, each of which was to alter forever the field it dealt with. The second of these papers, "On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies", established what Einstein sometimes referred to as the "so-called Theory of Relativity". Miller uses the paper to provide a window on the intense intellectual struggles of physicists in the first decade of the 20th century: the interplay between physical theory and empirical data; the fiercely held notions that could not be articulated clearly or verified experimentally; the great intellectual investment in existing theories, data, and interpretations - and associated intellectual inertia - and the drive to the long-sought-for unification of the sciences. Since its original publication, this book has become a standard reference and sourcebook for the history and philosophy of science; however, it can equally well serve as a text on twentieth-century philosophy.
A parallel biography of Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso as young men, focusing on their greatest achievements
"The history is fascinating, as are the insights into the personalities of these great thinkers." —New Scientist Is there a number at the root of the universe? A primal number that everything in the world hinges on? This question exercised many great minds of the twentieth century, among them the groundbreaking physicist Wolfgang Pauli and the famous psychoanalyst Carl Jung. Their obsession with the power of certain numbers—including 137, which describes the atom’s fine-structure constant and has great Kabbalistic significance—led them to develop an unlikely friendship and to embark on a joint mystical quest reaching deep into medieval alchemy, dream interpretation, and the Chinese Book of Changes. 137 explores the profound intersection of modern science with the occult, but above all it is the tale of an extraordinary, fruitful friendship between two of the greatest thinkers of our times. Originally published in hardcover as Deciphering the Cosmic Number.
The book explores the intriguing relationship between modern art and modern physics, highlighting how both scientists and artists strive to visually interpret the complexities of nature. Arthur I. Miller examines philosophical concepts, cognitive science, and neurophysiology, offering insights into the origins and significance of visual imagery. This interdisciplinary study reveals the shared goals of creativity and scientific inquiry, shedding light on the deeper connections between artistic expression and scientific discovery.
This book provides a panoramic view from 1927-1938 of the development of a physical theory that has been on the cutting-edge of theoretical physics ever since P. A. M. Dirac's quantization of the electromagnetic field in 1927: quantum electrodynamics. Like the classic papers chosen for this volume, the introductory Frame-Setting Essay emphasizes conceptual transformations which carried physicists to the threshold of renormalization theory. The published papers and correspondence of Bohr, Heisenberg, Dirac and Pauli provide a fascinating analysis of the meaning and structure of a scientific theory. This book goes beyond the historical and philosophical into current physics. Unavailability of English-language versions of certain key papers, some of which are provided in this book, has prevented their implications from being fully realized. Awareness of research from sixty years ago could well provide insights for future developments.