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| From Clockwork to Crapshot. A History of Physics | Buy a book...
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| Author(s): | R. G. Newton |
| Publisher: | Harvard University Press |
| ISBN: | 9780674023376 |
| Format: | hardback |
| 340pp | |
| Price: | £19.95, $29.95, €27.70 |
| Review Date: | 08 June 2007 |
| Review: | For over 6000 years people have been assembling facts about the world; about 2500 years ago physics became a distinct branch of science. This is a survey of the history of physics, with the associated astronomy, mathematics, and chemistry, from the beginning of science to the present day. The title, From Clockwork to Crapshoot, refers to the change of approach – from a deterministic view of nature to a probabilistic one. Roger Newton gives brief explanations of the concepts, short biographies of the scientists, and descriptions of the new instruments used to make the discoveries. Chapters cover: the Greek miracle; science in the Middle Ages; the first revolution; Newton’s legacy; statistical physics; probability; the quantum revolution; fields, nuclei and stars; the properties of matter; and the constituents of the Universe. |