From X-rays to Quarks

A Nobel Laureate offers impressions and recollections of the development of modern physics. Rather than a chronological approach, Segrè emphasizes interesting, complex personalities who often appear only in footnotes. Readers will find that this book adds considerably to their understanding of science and includes compelling topics of current interest. 1980 edition.IntroductionH. Becquerel, the Curies, and the discovery of radioactivityRutherford in the new world : the transmutation of elementsPlanck, unwilling revolutionary : the idea of quantizationEinstein, new ways of thinking : space, time, relativity, and quantaSir Ernest and Lord Rutherford of NelsonBohr and atomic modelsA true quantum mechanics at lastThe wonder year 1932 : neutron, positron, deuterium, and other discoveriesEnrico Fermi and nuclear energyE.O. Lawrence and particle acceleratorsBeyond the nucleusNew branches from the old stumpConclusionsAppendix 1. Stefan's law, Wien's lawAppendix 2. Planck's hunt for the blackbody radiation formulaAppendix 3. Einstein's heuristic argument for postulating the existence of light quantaAppendix 4. Brownian motionAppendix 5. Blackbody energy fluctuations according to EinsteinAppendix 6. Specific heat of solids according to EinsteinAppendix 7. A and B of EinsteinAppendix 8. J.J. Thomson's parabola method for finding e/m of ionsAppendix 9. Bohr's hydrogen atomAppendix 10. Quantum mechanics in a nutshell.