Author:
Longair, Malcolm S., 1941- author.
Edition Statement:Third edition.
ImprintCambridge, United Kingdom ; New York, NY : Cambridge University Press, 2020.
Imprint2020
Descriptionxvi, 621 pages : illustrations ; 26 cm
Note:Introduction -- From Ptolemy to Kepler: the Copernican revolution -- Galileo and the nature of the physical sciences -- Newton and the law of gravity -- The origin of Maxwell's equations -- Maxwell (1865): A dynamical theory of the electromagnetic field -- How to rewrite the history of electromagnetism -- Approaches to mechanics and dynamics -- The motion of fluids -- Dimensional analysis, chaos and self-organised criticality -- Basic thermodynamics -- Kinetic theory and the origin of statistical mechanics -- Black-body radiation up to 1895 -- 1895-1900: Planck and the spectrum of black-body radiation -- Planck's theory of black-body radiation -- Einstein and the quantisation of light -- The triumph of the light quantum hypothesis -- Special relativity: a study in invariance -- An introduction to general relativity -- Cosmology -- Dark matter, dark energy and the inflationary paradigm.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references and indexes.
Note:"In this original and integrated approach to theoretical reasoning in physics, Malcolm Longair illuminates the subject from the perspective of real physics as practised by research scientists. Concentrating on the basic insights, attitudes and techniques that are the tools of the modern physicist, this approach conveys the intellectual excitement and beauty of the subject."-- Provided by publisher.
Note:Recommended in Resources for College Libraries.
