The physical world : an inspirational tour of fundamental physics / Nicholas Manton, Professor at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Nicholas Mee, Trinity College, Cambridge.
2017
QC21.3 .M36 2017 (Mapit)
Available at General Collection
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Details
Title
The physical world : an inspirational tour of fundamental physics / Nicholas Manton, Professor at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, University of Cambridge, Nicholas Mee, Trinity College, Cambridge.
Edition
First edition.
ISBN
9780198796114 (paperback)
0198796110 (paperback)
9780198795933 (hardcover)
0198795939 (hardcover)
0198796110 (paperback)
9780198795933 (hardcover)
0198795939 (hardcover)
Published
Oxford, United Kingdom : Oxford University Press, 2017.
Language
English
Description
xiii, 556 pages : illustrations (some color), maps (some color) ; 25 cm
Call Number
QC21.3 .M36 2017
Dewey Decimal Classification
530
Summary
The book offers a grand vision of the essential unity of physics that will enable the reader to see the world through the eyes of a physicist and understand their thinking. The text follows Einstein's dictum that 'explanations should be made as simple as possible, but no simpler', to give an honest account of how modern physicists understand their subject, including the shortcomings of current theory. The result is an up-to-date and engaging portrait of physics that contains concise derivations of the important results in a style where every step in a derivation is clearly explained, so that anyone with the appropriate mathematical skills will find the text easy to digest. The book concentrates on the conceptual principles of each branch of physics and shows how they fit together to form a coherent whole. Emphasis is placed on the use of variational principles in physics, and in particular the principle of least action, an approach that lies at the heart of modern theoretical physics, but has been neglected in most introductory accounts of the subject.-- Source other than the Library of Congress.
Note
"It is over half a century since The Feynman lectures on physics were published. A new authoritative account of fundamental physics covering all branches of the subject is now well overdue. The physical world has been written to satisfy this need."--Page 4 of cover.
Bibliography, etc. Note
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Added Author
Mee, Nicholas, author.
Record Appears in
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Fundamental ideas
Motions of bodies : Newton's laws
Fields : Maxwell's equations
Special relativity
Curved space
General relativity
Quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics in three dimensions
Atoms, molecules and solids
Thermodynamics
Nuclear physics
Particle physics
Stars
Cosmology
Frontiers of physics.
Fundamental ideas
Motions of bodies : Newton's laws
Fields : Maxwell's equations
Special relativity
Curved space
General relativity
Quantum mechanics
Quantum mechanics in three dimensions
Atoms, molecules and solids
Thermodynamics
Nuclear physics
Particle physics
Stars
Cosmology
Frontiers of physics.