The Second Creation: Makers of the Revolution in Twentieth-Century Physics by Robert P Crease (PDF)

Description

The Second Creation is a dramatic–and human–chronicle of scientific investigators at the last frontier of knowledge. Robert Crease and Charles Mann take the reader on a fascinating journey in search of “unification” (a description of how matter behaves that can apply equally to everything) with brilliant scientists such as Niels Bohr, Max Planck, Albert Einstein, Erwin Schrödinger, Richard Feynman, Murray Gell-Mann, Sheldon Glashow, Steven Weinberg, and many others. They provide the definitive and highly entertaining story of the development of modern physics, and the human story of the physicists who set out to find the “theory of everything.” The Second Creation tells the story of some of the most talented and idiosyncratic people in the world–many times in their own words. Crease and Mann conducted hundreds of interviews to capture the thinking and the personalities as well as the science. The authors make this complex subject matter clear and absorbing.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: From The New Yorker “Gives a real feeling of the intense work that goes into major scientific discoveries and of the people…” Review “A journalistic narrative of the scientific quest for a unified field theory of physics…” — Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR booknews.com”An absolutely marvelous book. No one who cares about science should miss reading it.” — Timothy Ferris, author of Coming of Age in the Milky Way and The Mind’s Sky”One of the top 15 books of the year.” — Publishers Weekly”Without qualification, this is the best account of the phenomenal story of physics in the twentieth century.” — Dick Teresi, co-author, The God Particle, and winner of the 1994 American Institute of Physics Science Writing Prize From the Back Cover Now back in print, The Second Creation is the intimate story of the decades-long scientific quest for “unification”, a theory that draws together all matter and energy, from the hottest supernovas to the whirring fragments of the atom. Based on scores of in-depth interviews with such brilliant scientists as Max Planck, Erwin Schrodinger, Richard Feynman, Murray Gell-Mann, Sheldon Glashow, and Steven Weinberg, Robert Crease and Charles Mann vividly portray the tense, exciting world of investigators at the last frontier of knowledge. In telling the richly human story of the two generations of scientists who set out to find the “theory of everything”, the authors recount a sweeping saga that moves from the early days of Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr arguing in a Copenhagen park to the vast, mile-long atom smashers of today. The Second Creation is a definitive group portrait of twentieth-century physics. About the Author Charles C. Mann is a contributing editor of The Atlantic Monthly and Science magazine. Read more

Reviews from Amazon users which were colected at the time this book was published on the website:

⭐It has some stains, otherwise it is in good condition

⭐Exactly as presented

⭐I read this book many years ago, when the first edition came out, in paperback. It left an indelible impression on my mind that stayed with me for many years, so much so that I went ahead and bought the Kindle edition as well recently.If there is only one book that you are able to read on the subject of the History and Evolution of quantum theory then this should be that book.It is engagingly and excitingly written, fast-pased, great subject coverage, at the same time evocative with memorable descriptions of seminal events, and all with a tremendous journalistic eye for detail.It is never technical, at the same time it covers a vast period of time (most of the twentieth century) leaving the reader dazzled and breathless while at the same time being educative and instructive as well.All of the famous names, locations, incidents etc are all present – Planck to Feynman to John Bell, Solvay conferences, Einstein’s famous struggles with Quantum theory, all the controversies, events, philosophies, nobel laureates – nothing is left out.You can’t go wrong with this book – run to get it !

⭐Best history of the standard model. Though not up to date on the LHC discovery of the Higgs boson.

⭐There is no rating here that fits my reaction. I bought this book as a gift to someone else so cannot really comment reliable on it.

⭐This book is a classic. And the fact that I bought the 1986 edition makes no difference. This should be in every educated adult’s library of twentieth century science books.

⭐“Although it is a history of science in this century (1986), “The Second Creation” is tale of people, not protons — the small community of gifted individuals whose work has answered all the easy questions, such as why is the sky blue and what is inside the nucleus of the atom.’’I have read and reread this work. With no scientific background, got a basic grasp of modern physics. And the drama of modern physicists.Great!Insightful connection between modern science and culture . . .“One of the dreams which humanity refuses to let die is that some new breakthrough — usually from the realm of philosophy, Art, or political revolution — will one day permanently and unalterably change humanity for the better. For‘Physics saves humanity’? Why?“The collapse of the commonly understood law of cause and effect, Bridgeman correctly predicted, would at first ‘let loose a veritable intellectual spree licentious and debauched thinking’; to fix this, new methods of education would have to be introduced.’’‘Spree of debauched Intellectual thinking’! Well . . . too bad Bridgeman not alive see how right he was!What end does he anticipate?“When man has fully partaken of the fruit of the tree of knowledge, there will be this difference between the first eden and the last, that man will not become as a god, but remain forever humble.’’Wha . . . wha . . . what? ‘Forever humble’! (shows that physicists should avoid prophecy)One fascinating highlight is the interplay of theory and experiment. For instance . . .“‘They really had discovered a shift in the energy level,’ Bethe told us. ‘But I was to stupid to recognize it. Their initial explanation was even the correct explanation, but there was no theory at the time which predicted a shift of the level, so I was looking for other reasons.’’’This inability to accept observations unless allowed by current theory (I see it – I don’t believe it) and the tremendous errors therefrom — is astounding (funny) theme. Loved it!Another wonderful portrait is Emmy Noether . . .“She looked for the ideas that lay at the heart of entire disciplines, and strove to discover the conceptual bedrock upon which real mathematics could be based. Because of the abstraction and generality which Noether worked, she became widely respected among her colleagues — which did not save her from ejection by the Nazis.’’She was both female and Jewish. Her work and life so special, Herman Weyl, said at her funeral . . .“She was not clay, pressed by the artistic hands of God into a harmonious form, but rather a chunk of human primary rock into which he had blown his creative breath of life.’’What a tribute!I Waves and Particles1 beginnings and ends2 The man who talked3 A children’s crusade4 Uncertainty’s triumphII Particles and Fields5 The man who listened6 Infinity7 The shift8 Killing the hydra (part 1)Strange interlude9 From deepest spaceIII The weak force10 Symmetry11 Weakness12 Steps to unification13 Broken symmetryIV The Strong Force14 The eightfold way15 The king and his quarksV The great synthesis16 Killing the hydra17 Neutral Currents/Alternating currents18 Charm and parityVI Unification19 The beginning of time20 The end of PhysicsAnother finely drawn portrait is Rabi . . .“With science I felt I could grab on to actual things and try to understand them. And then they turn out to be so extraordinarily ‘mysterious’! Newton’s law of motion, the laws of the electromagnetic fields, relativity — their so far removed from experience, but there it is.’’Why this science so . . . so . . . significant?“It gives you an approach to the human race, apart from these inherited things of nationality and what not, which you can’t take very seriously. That’s what science was for me a citadel.’’This religious . . . sacred . . . worshipful take on science has molded modern thought. This book provides insight into the discoveries (revelations) and scientists (priests) that introduces the new reformation.Well done!Four page glossaryDetailed indexAbout eight-hundred notes.No photographs

⭐I read this book borrowed from archive.org. Read thru 10 days for a bit over 400 pages of the history of recent atom physics, it almost feel like reading a suspense novel, always got me to pick up again, even though somewhere along the reading the contents became a little dry. I especially liked the earlier chapters and the one when Samuel Ting found the psion.Two authors also presented the unusual classic writing skills which unfortunately I don’t see it right now at most of popular books. This is the book written in 1984, I had never heard of this book until recently I read THE DILEMMA OF ATTRIBUTION by David Politzer (his Nobel Lecture). He mentioned a few books. This is one of them, the other one is:https://www.amazon.com/Constructing-Quarks-Sociological-History-Particle/dp/0226667995/ref=pd_rhf_gw_p_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=SEEQSEMRPWXKFYS1CX8REnjoy the book and pass along to your kids.

⭐Extremely useful and well written book, although published longtime ago. I was reading it as a novel.Delivery as expected, the book was in perfect condition.

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