A Cultural History of Physics 1st Edition by Károly Simonyi (PDF)

Description

While the physical sciences are a continuously evolving source of technology and of understanding about our world, they have become so specialized and rely on so much prerequisite knowledge that for many people today the divide between the sciences and the humanities seems even greater than it was when C. P. Snow delivered his famous 1959 lecture, “The Two Cultures.” In A Cultural History of Physics, Hungarian scientist and educator Károly Simonyi succeeds in bridging this chasm by describing the experimental methods and theoretical interpretations that created scientific knowledge, from ancient times to the present day, within the cultural environment in which it was formed. Unlike any other work of its kind, Simonyi’s seminal opus explores the interplay of science and the humanities to convey the wonder and excitement of scientific development throughout the ages. These pages contain an abundance of excerpts from original resources, a wide array of clear and straightforward explanations, and an astonishing wealth of insight, revealing the historical progress of science and inviting readers into a dialogue with the great scientific minds that shaped our current understanding of physics. Beautifully illustrated, accurate in its scientific content and broad in its historical and cultural perspective, this book will be a valuable reference for scholars and an inspiration to aspiring scientists and humanists who believe that science is an integral part of our culture.

User’s Reviews

Editorial Reviews: Review The book offers a total history of a discipline … Simonyi … largely succeeds in fostering the public understanding of a science in its broad historical context. … In the middle of the book the reader is treated with a sumptuous set of color plates attempting to give an overview of developments in physics interacting with the cultures of the successive periods. … its richly illustrated chapters and sections can be enjoyed independently, absorbed and savored slowly, by little doses of the magnificent history of our discipline.―Amand A. Lucas, Il Nuovo Saggiatore (bulletin of the Italian Physical Society)Simonyi bridges the gap between science and the humanities by presenting the history of physics in the context of the personalities and the culture in which the discoveries were made. The volume is lavishly illustrated with everything from pictures and drawings to facsimiles of pages from seminal research papers. … This is an extremely valuable reference for history of science and philosophy library collections. Highly recommended.―C.G. Wood, CHOICE, July 2012… lavishly illustrated, beautifully executed, with a tremendous number of quotations and unabashed use of equations. The author ― who unquestionably has an uncommon talent for illustrating and organizing his ideas ― made a tremendous effort to convey his extensive knowledge to potential readers. … My difficulty is of course in being able to adequately relate the worth of the treasure that the book is in a short review. I doubt that even a long review could give the book its due. … There is so much to be found in this book that make using it at all levels, from elementary school to university, interesting, indeed exciting. … I am convinced that those who read the book will enjoy the experience and end up with a cherished possession.―Alex Bogomolny, MAA Reviews, June 2012A Cultural History of Physics takes the reader on an immensely detailed and thoughtful tour. A Cultural History of Physics meticulously explains the specifics of its many examples, and it’s packed cover to cover with charts, graphs, and diagrams illustrating key physics discoveries and how they revolutionized the world. A working knowledge of algebra or basic calculus will aid the reader in fully understanding specific examples, but the broader picture of human history transformed by science is thoroughly accessible to lay readers. Highly recommended, especially for college and public library science shelves.―Library Bookwatch, April 2012 About the Author Károly Simonyi (1916–2001)Károly Simonyi was born the seventh of ten children in a small village in Hungary. His talent for learning was apparent early on, and a prominent relative brought him to Budapest and sponsored his education. Simonyi went on to earn degrees in engineering and law. After the tumultuous years of World War II, Simonyi returned to research, ultimately becoming a professor at the Budapest Technical University, where he was known as an outstanding teacher. He organized the Department of Theoretical Electrical Engineering, taught generations of electrical engineers, and published lectures and textbooks that have been translated into many languages. Despite his accomplishments, the political climate of 1960s Hungary was not a favorable one for Simonyi, and his work at the university was increasingly curtailed until he ultimately lost his teaching position altogether. But even this could not keep Simonyi from his work. Though his profession was science, he had always maintained an interest in the humanities, and in his new circumstances he undertook a great project: to tell the story of the history of physics and the cultural, philosophical, and societal movements that had shaped and been shaped by its development. The book that grew out of this project, published first in Hungarian, then in German, and now in English, has been highly successful and widely read. Charles SimonyiCreation of the English edition of A Cultural History of Physics has been directed by Károly’s son Charles. A successful entrepreneur, Charles emigrated to the United States as a teenager and went on to become a software engineer at Xerox and at Microsoft, where he oversaw the development of what would become some of Microsoft’s most profitable products: Microsoft Word and Microsoft Excel. Charles is a distinguished philanthropist, as well as the Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton.

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

⭐The appearance of this book by Karoly Simonyi is a major publishing event. Originally published in Hungarian in 1978 it has appeared in five Hungarian and three German editions. This first English edition (translated by David Kramer) now appears through the initiative of Alice and Klaus Peters of A K Peters and the author’s son Charles Simonyi who writes an engaging Foreword to the book. This new edition ends with an Epilogue by E.Witten, entitled “Looking ahead in Physics”. Starting with an introductory essay on the history of physics and its relevance to our lives today the book traces the developemnt of physics from antiquity to the present. The beginning of science with focus on Egypt and Mesopotemia is followed by a very detailed account of the classical Hellenistic period, explaining works of the Pythagoreans and Plato, Socrates, Aristoteles and Archimedes. Their work is described in considerable detail through explicit proofs, revealing figures and historical quotations. The next chapter relates how the Hellenistic period was followed by a dormant period in science which stretched into the Renaissance. Then in Chapter 3 the book describes the work of Brahe, Kepler, Galileo, Copernicus, Descartes, Fermat, Huygens, leading to the Newtonian world view. Chapter 4 is entitled “The Completion of Classical Physics” followed by the last chapter “The Physics of the Twentieth Century”. While the text is devoted to the history of physics, it is complemented by very detailed and clear illustrations enabling the reader to acquire real understanding of the arguments. Thus in addition to its historical character, the book can serve as a complement to a textbook. Often the text is suppplied with quotations from original sources giving some insight into the pioneering efforts of the originators. Many magnificent drawings and photographs are included. The book brings out the great subject of Physics and its history in a rich and colorful fashion..The book fills 600 large pages and virtually every page contains clarifying figures, diagrams, illustrations, photographs and historical asides.It is also gratifying that in spite of the vibrant production the price of the book has been kept very reasonable.

⭐IF WE ARE LOOKING FOR A PROFESSIONAL REAL-WORLD REFERENCE BOOK TO DISCOVER AND UNDERSTAND THE WHOLE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE, THIS IS THE VERY BEST CHOICE. THE BOOK, WHICH IS ALSO EXCELLENT FOR TEXTBOOKS, IS UNRIVALED IN ITS PRECISE, ACCENTUATED STYLE, AND IS WELL-DOCUMENTED WITH CULTURAL CONNECTIONS AND EMOTIONS. THIS AUTHENTIC BOOK IS PERFECT FOR ALL AGE, MOREOVER IT CAN BE A STORY BOOK FOR BEGINNERS TOO.THE CULTURAL HISTORY OF PHYSICS BOOK IS A NECESSARY SCIENTIFIC TOOL, A WEAPON FOR ANY SERIOUS RESEARCH WORK. WITH ITS SOLUTIONS, WE CAN ENTERTAIN, READ INTENTIONAL RESEARCH, AND BROWSE ACCIDENTAL DISCOVERY.THE UNIFORMING LANGUAGE OF GEOMETRY ALGEBRA IS SLOWLY RESOLVING THE BABEL BARRIERS BETWEEN THE PARTS OF SCIENTIFIC RESULTS. THIS BOOK UNDERSTANDS AND INTEGRATES THE EXISTING SCIENTIFIC BABEL ASSEMBLY. IT IS NOT AT RISK TO CLAIM THAT THIS SIMONYI BOOK INCLUDES EVERYTHING WHICH CAN BE NEWLY REINTERPRETED BY THE GEOMETRIC ALGEBRA FOLLOWING HESTENES’S WORKS.

⭐This is an outstanding proper history of physics. The text deserves five stars, but the publisher deserves three stars, for the following reasons,…I had passed on buying this book a few times, due to the title including “A cultural History..”; I did not want to read about how various cultures effected the development of physics, but rather physics itself. However, it turns out, there is actually no ‘culture’ mentioned in the book apart from perhaps one sentence. Maybe it was a mistranslation, but they should have left the word “culture” off the title.The book is physically too large (10” X 11”) and therefore cumbersome to handle. I prefer to read a physical book, but yet had to take photo’s and read it on my iPhone/iPad anyway. Also, the layout of the book contains too many unnecessary divisions. For example, three inches of the margin on every page is devoted to quotations, diagrams, bios, etc….. and smaller text is used whenever a more in-depth mathematical presentation of an idea is presented. It would have been better to include all of this sequentially in-line with the main body of text, with the same font. Rendering the book in two volumes would have achieved this and made the book a more manageable size to handle. But these are quibbles to what is otherwise an outstanding work.

⭐One of my favorite books is Bill Bryson’s A Short History of Nearly Everything; a sweeping tour through modern science (and how we “know what we know” – it’s a wonderful book).This volume, by Hungarian physicist Karoly Simonyi (father of Charles Simonyi – who wrote the forward) is an amazingly detailed account of how we have come to understand the natural world. It’s also a beautiful book filled with quotations by scientists and writers as well as wonderful diagrams (and plenty of equations).While not for the faint of heart (though many of the detailed formulas can be skipped in a more casual reading), the book can be consumed in parts – each covering a distinct period of history. One of my favorite diagrams – an interconnected graph of what different scientists and philosophers thought of each other (including what Descartes thought of himself!).If you get the Kindle edition, I recommend reading it on at least an iPad sized screen to get the full benefit of the layout, photos, and typography. This is one book I’m getting in hardcover even though most of my reading is done on the Kindle now-a-days.

⭐This book was recommended to me by a friend who is a theoretical physicist. The book is intimidating in its physical size and weight, but every page is a delight! For anyone with a reasonable grasp of math, and an interest in how our understanding of the world has developed, this is a must read. It is an investment, but well worth the price.

⭐Its coverage is both broad and deep.Simonyi provides a completely new format for presenting science history bringing together the science at a fundamental level (not just “popular science”), the biography and thoughts of the scientist, the context of the science and its relationships with other developments.One of the best books in my library.

⭐No es el libro que te gustaría llevar en la mochila, por su tamaño, pero si uno muy bueno de consulta. Lo compré por que quería saber un poco más sobre el origen de conceptos y experimentos que llevaron al establecimiento de las ecuaciones de la física clásica, sin embrago abarca muchísimo mas que eso, iniciando por las culturas antiguas y culminando con la teoría cuántica.

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