Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* In the exclusion principle formulated by the modern physicist Wolfgang Pauli, Heilbron discerns the residual utility of concepts from the ancient Greek physica that first gave a name to the human effort to understand the physical universe. But Heilbron has to look hard to detect even traces of early philosophizing in modern physics. For as readers journey from the ancient Greek academies, where it originated, through the early Islamic libraries, medieval universities, Renaissance courts, and Enlightenment soirees where other minds subsequently nurtured and shaped it, they see this dynamic science become the very different enterprise now practiced by huge teams in university-industrial-governmental conglomerates. The celestial dynamics of Aristotle look laughable to the hardworking researchers now probing deep space and subatomic particles with high-tech equipment and sophisticated mathematics. Once a liberal art, pursued solely for intellectual enlightenment, physics has become a potent tool even a weapon in the rough-and-tumble world of profit-seeking companies and war-waging governments. Some readers (including some physicists) will resist a conclusion where Heilbron declares that the trajectory of physics inescapably locates humankind in a universe lacking both God and meaning. But regardless of their metaphysical convictions, readers will applaud Heilbron for what he tells us concisely, lucidly, insightfully about an epoch-shaping science.--Christensen, Bryce Copyright 2015 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Heilbron (Love, Literature, and the Quantum Atom), professor emeritus of history at the University of California, Berkeley, explores the influence of culture on the development of physics, from ancient Greece to modern research efforts. Greek thinkers invented the earliest "theories of everything," Heilbron writes, but their preference for explaining the world without the intervention of a creator deity was reversed by Islamic scientists, who prioritized astronomy (it helped determine the direction of Mecca) and doubted the spiritual value of physics. Heilbron describes how translations of Greek and Arabic documents allowed Europeans to "domesticate" physics for early universities, and frames the scientific revolution with Galileo's experimentation, Copernicus's heliocentric solar system, and Newton's gravity. Then he wryly cites the invention of the air pump as the basis for the Enlightenment's boom in experimenters and their illuminating public demonstrations. Coupled with advances in math and data measurement, the stage was set for modern physics and its big questions, including the origins of the universe and further theories of everything. Covering topics concisely and briskly, Heilbron's history assumes that readers know a fair amount about physics, and focuses on illuminating the cultural and historical context of the science. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A brief treatment of mankind's comprehension of the physical universe, from ancient Greek cosmologists to modern particle physicists. Heilbron (Emeritus, History/Univ. of California; Galileo, 2010, etc.) writes that modern physics "has given civilization a somber, disturbing, and challenging world picture, many fertile and some terrifying inventions, and notice of responsibility for the outcome of the human story." He credits Aristotle with identifying the guiding principle that has governed scientific inquiry for more than two millennia: the belief "that the natural world runs on law-like principles discoverable by the human mind and immune from interruption or cancellation by meddling gods and demons." The book begins with a discussion of the Greek division of the universe into an earthly, terrestrial realm in which change occurs and an eternal "quintessential" heavenly realm. For them, there is an "absolute dichotomy between the laws of terrestrial and celestial physics." The author quickly touches on the scientific advances of the Arabic world, in the application of mathematics to astronomy and mechanics. From the 12th to the 16th centuries, Greek and Arab scientific writings were translated into Latin and became more available in the West. This inspired a scientific renaissance, with Copernicus, Galileo, and Kepler setting the stage for Newton's comprehensive unification of celestial and terrestrial physics. "As Newton acknowledged," writes Heilbron, "he had not assigned a physical cause to gravitation, but had recourse to a mathematical fiction, an immediate action at a distance." In the 19th century, the synthesis of light and electrodynamics by Faraday and Maxwell provided the basis for the emergence of nuclear physics. The paradoxical interchangeability between waves and particles reintroduced a fundamental dichotomy due to the limitation on the accuracy of efforts to simultaneously measure a particle's position and momentum. The author's brush-stroke treatment of scientific advances over more than 2,000 years is likely to frustrate readers not already acquainted with the material, and he unfortunately provides few fresh insights for those already in the know. The description of three leading scientists in the postwar period as "Jewish cosmopolitan-extravert types" may also raise some eyebrows. A disappointing effort to encapsulate the history of modern physics. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
