Skip to Main Content

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Physics

Online ISBN:
9780191859281
Print ISBN:
9780199696253
Publisher:
Oxford University Press
Book

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Physics

Jed Z. Buchwald (ed.),
Jed Z. Buchwald
(ed.)
History, California Institute of Technology
Find on

Doris and Henry Dreyfuss Professor of History, California Institute of Technology

Robert Fox (ed.)
Robert Fox
(ed.)
History of Science, University of Oxford
Find on

Emeritus Professor of the History of Science, University of Oxford

Published online:
6 July 2017
Published in print:
1 October 2013
Online ISBN:
9780191859281
Print ISBN:
9780199696253
Publisher:
Oxford University Press

Abstract

This Handbook traces the history of physics, bringing together chapters on major advances in the field from the seventeenth century to the present day. It is organized into four sections, following a broadly chronological structure. Part I explores the place of reason, mathematics, and experiment in the age of what we know as the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. The contributions of Galileo, René Descartes, and Isaac Newton are central to this section, as is the multiplicity of paths to the common goal of understanding. Some of these paths reflected the turn to Thomas Kuhn’s category of ‘Baconian’ sciences — newer, more empirical investigations focused on heat, electricity, magnetism, optics, and chemistry. Part II looks at the ‘long’ eighteenth century — a period that covers developments relating to the physics of imponderable fluids, mechanics, electricity, and magnetism. Part III is broadly concerned with the nineteenth century and covers topics ranging from optics and thermal physics to thermodynamics, electromagnetism and field physics, electrodynamics, the evolution of the instrument-making industry between 1850 and 1930, and the applications of physics in medicine and metrology. Part IV takes us into the age of ‘modern physics’ and considers canonical landmarks such as the discovery of the photoelectric effect in 1887, Max Planck’s work on the quanta of radiation, Albert Einstein’s special theory of relativity of 1905, and the elaboration of the various facets of quantum physics between 1900 and 1930.

Contents
Close
This Feature Is Available To Subscribers Only

Sign In or Create an Account

Close

This PDF is available to Subscribers Only

View Article Abstract & Purchase Options

For full access to this pdf, sign in to an existing account, or purchase an annual subscription.

Close