Klaus Hentschel

1 Aim and General Description of the Anthology The purpose of this anthology is to introduce the English speaking public to the wide spectrum of texts authored predominently by physicists portraying the ac tual and perceived role of physics in the Nazi state. Up to now no broad and well balanced documentation of German physics during this time has been available in English, despite the significant role physics has played both politically (e. g. , in weaponry planning) and ideologically (e. g. , in the controversy over the value of theoretical ('Jewish') vs. experimental ('Aryan') physics), and even though prominent figures like the scientist-philosopher and emigre Albert Einstein and the controversial nuclear physicist Werner Heisenberg have become household names. This anthology will attempt to bridge this gap by presenting contempo rary documents and eye-witness accounts by the physicists themselves. Authors were chosen to represent the various political opinions and specialties within the physics community, omitting some of the more readily accessible texts by leading physicists (e. g. , Einstein, Heisenberg, Lenard) in favor of those by less well-known but nonetheless important figures (e. g. , Finkelnburg, Max Wien, Ramsauer). In this way we hope not only to circumvent the constricted 'Great Men' approach to history but also to offer a broader picture of the activities and conflicts within the field and the effects of the political forces exerted upon them.

An Anthology of Primary Sources

Physics and National Socialism

What makes a good scientific image? Is science defined by its pictures? The present book offers a broad comparative survey of the history, generation, use and function of images in scientific practice based on an extensive range of historical sources in the natural sciences, technology and medicine, particularly physics, astronomy, and chemistry.

A Comparative History

Visual Cultures in Science and Technology

The perplexing behaviour of even morally acclaimed German physicists toward the Allied occupiers after WWII is examined. Their public and private statements are examined and may shed light on the prickly issue of the proper comportment of victor nations.

The Mentality of German Physicists 1945-1949

The Mental Aftermath

Focusing on the "Einstein Tower," an architecturally historic observatory built in Potsdam in 1920, this book investigates German scientific life by blending biography, architectural history, scientific theory and research, and scientific politics.

An Intertexture of Dynamic Construction, Relativity Theory, and Astronomy

The Einstein Tower

Head of Section for the History of Science & Technology Klaus Hentschel

This book describes how advances in recording and printing technologies have influenced the research and teaching style of succeeding generations of physicists, chemists, and astronomers, particularly from the boom of spectrum analysis in the 1860s until the advent of quantum mechanics. Seemingly disparate strands such as spectrochemistry and cartography, instrument-design and science education are woven into the rich tapestry of one of the most fascinating andinfluential research-technologies of the late 19th and early 20th century.

Techniques of Visual Representation in Research and Teaching

Mapping the Spectrum

This book focuses on the gradual formation of the concept of ‘light quanta’ or ‘photons’, as they have usually been called in English since 1926. The great number of synonyms that have been used by physicists to denote this concept indicates that there are many different mental models of what ‘light quanta’ are: simply finite, ‘quantized packages of energy’ or ‘bullets of light’? ‘Atoms of light’ or ‘molecules of light’? ‘Light corpuscles’ or ‘quantized waves’? Singularities of the field or spatially extended structures able to interfere? ‘Photons’ in G.N. Lewis’s sense, or as defined by QED, i.e. virtual exchange particles transmitting the electromagnetic force? The term ‘light quantum’ made its first appearance in Albert Einstein’s 1905 paper on a “heuristic point of view” to cope with the photoelectric effect and other forms of interaction of light and matter, but the mental model associated with it has a rich history both before and after 1905. Some of its semantic layers go as far back as Newton and Kepler, some are only fully expressed several decades later, while others initially increased in importance then diminished and finally vanished. In conjunction with these various terms, several mental models of light quanta were developed—six of them are explored more closely in this book. It discusses two historiographic approaches to the problem of concept formation: (a) the author’s own model of conceptual development as a series of semantic accretions and (b) Mark Turner’s model of ‘conceptual blending’. Both of these models are shown to be useful and should be explored further. This is the first historiographically sophisticated history of the fully fledged concept and all of its twelve semantic layers. It systematically combines the history of science with the history of terms and a philosophically inspired history of ideas in conjunction with insights from cognitive science.

The History and Mental Models of Light Quanta

Photons

Friedel Weinert

Daniel Greenberger

With contributions by leading quantum physicists, philosophers and historians, this comprehensive A-to-Z of quantum physics provides a lucid understanding of key concepts of quantum theory and experiment. It covers technical and interpretational aspects alike, and includes both traditional and new concepts, making it an indispensable resource for concise, up-to-date information about the many facets of quantum physics.

Klaus Hentschel

About

Books

Join the club