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Newsgroup FAQ's: news.answers/physics-faq/part1
columbus@osf.org
Open Software Foundation
This posting contains a list of Frequently Asked Questions (and their answers) about physics, and should be read by anyone who wishes to post to the sci.physics.* newsgroups.
Posted-By: auto-faq 3.1.1.2
Archive-name: physics-faq/part1
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ON SCI.PHYSICS - Part 1/4
This Frequently Asked Questions List is posted monthly to the
USENET newsgroups sci.physics, sci.physics.cond-matter,
sci.physics.research, sci.physics.particle, and
alt.sci.physics.new-theories in an attempt to provide good answers to
frequently asked questions and other reference material which is worth
preserving. If you have corrections or answers to other frequently
asked questions that you would like included in this posting, send
E-mail to columbus@osf.org (Michael Weiss). The originator and
original maintainer of this FAQ was Scott I. Chase.
This document, as a collection, is Copyright (c) 1994 by Scott
I. Chase. The individual articles are Copyright (c) 1994/5 by the
individual authors listed. All rights are reserved. Permission to
use, copy and distribute this unmodified document by any means and for
any purpose EXCEPT PROFIT PURPOSES is hereby granted, provided that
both the above Copyright notice and this permission notice appear in
all copies of the FAQ itself. Reproducing this FAQ by any means,
included, but not limited to, printing, copying existing prints,
publishing by electronic or other means, implies full agreement to the
above non-profit-use clause, unless upon explicit prior written
permission of the authors.
This FAQ is provided by the authors "as is," with all its faults.
Any express or implied warranties, including, but not limited to, any
implied warranties of merchantability, accuracy, or fitness for any
particular purpose, are disclaimed. If you use the information in this
document, in any way, you do so at your own risk.
This document is probably out of date if you are reading it
more than 30 days after the date which appears in the header. You can
get it by FTP from rtfm.mit.edu or one of its mirror sites:
North America: ftp.uu.net /usenet/news.answers
mirrors.aol.com /pub/rtfm/usenet
ftp.seas.gwu.edu /pub/rtfm
rtfm.mit.edu /pub/usenet/news.answers
Europe: ftp.uni-paderborn.de /pub/FAQ
ftp.Germany.EU.net /pub/newsarchive/news.answers
ftp.sunet.se /pub/usenet
Asia: nctuccca.edu.tw /USENET/FAQ
hwarang.postech.ac.kr /pub/usenet/news.answers
ftp.hk.super.net /mirror/faqs
Look for the files
physics-faq/part1
physics-faq/part2
physics-faq/part3
physics-faq/part4
If you are a new reader of the Physics newsgroups, please read
item #1, below. If you do not wish to read the FAQ at all, add
"Frequently Asked Questions" to your .KILL file.
A listing of new items can be found above the subject index,
so that you can quickly identify new subjects of interest. To locate
old items which have been updated since the last posting, look for the
stars (*) in the subject index, which indicate new material (other
than minor corrections).
Items which have been submitted by a single individual are
attributed to the original author. All other contributors have been thanked
privately.
New Item: #25. Can You See the Lorentz Contraction?
Index of Subjects
FAQ 1/4 - Administriva and Reference
1. An Introduction to the Physics Newsgroups on USENET
2. The Care and Feeding of Kill Files
3. Accessing and Using Online Physics Resources
4. A Physics Booklist - Recommendations from the Net
5. The Nobel Prize for Physics
FAQ 2/4 - Cosmology and Astrophysics
6. Gravitational Radiation
7. Is Energy Conserved in General Relativity?
8. Olbers' Paradox
9. What is Dark Matter?
10. Some Frequently Asked Questions About Black Holes
11. The Solar Neutrino Problem
12. The Expanding Universe
FAQ 3/4 - General Physics
13. Apparent Superluminal Velocity of Galaxies
14. Hot Water Freezes Faster than Cold!
15. Why are Golf Balls Dimpled?
16. How to Change Nuclear Decay Rates
17. What is a Dippy Bird, and how is it used?
18. Below Absolute Zero - What Does Negative Temperature Mean?
19. Which Way Will my Bathtub Drain?
20. Why do Mirrors Reverse Left and Right?
21. Why Do Stars Twinkle While Planets Do Not?
22. Time Travel - Fact or Fiction?
23. Open Questions
FAQ 4/4 - Particles, Special Relativity and Quantum Mechanics
24. Special Relativistic Paradoxes and Puzzles
(a) The Barn and the Pole
(b) The Twin Paradox
(c) The Superluminal Scissors
*25. Can You See the Lorentz-Fitzgerald Contraction?
26. Tachyons
27. The Particle Zoo
28. Does Antimatter Fall Up or Down?
29. What is the Mass of a Photon?
30. Baryogenesis - Why Are There More Protons Than Antiprotons?
31. The EPR Paradox and Bell's Inequality Principle
32. Some Frequently Asked Questions About Virtual Particles
Item 1. updated 10-APR-1994 by SIC
original by Scott I. Chase
An Introduction to the Physics Newsgroups on USENET
The USENET hierarchy contains a number of newsgroups dedicated
to the discussion of physics and physics-related topics. These
include sci.physics, sci.physics.research, sci.physics.cond-matter,
sci.physics.particle and alt.sci.physics.new-theories, to all of which
this general physics FAQ is cross-posted. Some of the more narrowly
focussed physics newsgroups have their own FAQs, which can, of course,
be found in the appropriate newsgroups.
Sci.Physics is an unmoderated newsgroup dedicated to the
discussion of physics, news from the physics community, and
physics-related social issues. Sci.Physics.Research is a moderated
newgroup designed to offer an environment with less traffic and more
opportunity for discussion of serious topics in physics among experts
and beginners alike. The current moderators of sci.physics.research
are John Baez (baez@math.ucr.edu), William Johnson
(mwj@beta.lanl.gov), Cameron Randale (Dale) Bass
(crb7q@kelvin.seas.Virginia.edu), and Lee Sawyer
(sawyer@utahep.uta.edu). Sci.physics.cond-matter is an unmoderated
newsgroup dedicated to the discussion of the physics of condensed
matter. Sci.physics.particle is an unmoderated newsgroup dedicated to
the discussion of all aspects of particle physics by people with all
levels of expertise. Alt.sci.physics.new-theories is an open forum
for discussion of any topics related to conventional or unconventional
physics. In this context, "unconventional physics" includes any ideas
on physical science, whether or not they are widely accepted by the
mainstream physics community.
People from a wide variety of non-physics backgrounds, as well
as students and experts in all areas of physics participate in the ongoing
discussions on these newsgroups. Professors, industrial scientists,
graduate students, etc., are all on hand to bring physics expertise to
bear on almost any question. But the only requirement for participation
is interest in physics, so feel free to post -- but before you do, please
do the following:
(1) Read this posting, a.k.a., the FAQ. It contains good answers,
contributed by the readership, to some of the most frequently asked
questions.
(2) Understand "netiquette." If you are not sure what this means,
subscribe to news.announce.newusers and read the excellent discussion of
proper net behavior that is posted there periodically.
(3) Be aware that there is another newsgroup dedicated to the discussion of
"alternative" physics. It is alt.sci.physics.new-theories, and is the
appropriate forum for discussion of physics ideas which are not widely
accepted by the physics community. Sci.Physics is not the group for such
discussions. A quick look at articles posted to both groups will make the
distinction apparent.
(4) Read the responses already posted in the thread to which you want to
contribute. If a good answer is already posted, or the point you wanted
to make has already been made, let it be. Old questions have probably been
thoroughly discussed by the time you get there -- save bandwidth by posting
only new information. Post to as narrow a geographic region as is
appropriate. If your comments are directed at only one person, try E-mail.
(5) Get the facts right! Opinions may differ, but facts should not. It is
very tempting for new participants to jump in with quick answers to physics
questions posed to the group. But it is very easy to end up feeling silly
when people barrage you with corrections. So before you give us all a
physics lesson you'll regret -- look it up.
(6) Don't post textbook problems in the hope that someone will do your
homework for you. Do your own homework; it's good for you. On the other
hand, questions, even about elementary physics, are always welcome. So
if you want to discuss the physics which is relevent to your homework,
feel free to do so. Be warned that you may still have plenty of
work to do, trying to figure out which of the many answers you get are
correct.
(7) Be prepared for heated discussion. People have strong opinions about
the issues, and discussions can get a little "loud" at times. Don't take it
personally if someone seems to always jump all over everything you say.
Everyone was jumping all over everybody long before you got there! You
can keep the discussion at a low boil by trying to stick to the facts.
Clearly separate facts from opinion -- don't let people think you are
confusing your opinions with scientific truth. And keep the focus of
discussion on the ideas, not the people who post them.
(8) Tolerate everyone. People of many different points of view, and widely
varying educational backgrounds from around the world participate in this
newsgroup. Respect for others will be returned in kind. Personal
criticism is usually not welcome.
Item 2.
The Care and Feeding of Kill Files updated 28-SEP-1993 by SIC
original by Scott I. Chase
With most newsreaders, it is possible for you to selectively ignore
articles with certain title words, or by a certain author. This feature is
implemented as a "kill file," which contains instructions to your
newsreader about how to filter out unwanted articles. The exact details on
how to specify articles you want to ignore varies from program to program,
so you should check the documentation for your particular newsreader. Some
examples are given below for a few common newsreaders. If your newsreader
does not support kill files, you may want to consider upgrading to one that
does. Some of the more popular newsreaders that support kill files are rn,
trn, nn, xrn, gnews, and gnus.
Let's say that you wish to `kill' all posts made by a certain user.
Using the `rn' or `trn' newsreader, you would type a [CTRL]-K while in read
mode to begin editing the kill file, and then type the following:
/From: username@sitename.com/h:j
This will look for articles that come with "From: username@sitename.com" in
the header, junk them, and then display the subject lines of titles that
just got zapped.
To kill articles by Subject titles, you would type something like this:
/: *The Big Bang Never Happened/:j
/: *Space Potatoes Have Inertia/:j
When finished, save the kill file in the normal manner for the editor
you're using.
In trn 3.0 and higher you can use the faster command
/username@sitename\.com/f:j
to kill all of username's postings. In trn change the 'j' to ',' to kill
all the replies as well. Note the '\' to escape the '.'. This is needed in
any search string in a kill file (although they usually work if you
forget). Also in [t]rn you can simply hit K to automatically killfile the
current subject without directly editing the file.
For the `nn' newsreader, type a capital K when viewing the contents
of a newsgroup. nn will then ask you a few questions on whether it is a
Subject or a Name, duration of time that the posts are to be killed, etc.
Simply answer the questions accordingly.
There's a lot more to it, of course, when you become proficient.
You can kill all articles cross-posted to specific groups, for example, or
kill any article with a particular name or phrase appearing anywhere in the
header. A good primer is in the "rn KILL file FAQ" which appears
periodically in news.answers. You should also check the man pages for your
particular newsreader.
Item 3. slightly updated 1-AUG-1995 by MW
updated 5-DEC-1994 by SIC
original by Scott I. Chase
Accessing and Using Online Physics Resources
(I) Physical Constants
These are available on the Web, at URL
http://physics.nist.gov/PhysRefData/codata86/codata86.html
(II) Particle Physics Databases
The Full Listings of the Review of Particle Properties (RPP), as
well as other particle physics databases, are accessible on-line. Here is
a summary of the major ones, as described in the RPP:
(A) SLAC Databases
PARTICLES - Full listings of the RPP
HEP - Guide to particle physics preprints, journal articles, reports,
theses, conference papers, etc.
CONF - Listing of past and future conferences in particle physics
HEPNAMES - E-mail addresses of many HEP people
INST - Addresses of HEP institutions
DATAGUIDE - Adjunct to HEP, indexes papers
REACTIONS - Numerical data on reactions (cross-sections, polarizations, etc)
EXPERIMENTS - Guide to current and past experiments
Anyone with a SLAC account can access these databases. Alternately, most
of us can access them via QSPIRES. You can access QSPIRES via BITNET with
the 'send' command ('tell','bsend', or other system-specific command) or by
using E-mail. For example, send QSPIRES@SLACVM FIND TITLE Z0 will get you
a search of HEP for all papers which reference the Z0 in the title. By
E-mail, you would send the one line message "FIND TITLE Z0" with a blank
subject line to QSPIRES@SLACVM.BITNET or QSPIRES@VM.SLAC.STANFORD.EDU.
QSPIRES is free. Help can be obtained by mailing "HELP" to QSPIRES.
For more detailed information, see the RPP, p.I.12, or contact: Louise
Addis (ADDIS@SLACVM.BITNET) or Harvey Galic (GALIC@SLACVM.BITNET).
(B) CERN Databases on ALICE
LIB - Library catalogue of books, preprints, reports, etc.
PREP - Subset of LIB containing preprints, CERN publications, and
conference papers.
CONF - Subset of LIB containing upcoming and past conferences since 1986
DIR - Directory of Research Institutes in HEP, with addresses, fax,
telex, e-mail addresses, and info on research programs
ALICE can be accessed via DECNET or INTERNET. It runs on the CERN library's
VXLIB, alias ALICE.CERN.CH (IP# 128.141.201.44). Use Username ALICE (no
password required.) Remote users with no access to the CERN Ethernet can
use QALICE, similar to QSPIRES. Send E-mail to QALICE@VXLIB.CERN.CH, put
the query in the subject field and leave the message field blank. For
more information, send the subject "HELP" to QALICE or contact CERN
Scientific Information Service, CERN, CH-1211 Geneva 23, Switzerland,
or E-mail MALICE@VXLIB.CERN.CH.
Regular weekly or monthly searches of the CERN databases can be arranged
according to a personal search profile. Contact David Dallman, CERN SIS
(address above) or E-mail CALLMAN@CERNVM.CERN.CH.
DIR is available in Filemaker PRO format for Macintosh. Contact Wolfgang
Simon (ISI@CERNVM.CERN.CH).
(C) Particle Data Group Online Service
The Particle Data Group is maintaining a new user-friendly computer
database of the Full Listings from the Review of Particle Properties. Users
may query by paper, particle, mass range, quantum numbers, or detector and
can select specific properties or classes of properties like masses or
decay parameters. All other relevant information (e.g. footnotes and
references) is included. Complete instructions are available online.
The last complete update of the RPP database was a copy of the Full
Listings from the Review of Particle Properties which was published as
Physical Review D45, Part 2 (1 June 1992). A subsequent update made on 27
April 1993 was complete for unstable mesons, less complete for the W, Z, D
mesons, and stable baryons, and otherwise was unchanged from the 1992
version.
DECNET access: SET HOST MUSE or SET HOST 42062
TCP/IP access: TELNET MUSE.LBL.GOV or TELNET 131.243.48.11
Login to: PDG_PUBLIC with password HEPDATA.
Contact: Gary S. Wagman, (510)486-6610. Email: (GSWagman@LBL.GOV).
(D) Other Databases
Durham-RAL and Serpukhov both maintain large databases containing Particle
Properties, reaction data, experiments, E-mail ID's, cross-section
compilations (CS), etc. Except for the Serpukhov CS, these databases
overlap SPIRES at SLAC considerably, though they are not the same and may
be more up-to-date. For details, see the RPP, p.I.14, or contact:
For Durham-RAL, Mike Whalley (MRW@UKACRL.BITNET,MRW@CERNVM.BITNET) or
Dick Roberts (RGR@UKACRL.BITNET). For Serpukhov, contact Sergey Alekhin
(ALEKHIN@M9.IHEP.SU) or Vladimir Exhela (EZHELA@M9.IHEP.SU).
(III) Online Preprint Sources
There are a number of online sources of preprints:
alg-geom@publications.math.duke.edu (algebraic geometry)
astro-ph@babbage.sissa.it (astrophysics)
cond-mat@babbage.sissa.it (condensed matter)
funct-an@babbage.sissa.it (functional analysis)
e-mail@babbage.sissa.it (e-mail address database)
hep-lat@ftp.scri.fsu.edu (computational and lattice physics)
hep-ph@xxx.lanl.gov (high energy physics phenomenological)
hep-th@xxx.lanl.gov (high energy physics theoretical)
hep-ex@xxx.lanl.gov (high energy physics experimental)
lc-om@alcom-p.cwru.edu (liquid crystals, optical materials)
gr-qc@xxx.lanl.gov (general relativity, quantum cosmology)
nucl-th@xxx.lanl.gov, (nuclear physics theory)
nlin-sys@xyz.lanl.gov (nonlinear science)
Note that babbage.sissa.it also mirrors hep-ph, hep-th and gr-qc.
To get things if you know the preprint number, send a message to
the appropriate address with subject header "get (preprint number)" and
no message body. If you *don't* know the preprint number, or want to get
preprints regularly, or want other information, send a message with
subject header "help" and no message body.
On the Web, some of these preprint archive databases are accessible at
url http://xxx.lanl.gov/.
The following GOPHER servers which are concerned with physics are currently
running on the Internet. They mainly provide a full-text indexed archive
to the preprint mailing lists:
xyz.lanl.gov, port 70 (LANL Nonlinear Sciences)
mentor.lanl.gov,70 ('traditional' preprint lists)
babbage.sissa.it,70 ('traditional' preprint lists)
physinfo.uni-augsburg.de,70 (all lists, but only abstracts)
(IV) Mailing Lists
In addition to the preprint services already described, there are
several mailing lists that allow one to regularly receive material via
email. To get a long list of many of them, send mail to
LISTSERV@LISTSERV.NET with the following command in the text (not the
subject) of your message:
LISTS global
To subscribe, send mail to LISTSERV@LISTSERV.NET with the following
command in the text (not the subject) of your message:
SUBSCRIBE <listname> <your-first-name> <your-last-name>
where <listname> is the name of the list. Example:
SUBSCRIBE PHYSICS Isaac Newton
Here are a few of the physics-related lists:
ACC-PHYS Preprint server for Accelerator Physics
ALPHA-L L3 Alpha physics block analysis diagram group
ASTRO-PH Preprint server for Astrophysics
FUSION Redistribution of sci.physics.fusion
OPTICS-L Optics Newsletter
PHYS-L Forum for Physics Teachers
PHYS-STU Physics Student Discussion List
PHYSHARE Sharing resources for high school physics
PHYSIC-L Physics List
PHYSICS Physics Discussion
POLYMER Polymer-related discussions and announcements
POLYMERP Polymer Physics discussions
SPACE sci.space.tech Digest
SUP-COND SuperConductivity List
WKSPHYS Workshop Physics List
The AIP runs several mailing lists. The server is "listserv@aip.org".
Leave the subject line blank, and send text of "help" and "longindex"
on separate lines for a general help file and description of the
mailing lists. Three mailing lists are
physnews a digest of physics news items arising from physics
meetings, physics journals, newspapers and magazines,
and other news sources. Physics News Update appears
approximately once a week.
pen summarizes information on resources, national
initiatives, outreach programs, grants, professional
development opportunities, and publications related to
physics and science education. It is issued twice a
month.
fyi summarizes science policy developments in Washington
affecting the physics and astronomy community. It is
issued between two and five times every week.
To add yourself to a mailing list, send the command
add <address> <listname>
in the text of a message to the server. Example: add user@aip.org fyi
(V) The World Wide Web
There is a wealth of information, on all sorts of topics, available
on the World Wide Web [WWW], a distributed HyperText system (a network of
documents connected by links which can be activated electronically).
Subject matter includes some physics areas such as High Energy Physics,
Astrophysics abstracts, and Space Science, but also includes such diverse
subjects as bioscience, music, and the law.
* How to get to the Web
If you have no clue what WWW is, you can go over the Internet with
telnet to info.cern.ch (no login required) which brings you to the WWW
Home Page at CERN. You are now using the simple line mode browser. To move
around the Web, enter the number given after an item.
* Browsing the Web
If you have a WWW browser up and running, you can move around
more easily. The by far nicest way of "browsing" through WWW uses the
X-Terminal based tool "XMosaic". Binaries for many platforms (ready for use)
and sources are available via anonymous FTP from ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu in directory
Web/xmosaic. The general FTP repository for browser software is info.cern.ch
(including a hypertext browser/editor for NeXTStep 3.0)
* For Further Information
For questions related to WWW, try consulting the WWW-FAQ: Its most
recent version is available via anonymous FTP on rtfm.mit.edu in
/pub/usenet/news.answers/www-faq , or on WWW at
http://www.vuw.ac.nz:80/non-local/gnat/www-faq.html
The official contact (in fact the midwife of the World Wide Web)
is Tim Berners-Lee, timbl@info.cern.ch. For general matters on WWW, try
www-request@info.cern.ch or Robert Cailliau (responsible for the "physics"
content of the Web, cailliau@cernnext.cern.ch).
* Finding stuff on the Web
The URL http://www.yahoo.com is one good starting place for
locating information; for example,
http://www.yahoo.com/Reference/Scientific_Constants will get you to
a list of scientific constants.
(V) Other Archive Sites
http://pdg.lbl.gov/cpep/adventure.html
This page is part of the Contemporary Physics Education Project.
(A) FreeHEP
The FreeHEP collection of software, useful to high energy physicists
is available on the Web as
http://heplibw3.slac.stanford.edu:80/FIND/FHMAIN.HTML
or anonymous ftp to freehep.scri.fsu.edu. This is high-energy oriented but
has much which is useful to other fields also. Contact Saul Youssef
(youssef@scri.fsu.edu) for more information.
(B) AIP Archives
An archive of the electronic newsletters of the American Institute
of Physics is now available on nic.hep.net. The three publications are
"For Your Information", "The Physics News Update" written by Dr. Phil Schewe,
and "What's New" written by Dr. Robert Park".
FYI is archived as [ANON_FTP.AIP-FYI.199*]AIPFYI-nnn-mmmddyyyy.TXT.
PNU is archived as [ANON_FTP.PHYSICS-NEWS.199*]PHYSICS-NEWS-yyyy-mm-dd.TXT.
WN is archived as [ANON_FTP.WHATS-NEW.199*]WHATS-NEW-yyyy-mm-dd.TXT
In each case, the last issue received is always available as: latest.txt.
(C)
There is an FTP archive site of preprints and programs
for nonlinear dynamics, signal processing, and related subjects on node
lyapunov.ucsd.edu (132.239.86.10) at the Institute for Nonlinear Science,
UCSD. Just login anonymously, using your host id as your password. Contact
Matt Kennel (mbk@inls1.ucsd.edu) for more information.
(VI) Physics Education Online
(A) Mailing Lists
PHYS-L PHYS-L@UWF Forum for Physics Teachers
PHYS-STU PHYS-STU@UWF Physics Student Discussion List
(B) On the Web
The Computers in Physics Education Committee of the AAPT has endorsed a
project to have a site which would point to the all the known physics
education resources on the net. Alan Cairns has agreed to maintain the site
until the AAPT is convinced to put some funding into maintaining it. The
current URL is:
http://www.halcyon.com/cairns/physics.html
This project is still in its infancy - anyone with an interest in physics
education is invited to take a look. Your submissions will allow the site to
grow into a mature resource. Contact: acairns@halcyon.com.
Item 4. original Vijay D. Fafat
updated 28-JUL-1994 by SIC
A Physics Booklist - Recommendations from the Net
This article is a complilation of books recommended by sci.physics
participants as the 'standard' or 'classic' texts on a wide variety of
topics of general interest to physicists and physics students. As a
guide to finding the right book for you, many of the comments from the
contributors have been retained.
This document is still under construction. Many entries are incomplete,
and many good books are not yet listed. Please feel free to contribute
to this project. Contact pvfafat@GSB.UChicago.EDU, who will compile the
information for future updates.
The formatting and organization of this article will also be reviewed
and improved in future updates. This is the first try, and it shows.
Please bear with us.
Subject Index
You can find books in the area of your choice by searching forward for
the following keywords:
General Physics
Classical Mechanics
Classical Electromagnetism
Quantum Mechanics
Statistical Mechanics
Condensed Matter
Special Relativity
Particle Physics
General Relativity
Mathematical Methods
Nuclear Physics
Cosmology
Astronomy
Plasma Physics
Numerical Methods/Simulations
Fluid Dynamics
Nonlinear Dynamics, Complexity and Chaos
Optics (Classical and Quantum), Lasers
Mathematical Phyiscs
Atomic Phyiscs
Low Temperature Physics, Superconductivity
Subject: General Physics (so even mathematicians can understand it!)
1] M. S. Longair, Theoretical concepts in physics, 1986.
An alternative view of theoretical reasoning in Physics for
final year undergrads.
2] Sommerfeld, Arnold - Lectures on Theoretical Physics
Sommerfeld is God for mathematical physics.
3] Feynman, R: The Feynman lectures on Physics - 3 vols.
4] Walker, Jearle: The Flying Circus of Physics
Note: There is the entire Landau and Lifshitz series. They have volumes
on classical mechanics, classical field theory, E&M, QM, QFT, Statistical
Physics, and more. Very good series that spans entire graduate level
curriculum.
5] The New physics / edited by Paul Davies.
This is one *big* book to go through and takes time to look through
topics as diverse as general relativity, astrophysics, particle
theory, quantum mechanics, chaos and nonlinearity, low temperature physics
and phase transitions. Nevertheless, this is one excellent book of
recent (1989) physics articles, written by several
physicists/astrophysicists.
6] QED : The strange theory of light and matter / Richard P.
Feynman.
One need no longer be confused by this beautiful theory.
Richard Feynman gives an exposition that is once again and by itself
a beautiful explanation of the theory of photon-matter interactions.
Subject: Classical Mechanics
1] Goldstein, Herbert "Classical Mechanics", 2nd ed, 1980.
intermediate to advanced; excellent bibliography
2] Introductory: The Feyman Lectures, vol 1.
3] Symon, Keith - Mechanics, 3rd ed., 1971
undergrad level.
4] Corbin, H and Stehle, P - Classical Mechanics, 2nd ed., 1960
5] V.I. Arnold, Mathematical methods of classical mechanics, translated
by K. Vogtmann and A. Weinstein, 2nd ed., 1989.
The appendices are somewhat more advanced and cover all sorts of
nifty topics. Deals with Geometrical aspects of classical mechanics
6] Resnick, R and Halliday, D - Physics, vol 1, 4th Ed., 1993
Excellent introduction without much calculus. Lots of problems and
review questions.
7] Marion, J & Thornton, "Classical Dynamics of Particles and Systems",
2nd ed., 1970.
Undergrad level. A useful intro to classical dynamics. Not as advanced
as Goldstein, but with real worked-out examples.
8] Fetter, A and Walecka, J: Theoretical mechanics of particles and continua.
graduate level text, a little less impressive than Goldstein (and sometimes
a little less obtuse)
9] Many-Particle Physics, G. Mahan
10] Fetter & Walecka: Theoretical Mechanics of Particles and Continua.
Subject: Classical Electromagnetism
1] Jackson, J. D. "Classical Electrodynamics", 2nd ed., 1975
intermediate to advanced.
2] a] Edward Purcell, Berkely Physics Series Vol 2.
You can't beat this for the intelligent, reasonably sophisticated
beginning physics student. He tells you on the very first page
about the experimental proof of how charge does not vary with
speed.
b] Chen, Min, Berkeley Physics problems with solutions.
3] Reitz, J, Milford, F and Christy, R: Foundations of Electromagnetic Theory
3rd ed., 1979
Undergraduate level. Pretty difficult to learn from at first, but good
reference, for some calculations involving stacks of thin films and their
reflectance and transmission properties, for eg. It's a good, rigorous text
as far as it goes, which is pretty far, but not all the way. For example,
they have a great section on optical properties of a single thin film
between two dielectric semi-infinate media, but no generalization to stacks
of films.
4] Feynman, R: Feynman Lectures, vol 2
5] Lorrain, P & Corson D: Electromagnetism, Principles and Applications, 1979
6] Resnick, R and Halliday, D: Physics, vol 2, 4th ed., 1993
7] Igor Irodov, Problems in Physics.
Excellent and extensive collection of EM problems for undergrads.
8] Smythe, William: Static and Dynamic Electricity, 3rd ed., 1968
For the extreme masochists. Some of the most hair-raising EM
problems you'll ever see. Definitely not for the weak-of-heart.
9] Landau, Lifschitz, and Pitaevskii, "Electrodynamics of Continuous Media,"
2nd ed., 1984
same level as Jackson and with lots of material not in Jackson.
10] Marion, J and Heald, M: "Classical Electromagnetic Radiation," 2nd ed.,
1980 undergraduate or low-level graduate level
Subject: Quantum Mechanics
1] Cohen-Tannoudji, "Quantum Mechanics I & II", 1977.
introductory to intermediate.
2] Liboff - Introductory Quantum Mechanics, 2nd ed., 1992
elementary level. Makes a few mistakes.
3] Sakurai, J - Modern Quantum Mechanics, 1985
4] Sakurai, J - Advanced Quantum Mechanics, 1967
Good as an introduction to the very basic beginnings of quantum field
theory, except that it has the unfortunate feature of using 'imaginary time'
to make Minkowski space look Euclidean.
5] Wheeler, J and Zurek, W (eds.) Quantum Theory and Measurement, 1983
On the philosophical end. People who want to know about interpretations
of quantum mechanics should definitely look at this collection of
relevant articles.
6] DeWitt, C and Neill Graham: The Many Worlds Interpretation of Quantum
Mechanics
Philosophical. Collection of articles.
7] Everett, H: "Theory of the Universal Wavefunction"
An exposition which has some gems on thermodynamics and probability.
Worth reading for this alone.
8] Bjorken, J and Drell, S - Relativistic Quantum Mechanics/ Relativistic
Quantum Fields
(for comments, see under Particle Physics)
9] Ryder, Lewis - Quantum Field Theory, 1984
10] Guidry, M - Gauge Field Theories : an introduction with applications,
1991
11] Messiah, A: Quantum Mechanics, 1961
12] Dirac, Paul:
a] Principles of QM, 4th ed., 1958
b] Lectures in QM, 1964
c] Lectures on Quantum Field Theory, 1966
13] Itzykson, C and Zuber, J: Quantum Field Theory, 1980
Very advanced level.
14] Slater, J: "Quantum theory: Address, essays, lectures.
Good follow on to Schiff.
note: Schiff, Bjorken and Drell, Fetter and Walecka, and Slater
are all volumes in "International Series in pure and Applied Physics"
published by McGraw Hill.
15] Pierre Ramond, Field Theory: A Modern Primer, 2nd edition.
Volume 74 in the FiP series. The so-called "revised printing" is a
must, as they must've rushed the first printing of the 2nd edition,
and it's full of inexcusable mistakes.
16] Feynman, R: Lectures - vol III :
A non-traditional approach. A good place to get an intuitive feel
for QM, if one already knows the traditional approach.
&&&&&&& 17] Heitler & London, "Quantum theory of molecules"??
18] Bell: Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics, 1987
An excellent collection of essays on the philosophical aspects of QM.
19] Milonni: The quantum vacuum: an introduction to quantum electrodynamics
1994.
20] Holland: The Quantum Theory of Motion
A good bet for strong foundation in QM.
21] John Von Neumann: Mathematical foundations of quantum mechanics, 1955.
For the more mathematical side of quantum theory, especially for
those who are going to be arguing about measurement theory.
22] Schiff, Leonard, L: Quantum Mechanics, 3rd ed., 1968
A little old. Not much emphasis on airy-fairy things like many worlds
or excessive angst over Heisenberg UP. Straight up QM for people
who want to do calculations. Introductory gradauate level. Mostly
Schrod. eqn. Spin included, but only in an adjunct to Schrod. Not
much emphasis on things like Dirac eqn., etc.
23] "Quantum Physics of Atoms, Molecules, Solids, Nuclei, and Particles" by
Eisberg and Resnick, 2nd ed., 1985.
This is a basic intro. to QM, and it is excellent for
undergrads. It is not thorough with math, but fills in a lot
of the intuitive stuff that most textbooks do not present.
24] Elementary Quantum Mechanics, David Saxon
It's a decent undergraduate (senior level) text.
25] Intermediate Quantum Mechanics, Bethe and Jackiw
Subject: Statistical Mechanics
1] David Chandler, "Introduction to Modern Statistical Mechanics", 1987
2] Kittel & Kroemer: Statistical Thermodynamics.
Best of a bad lot.
3] Reif, F : Principles of statistical and thermal physics.
the big and little Reif stat mech books. Big Reif is much better than
Kittel & Kroemer. He uses clear language but avoids the handwaving that
thermodynamics often gives rise to. More classical than QM oriented.
4] Bloch, Felix: Fundamentals of Statistical Mechanics.
5] Radu Balescu "Statistical Physics"
Graduate Level. Good description of non-equilibrium stat. mech.
but difficult to read. It is all there, but often you don't
realize it until after you have learned it somewhere else.
Nice development in early chapters about parallels between
classical and quantum Stat. Mech.
6] Huang (grad)
The following 6 books deal with modern topics in (mostly) classical
statistical mechanics, namely, the central notions of linear response theory
(Forster) and critical phenomena (the rest) at level suitable for
beginning graduate students.
7] Thermodynamics, by H. Callen.
8] Statistical Mechanics, by R. K. Pathria
9] Hydrodynamic Fluctuations, Broken Symmetry, and Correlation
Functions, by D. Forster
10] Introduction to Phase Transitions and Critical Phenomena,
by H. E. Stanley
11] Modern Theory of Critical Phenomena, by S. K. Ma
12] Lectures on Phase Transitions and the Renormalization Group,
by N. Goldenfeld
13] Methods of Quantum Field Theory in Statistical Physics,
Abrikosov, Gorkov, and Dyzaloshinski
Subject: Condensed Matter
1] Charles Kittel, "Introduction to Solid State Physics" (ISSP), introductory
2] Ashcroft and Mermin, "Solid State Physics", interm to advanced
3] Charles Kittel, Quantum Theory of Solids.
This is from before the days of his ISSP; it is a more advanced book.
At a similar level...
4] Solid State Theory, by W. A. Harrison (a great bargain now that it's
published by Dover)
5] Theory of Solids, by Ziman.
6] Fundamentals of the Theory of Metals, by Abrikosov
Half of the book is on superconductivity.
Subject: Special Relativity
1] Taylor and Wheeler, _Spacetime Physics_
Still the best introduction out there.
2] "Relativity" : Einstein's popular exposition.
3] Wolfgang Rindler, Essential Relativity. Springer 1977
With a heavy bias towards astrophysics and therefore on a more
moderate level formally. Quite strong on intuition.
4] A P French: Special Relativity
A through introductory text. Good discussion of the twin
paradox, pole and the barn etc. Plenty of diagrams
illustrating lorentz transformed co-ordinates, giving both an
algebraic and geometrical insight to SR.
Subject: Particle Physics
1] Kerson Huang, Quarks, leptons & gauge fields, World Scientific, 1982.
Good on mathematical aspects of gauge theory and topology.
2] L. B. Okun, Leptons and quarks, translated from Russian by V. I. Kisin,
North-Holland, 1982.
3] T. D. Lee, Particle physics and introduction to field theory.
4] Itzykson: Particle Physics
5] Bjorken & Drell: "Relativistic Quantum Mechanics"
One of the more terse books. The first volume on
Relativistic quantum mechanics covers the subject in a blinding 300
pages. Very good if you *really* want to know the subject.
6] Francis Halzen & Alan D. Martin, "Quarks & Leptons", beginner to
intermediate, this is a standard textbook for graduate level courses.
Good knowledge of quantum mechanics and special relativity is assumed.
A very good introduction to the concepts of particle physics. Good
examples, but not a lot of Feynman diagram calculation. For this,
see Bjorken & Drell.
7] Donald H. Perkins: Introduction to high energy physics
Regarded by many people in the field as the best introductory text at
the undergraduate level. Covers basically everything with almost no
mathematics.
8] Close,Marten, and Sutton: The Particle Explosion. A popular
exposition of the history of particle physics with terrific photography.
9] Christine Sutton: Spaceship Neutrino
A good, historical, largely intuitive introduction to
particle physics, seen from the neutrino viewpoint.
Subject: General Relativity
1] The telephone book, er, that is, MTW, Meisner, Thorne and Wheeler.
The "bible". W. H. Freeman & Co., San Francisco 1973
2] Robert M. Wald, Space, Time, and Gravity : the Theory of the Big Bang
and Black Holes.
A good nontechnical introduction, with a nice mix of mathematical
rigor and comprehensible physics.
3] Schutz: First Course in General Relativity.
4] Weinberg: Gravitation and Cosmology
Good reference book, but not a very good read.
5] Hans Ohanian: Gravitation & Spacetime (recently back in print)
For someone who actually wants to learn to work problems, ideal
for self-teaching, and math is introduced as needed, rather than
in a colossal blast.
6] Robert Wald, General Relativity
It's a more advanced textbook than Wald's earlier book, appropriate
for an introductory graduate course in GR. It strikes just the right
balance, in my opinion, between mathematical rigor and physical
intuition. It has great mathematics appendices for those who care
about proving theorems carefully, and a good introduction to the
problems behind quantum gravity (although not to their solutions).
I think it's MUCH better than either MTW or Weinberg.
Subject: Mathematical Methods (so that even physicists can understand it!)
1] Morse and Feshbach - Methods of Theoretical Physics (can be hard to
find)
2] Mathews and Walker, Mathematical Methods for Physicists.
An absolute joy for those who love math, and very informative even
for those who don't.
3] Arfken "Mathematical Methods for Physicists" Academic Press
Good introduction at graduate level. Not comprehensive in any
area, but covers many areas widely. Arfken is to math methods
what numerical recipes is to numerical methods -- good intro, but
not the last word.
4] Zwillinger "Handbook of Differential Equations." Academic Press
Kind of like CRC tables but for ODE's and PDE's. Good
reference book when you've got a Diff. Eq. and wnat to find a
solution.
5] Gradshteyn and Ryzhik "Table of Integrals, Series, and Products" Academic
THE book of integrals. Huge, but useful when you need an integral.
Subject: Nuclear Physics
1] Preston and Bhaduri, "Structure of the Nucleus"
2] Blatt and Weisskopf - Theoretical Nuclear Physics
3] DeShalit and Feshbach - Theoretical Nuclear Physics
This is serious stuff. Also quite expensive even in paper. I think
the hard cover is out of print. This is volume I (structure).
Volume II (scattering) is also available.
4] Satchler: "Direct Nuclear Reactions".
Subject: Cosmology
1] J. V. Narlikar, Introduction to Cosmology.1983 Jones & Bartlett Publ.
For people with a solid background in physics and higher math, THE
introductory text, IMHO, because it hits the balance between
mathematical accuracy (tensor calculus and stuff) and intuitive
clarity/geometrical models very well for grad student level. Of course,
it has flaws but only noticeable by the Real Experts (TM) ...
2] Hawking: Brief History of Time
Popular Science
3] Weinberg: First Three Minutes
A very good book. It's pretty old, but most of the information in it
is still correct.
4] Timothy Ferris: Coming of Age in the Milky Way.
Popular Science.
5] Kolb and Turner: The Early Universe.
At a more advanced level, a standard reference. As the title implies,
K&T cover mostly the strange physics of very early times: it's heavy
on the particle physics, and skimps on the astrophysics. There's a
primer on large-scale structure, which is the most active area of
cosmological research, but it's really not all that good.
6] Peebles: Principles of Physical Cosmology.
Comprehensive, and on the whole it's quite a good book, but it's
rather poorly organized. I find myself jumping back and forth through
the book whenever I want to find anything.
7] "Black Holes and Warped Spacetime", by William J. Kaufmann, III.
This is a great, fairly thorough, though non-mathematical
description of black holes and spacetime as it relates to
cosmology. I was impressed by how few mistakes Kaufmann makes in
simplifying, while most such books tend to sacrifice accuracy for
simplicity.
8] "Principles of Cosmology and Gravitation", Berry, M. V.
This is very well-written, and useful as an undergrad text.
9] Dennis Overbye: Lonely Hearts of the Cosmos
The unfinished history of converge on Hubble's constant is
presented, from the perspective of competing astrophysics
rival teams and institute, along with a lot of background on cosmology
(a lot on inflation, for instance). A good insight into the scientific
process.
10] The big bang / Joseph Silk.
I consider Silk's book an absolute must for those who want a quick run
at the current state of big bang cosmology and some of the recent
(1988)issues which have given so many of us lots of problems to solve.
10] Bubbles, voids, and bumps in time : the new cosmology / edited
by James Cornell.
This is quite a nice and relatively short read for some of the
pressing issues (as of 1987-88) in astrophysical cosmology.
11] Structure formation in the universe / T. Padmanabhan.
A no-nonsense book for those who want to calculate some problems
strictly related to the formation of structure in the universe.
The book even comes complete with problems at the end of each chapter.
A bad thing about this book is that there isn't any coverage on
clusters of galaxies and the one really big thing that annoys the
hell outta me is that the bibliography for *each* chapter is all
combined in one big bibliography towards the end of the book which
makes for lots of page flipping.
12] The large-scale structure of the universe / by P. J. E. Peebles.
This is a definitive book for anyone who desires an understanding of
the mathematics required to develop the theory for models of
large scale structure. The essential techniques in the description
of how mass is able to cluster under gravity from a smooth early
universe are discussed. While I find it dry in some places, there are
noteworthy sections (e.g. statistical tests, n-point correlation functions,
etc.).
Subject: Astronomy
1] Hannu Karttunen et al. (eds.): Fundamental Astronomy.
The best book covering all of astronomy (also for absolute beginners)
AND still going into a lot of detail for special work for people more
involved AND presenting excellent graphics and pictures.
2] Pasachoff: Contemporary Astronomy
Good introductory textbook for the nontechnical reader. It gives a
pretty good overview of the important topics, and it has good pictures.
3] Shu, Frank: The physical universe : an introduction to astronomy,
4] Astrophysical formulae : a compendium for the physicist and
astrophysicist / Kenneth R. Lang.
Here is everything you wanted to know (and more!) about astrophysical
formulae on a one-line/one-parargraph/one-shot deal.
Of course, the formulae come complete with references (a tad old, mind
you) but it's a must for everyone who's working in astronomy and
astrophysics. You learn something new everytime you flip through the pages!
Subject: Plasma Physics
(See Robert Heeter's sci.phys.fusion FAQ for details)
Subject: Numerical Methods/Simulations
1] Johnson and Rees "Numerical Analysis" Addison Wesley
Undergrad. level broad intro.
2] Numerical Recipes in X (X=c,fortran,pascal,etc) Tueklosky and Press
3] Young and Gregory "A survey of Numerical Mathmematics" Dover 2 volumes.
Excellent overview at grad. level. Emphasis toward solution
of elliptic PDE's, but good description of methods to get there
including linear algebra, Matrix techniques, ODE solving methods,
and interpolation theory. Biggest strength is it provides a coherent
framework and structure to attach most commonly used num. methods.
This helps understanding about why to use one method or another.
2 volumes.
4]Hockney and Eastwood "Computer Simulation Using Particles" Adam Hilger
Good exposition of particle-in-cell (PIC) method and extensions.
Applications to plasmas, astronmy, and solid state are discussed.
Emphasis is on description of algortihms. Some results shown.
5] Birdsall and Langdon "Plasma Physics via Computer Simulations"
PIC simulation applied to plasmas. Source codes shown. First part
is almost a tutorial on how to do PIC. Second part is like a
series of review articles on different PIC methods.
6] Tajima "Computational Plasma Physics: With Applications to Fusion and
Astrophysics" Addison Wesley Frontiers in physics Series.
Algorthims described. Emphasis on physics that can be simulated.
Applications limited to plasmas, but subjest areas very broad,
fusion, cosmology, solar astrophysics, magnetospheric physics,
plasma turbulence, general astrophysics.
Subject: Fluid Dynamics
1] Triton "Physical Fluid Dynamics"
2] Batchelor
3] Chandreshekar
Subject: Nonlinear Dynamics, Complexity, and Chaos
There is a FAQ posted regularly to sci.nonlinear.
1] Prigogine, "Exploring Complexity"
Or any other Prigogine book. If you've read one, you read most of
all of them (A Poincare recurrance maybe?)
2] Guckenheimer and Holmes "Nonlinear Oscillations, Dynamical Systems, and
Bifurcations of Vector Fields" Springer
Borderline phys/math. Advanced level. Nuts and bolts how to textbook.
No Saganesque visionary thing from the authors. They let the topic
provide all the razz-ma-tazz, which is plenty if you pay attention
and remember the physics that it applies to.
3] Lichtenberg, A. J. and M. A. Lieberman (1982). Regular and Stochastic
Motion. New York, Springer-Verlag.
4] "The Dreams Of Reason" by Heinz Pagels.
He is a very clear and interesting, captivating writer, and
presents the concepts in a very intuitive way. The level is
popular science, but it is still useful for physicists who
know little of complexity.
5] M.Mitchell Waldrop: Complexity.
A popular intro to the subject of spontaneous orders, complexity
and so on. Covers implications for economics, biology etc and not
just physics.
Subject: Optics (Classical and Quantum), Lasers
1] Born and Wolf
standard reference.
2] Sommerfeld, A:
For the more classically minded
3] Allen and Eberly's Optical Resonance and Two-Level Atoms.
For quantum optics, the most readable but most limited.
4] Quantum Optics and Electronics (Les Houches summer school 1963-or-4,
but someone has claimed that Gordon and Breach, NY, are going to
republish it in 1995), edited by DeWitt, Blandin, and Cohen-
Tannoudji, is noteworthy primarily for Glauber's lectures, which
form the basis of quantum optics as it is known today.
5] Sargent, Scully, & Lamb: Laser Physics
6] Yariv: Quantum Electronics
7] Siegman: Lasers
8] Shen: The Principles of Nonlinear Optics
9] Meystre & Sargent: Elements of Quantum Optics
10] Cohen-Tannoudji, Dupont-Roc, & Grynberg: Photons, Atoms and Atom-Photon
Interactions.
11] Hecht: Optics
A very good intro optics book (readable by a smart college freshman,
but useful as a reference to the graduate student)
12] "Practical Holography" by Graham Saxby, Prentice Hall: New York; 1988.
This is a very clear and detailed book that is an excellent
introduction to holography for interested undergraduate physics people, as
well as advanced readers, esp. those who are interested in the practical
details of making holograms and the theory behind them.
Subject: Mathematical Physics
(Lie Algebra, Topology, Knot Theory, Tensors, etc.)
These are books that are sort of talky and fun to read (but still
substantial - some harder than others). These include things
mathematicians can read about physics as well as vice versa. These
books are different than the "bibles" one must have on hand at all
times to do mathematical physics.
1] Yvonne Choquet-Bruhat, Cecile DeWitt-Morette, and Margaret
Dillard-Bleick, Analysis, manifolds, and physics (2 volumes)
Something every mathematical physicist should have at her bedside
until she knows it inside and out - but some people say it's not
especially easy to read.
2] Jean Dieudonne, A panorama of pure mathematics, as seen by N. Bourbaki,
translated by I.G. Macdonald.
Gives the big picture in math.
3] Robert Hermann, Lie groups for physicists, Benjamin-Cummings, 1966.
4] George Mackey, Quantum mechanics from the point of view of the theory
of group representations, Mathematical Sciences Research Institute,
1984.
5] George Mackey, Unitary group representations in physics, probability,
and number theory.
6] Charles Nash and S. Sen, Topology and geometry for physicists.
7] B. Booss and D.D. Bleecker, Topology and analysis: the Atiyah-Singer
index formula and gauge-theoretic physics.
8] Bamberg and S. Sternberg, A Course of Mathematics for Students of
Physics.
9] Bishop & Goldberg: Tensor Analysis on Manifolds.
10] Flanders : Differential Forms with applications to the Physical Sciences.
11] Dodson & Poston Tensor Geometry.
12] von Westenholz: Differential forms in Mathematical Physics.
13] Abraham, Marsden & Ratiu: Manifolds, Tensor Analysis and Applications.
14] M. Nakahara, Topology, Geometry and Physics.
15] Morandi: The Role of Topology in Classical and Quantum Physics
16] Singer, Thorpe: Lecture Notes on Elemetary Topology and Geometry
17] L. Kauffman: Knots and Physics, World Scientific, Singapore, 1991.
18] Yang, C and Ge, M: Braid group, Knot Theory & Statistical Mechanics.
19] Kastler, D: C-algebras and their applications to Statistical
Mechanics and Quantum Field Theory.
20] Courant and Hilbert "Methods of Mathematical Physics" Wiley
Really a math book in disguise. Emphasis on ODE's and PDE's.
Proves existence, etc. Very comprehensive. 2 volumes.
21] Cecille Dewitt: is publishing a book on manifolds that
should be out soon (maybe already is). Very high level, but supposedly
of great importance for anyone needing to set the Feynman path integral
in a firm foundation.
22] Howard Georgi, "Lie Groups for Particle Phyiscs"
Addison Wesley Frontiers in Physics Series.
23] Synge and Schild
Subject: Atomic Physics
1] Born and Wolf:
A classic, though a little old.
Subject: Low Temperature Physics, Superconductivity (high and low Tc), etc.
1] The Theory of Quantum Liquids, by D. Pines and P. Nozieres
2] Superconductivity of Metals and Alloys, P. G. DeGennes
A classic introduction.
3] Theory of Superconductivity, J. R. Schrieffer
4] Superconductivity, M. Tinkham
5] Experimental techniques in low-temperature physics / by Guy K. White.
This is considered by many as a "bible" for those working in
experimental low temperature physics.
Thanks to the contributors who made this compilation possible, including,
but not limited to olivers@physics.utoronto.ca, cpf@alchemy.ithaca.NY.US,
glowboy@robot.nuceng.ufl.edu, jgh1@iucf.indiana.edu, p675cen@mpifr-bonn.
mpg.de, ted@physics.Berkeley.EDU, Jeremy_Caplan@postoffice.brown.edu,
baez@ucrmath.UCR.EDU, greason@ptdcs2.intel.com, dbd@utkux.utcc.utk.edu,
roberts@alpha.brooks.af.mil, rev@NBSENH.BITNET, cotera@aspen.uml.edu,
panetta@cithe503.cithep.caltech.edu, johncobb@emx.cc.utexas.edu, exunikh
@exu.ericsson.se, bergervo@prl.philips.nl, aephraim@physics5.berkeley.edu,
zowie@daedalus.stanford.edu, jean@sitka.triumf.ca, price@price.demon.co.uk,
palmer@sfu.ca, Benjamin.J.Tilly@dartmouth.edu, jac@ds8.scri.fsu.edu,
BLYTHE@BrandonU.CA, alec@phys.oxy.edu, gelfand@lamar.ColoState.EDU,
lee@aries.yorku.ca
Item 5.
The Nobel Prize for Physics (1901-1993) updated 12-OCT-1994 by SIC
original by Scott I. Chase
The following is a complete listing of Nobel Prize awards, from the first
award in 1901. Prizes were not awarded in every year. The description
following the names is an abbreviation of the official citation.
1901 Wilhelm Konrad Roentgen X-rays
1902 Hendrik Antoon Lorentz Magnetism in radiation phenomena
Pieter Zeeman
1903 Antoine Henri Bequerel Spontaneous radioactivity
Pierre Curie
Marie Sklodowska-Curie
1904 Lord Rayleigh Density of gases and
(a.k.a. John William Strutt) discovery of argon
1905 Pilipp Eduard Anton von Lenard Cathode rays
1906 Joseph John Thomson Conduction of electricity by gases
1907 Albert Abraham Michelson Precision meteorological investigations
1908 Gabriel Lippman Reproducing colors photographically
based on the phenomenon of interference
1909 Guglielmo Marconi Wireless telegraphy
Carl Ferdinand Braun
1910 Johannes Diderik van der Waals Equation of state of fluids
1911 Wilhelm Wien Laws of radiation of heat
1912 Nils Gustaf Dalen Automatic gas flow regulators
1913 Heike Kamerlingh Onnes Matter at low temperature
1914 Max von Laue Crystal diffraction of X-rays
1915 William Henry Bragg X-ray analysis of crystal structure
William Lawrence Bragg
1917 Charles Glover Barkla Characteristic X-ray spectra of elements
1918 Max Planck Energy quanta
1919 Johannes Stark Splitting of spectral lines in E fields
1920 Charles-Edouard Guillaume Anomalies in nickel steel alloys
1921 Albert Einstein Photoelectric Effect
1922 Niels Bohr Structure of atoms
1923 Robert Andrew Millikan Elementary charge of electricity
1924 Karl Manne Georg Siegbahn X-ray spectroscopy
1925 James Franck Impact of an electron upon an atom
Gustav Hertz
1926 Jean Baptiste Perrin Sedimentation equilibrium
1927 Arthur Holly Compton Compton effect
Charles Thomson Rees Wilson Invention of the Cloud chamber
1928 Owen Willans Richardson Thermionic phenomena, Richardson's Law
1929 Prince Louis-Victor de Broglie Wave nature of electrons
1930 Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman Scattering of light, Raman effect
1932 Werner Heisenberg Quantum Mechanics
1933 Erwin Schrodinger Atomic theory
Paul Adrien Maurice Dirac
1935 James Chadwick The neutron
1936 Victor Franz Hess Cosmic rays
Carl D. Anderson The positron
1937 Clinton Joseph Davisson Crystal diffraction of electrons
George Paget Thomson
1938 Enrico Fermi New radioactive elements
1939 Ernest Orlando Lawrence Invention of the Cyclotron
1943 Otto Stern Proton magnetic moment
1944 Isador Isaac Rabi Magnetic resonance in atomic nuclei
1945 Wolfgang Pauli The Exclusion principle
1946 Percy Williams Bridgman Production of extremely high pressures
1947 Sir Edward Victor Appleton Physics of the upper atmosphere
1948 Patrick Maynard Stuart Blackett Cosmic ray showers in cloud chambers
1949 Hideki Yukawa Prediction of Mesons
1950 Cecil Frank Powell Photographic emulsion for meson studies
1951 Sir John Douglas Cockroft Artificial acceleration of atomic
Ernest Thomas Sinton Walton particles and transmutation of nuclei
1952 Felix Bloch Nuclear magnetic precision methods
Edward Mills Purcell
1953 Frits Zernike Phase-contrast microscope
1954 Max Born Fundamental research in QM
Walther Bothe Coincidence counters
1955 Willis Eugene Lamb Hydrogen fine structure
Polykarp Kusch Electron magnetic moment
1956 William Shockley Transistors
John Bardeen
Walter Houser Brattain
1957 Chen Ning Yang Parity violation
Tsung Dao Lee
1958 Pavel Aleksejevic Cerenkov Interpretation of the Cerenkov effect
Il'ja Mickajlovic Frank
Igor' Evgen'evic Tamm
1959 Emilio Gino Segre The Antiproton
Owen Chamberlain
1960 Donald Arthur Glaser The Bubble Chamber
1961 Robert Hofstadter Electron scattering on nucleons
Rudolf Ludwig Mossbauer Resonant absorption of photons
1962 Lev Davidovic Landau Theory of liquid helium
1963 Eugene P. Wigner Fundamental symmetry principles
Maria Goeppert Mayer Nuclear shell structure
J. Hans D. Jensen
1964 Charles H. Townes Maser-Laser principle
Nikolai G. Basov
Alexander M. Prochorov
1965 Sin-Itiro Tomonaga Quantum electrodynamics
Julian Schwinger
Richard P. Feynman
1966 Alfred Kastler Study of Hertzian resonance in atoms
1967 Hans Albrecht Bethe Energy production in stars
1968 Luis W. Alvarez Discovery of many particle resonances
1969 Murray Gell-Mann Quark model for particle classification
1970 Hannes Alfven Magneto-hydrodynamics in plasma physics
Louis Neel Antiferromagnetism and ferromagnetism
1971 Dennis Gabor Principles of holography
1972 John Bardeen Theory of superconductivity
Leon N. Cooper
J. Robert Schrieffer
1973 Leo Esaki Tunneling in superconductors
Ivar Giaever
Brian D. Josephson Super-current through tunnel barriers
1974 Antony Hewish Discovery of pulsars
Sir Martin Ryle Pioneering radioastronomy work
1975 Aage Bohr Structure of the atomic nucleus
Ben Mottelson
James Rainwater
1976 Burton Richter Discovery of the J/Psi particle
Samual Chao Chung Ting
1977 Philip Warren Anderson Electronic structure of magnetic and
Nevill Francis Mott disordered solids
John Hasbrouck Van Vleck
1978 Pyotr Kapitsa Liquefaction of helium
Arno A. Penzias Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
Robert W. Wilson
1979 Sheldon Glashow Electroweak Theory, especially
Steven Weinberg weak neutral currents
Abdus Salam
1980 James Cronin Discovery of CP violation in the
Val Fitch asymmetric decay of neutral K-mesons
1981 Kai M. Seigbahn High resolution electron spectroscopy
Nicolaas Bloembergen Laser spectroscopy
Arthur L. Schawlow
1982 Kenneth G. Wilson Critical phenomena in phase transitions
1983 Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Evolution of stars
William A. Fowler
1984 Carlo Rubbia Discovery of W,Z
Simon van der Meer Stochastic cooling for colliders
1985 Klaus von Klitzing Discovery of quantum Hall effect
1986 Gerd Binning Scanning Tunneling Microscopy
Heinrich Rohrer
Ernst August Friedrich Ruska Electron microscopy
1987 Georg Bednorz High-temperature superconductivity
Alex K. Muller
1988 Leon Max Lederman Discovery of the muon neutrino leading
Melvin Schwartz to classification of particles in
Jack Steinberger families
1989 Hans Georg Dehmelt Penning Trap for charged particles
Wolfgang Paul Paul Trap for charged particles
Norman F. Ramsey Control of atomic transitions by the
separated oscillatory fields method
1990 Jerome Isaac Friedman Deep inelastic scattering experiments
Henry Way Kendall leading to the discovery of quarks
Richard Edward Taylor
1991 Pierre-Gilles de Gennes Order-disorder transitions in liquid
crystals and polymers
1992 Georges Charpak Multiwire Proportional Chamber
1993 Russell A. Hulse Discovery of the first binary pulsar
Joseph H. Taylor and subsequent tests of GR
1994 Bertram N. Brockhouse Neutron scattering experiments
Clifford G. Shull
END OF PART 1/4
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