Love, Literature and the Quantum Atom: Niels Bohr's 1913 Trilogy Revisited - Hardcover

Aaserud, Finn; Heilbron, John L.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0199680280 ISBN 13: 9780199680283

Publisher: Oxford University Press, 2013

Synopsis

Niels Bohr ranks with Einstein among the physicists of the 20th century. He rose to this status through his invention of the quantum theory of the atom and his leadership in its defense and development. He also ranks with Einstein in his humanism and his sense of responsibility to his science and the society that enabled him to create it. Our book presents unpublished excerpts from extensive correspondence between Bohr and his immediate family, and uses it to describe and analyze the psychological and cultural background to his invention. The book also contains a reprinting of the three papers of 1913 - the Trilogy - in which Bohr worked out the provisional basis of a quantum theory of the atom

About this title

About the Author:

Finn Aaserud, Director, Niels Bohr Archive, Copenhagen, Denmark,John L. Heilbron, Professor of History, Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley; Honorary Fellow, Worcester College, Oxford

Finn Aaserud is Director of the Niels Bohr Archive, Copenhagen.

John L. Heilbron is Professor of History and Vice-Chancellor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley, and Honorary Fellow at Worcester College, Oxford.

Review:

"The well-balanced contributions of the director of the Niels Bohr archive Finn Aaserud and the outstanding historian of physics John Heilbron together with the fascinating new primary sources make this book a must-have for everyone interested in an important episode of the history of physics
and in the very special, charming Danish context of the discovery of Bohr's atom model."

--Klaus Hentschel, University of Stuttgart

"Aaserud's sensitive and informative rendition of previously unpublished Bohr family correspondence and Heilbron's masterful and erudite historical analysis combine to produce a brilliant and authoritative account of the creation of the Bohr quantum theory of the atom."

--Roger H. Stuewer, University of Minnesota

"Niels Bohrs trilogy of 1913 opened the door to whole new world of microscopic physics and the quantum theory of the atom, a world full of wonders and surprises. The authors of this volume tell a vivid and nuanced story of the emergence of this momentous event in the history of science.
Drawing on unpublished family correspondence as well as on their formidable knowledge of the historical context they paint an insightful and tender but also highly informative picture of Niels Bohr in this decisive period of his career."

--Tilman Sauer, California Institute of Technology 10/01/13

About this edition

• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 0199680280
• ISBN 13: 9780199680283
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 296