Hydrogen: The Essential Element - Hardcover

Rigden, John S.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0674007387 ISBN 13: 9780674007383

Publisher: Harvard University Press, 2002

Synopsis

Seduced by simplicity, physicists find themselves endlessly fascinated by hydrogen, the simplest of atoms. Hydrogen has shocked, it has surprised, it has embarrassed, it has humbled--and again and again it has guided physicists to the edge of new vistas where the promise of basic understanding and momentous insights beckoned. The allure of hydrogen, crucial to life and critical to scientific discovery, is at the center of this book, which tells a story that begins with the big bang and continues to unfold today.

In this biography of hydrogen, John Rigden shows how this singular atom, the most abundant in the universe, has helped unify our understanding of the material world from the smallest scale, the elementary particles, to the largest, the universe itself. It is a tale of startling discoveries and dazzling practical benefits spanning more than one hundred years--from the first attempt to identify the basic building block of atoms in the mid-nineteenth century to the discovery of the Bose-Einstein condensate only a few years ago. With Rigden as an expert and engaging guide, we see how hydrogen captured the imagination of many great scientists--such as Heisenberg, Pauli, Schrödinger, Dirac, and Rabi--and how their theories and experiments with this simple atom led to such complex technical innovations as magnetic resonance imaging, the maser clock, and global positioning systems. Along the way, we witness the transformation of science from an endeavor of inspired individuals to a monumental enterprise often requiring the cooperation of hundreds of scientists around the world.

Still, any biography of hydrogen has to end with a question: What new surprises await us?

About this title

About the Author

John Rigden is Adjunct Professor of Physics, Washington University in St. Louis.

Reviews

Justly acclaimed for his lucid biography of physicist I. I. Rabi, Rigden here shifts his focus from person to problem, chronicling how one enduring conundrum--that of explaining the element hydrogen--has challenged two centuries of brilliant scientists. Beginning with the British chemist William Prout's pioneering hypothesis defining hydrogen as nature's fundamental building block, Rigden recounts episode after episode in which the mysteries of the simplest element--a bare proton and electron--have yielded their secrets to intellectually daring and resourceful researchers. In the process, he clarifies for general readers the nature of the scientific enterprise, in which elegant theories must meet the test of empirical verification. Nor does Rigden neglect the often-quirky personalities of the humans who frame the theories and conduct the experiments: we share, for example, in the frivolous musical ditties composed by Bloch and in the irreverent jokes circulated about Dirac. Readers will marvel that in its very first square, the periodic table holds so much science, so much history, so much humanity. Bryce Christensen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

http://www.hup.harvard.edu/pdf/RIGHYD_X.pdf

Edition details

• Publisher: Harvard University Press
• Publication date: 2002
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674007387
• ISBN 13: 9780674007383
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 288