Nuclear Physics, Part I: Quantum Mechanics. Lectures by J. Schwinger, Harvard University, Fall Term 1946-7. Notes by John M. Blatt. Reproduced at Boston University, 1952.

SCHWINGER, J. [Julian]

Published by [Boston: Boston University, 1952].

About this Item

1 leaf, 172 pp. Original wrappers. Three holes punched in gutter margin, with three metal fasteners. Bottom corners of pages bumped. "Since Schwinger lectured extemporaneously, the notes from these lectures were the only available record of his teaching. . . . John Blatt took and collected the notes of lectures on theoretical nuclear physics. As Roy Glauber recalled, the process was non-local: 'John Blatt took very good notes. These notes were shipped off to Princeton, where the graduate students there copied these notes onto ditto masters, and ran off copies. . . . These notes became an underground skeleton key, the "Cliff Notes of quantum mechanics." ' Hectographic reproductions of these notes were distributed to students as 'Lectures on Nuclear Physics' in 1947 and later years. The demand for these authorized but unofficial notes remained steady for along time and in 1952 they were reproduced as a text at Boston University [offered here]. They were not destined ever to become a book, because they did not meet Schwinger's impossibly perfectionist standards" (Mehra & Milton, Climbing the Mountain, p. 155). Part II. Nuclear Theory, Spring Term 1947, was issued by Boston University in 1955. I do NOT have a copy of part II. Copy of Felix Villars (with his pencil signature on front wrapper). "In the infancy of quantum electrodynamics, he and the Swiss Nobel Laureate Wolfgang Pauli developed a simple and elegant method to regulate the mathematical singularities in quantum field theory and extract finite physical results. The resulting method, known as 'Pauli-Villars regularization,' was widely influential and is known and used by all students of field theory". In 1950 Villars came to MIT and gave his own course on Quantum Theory in 1952-53, the notes for which were issued in a mimeographed format.

Seller Inventory # 15817

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Nuclear Physics, Part I: Quantum Mechanics. Lectures by J. Schwinger, Harvard University, Fall Term 1946-7. Notes by John M. Blatt. Reproduced at Boston University, 1952.
• Publisher: [Boston: Boston University, 1952].
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: Good