Related papers: Introduction to Collection "Physics in a Mad World…
In 1917 Einstein initiated modern cosmology by postulating, based on general relativity, a homogeneous, static, spatially curved universe. To counteract gravitational contraction he introduced the cosmological constant. In 1922 Alexander…
Bruno Rossi is considered one of the fathers of modern physics, being also a pioneer in virtually every aspect of what is today called high-energy astrophysics. At the beginning of 1930s he was the pioneer of cosmic ray research in Italy,…
The recent success of a proposal from some time ago to explain the spectrum of cosmic rays allows some strong conclusions to be made on the physics of supernovae: In the context of this specific proposal to explain the origin of cosmic…
Great opportunities arise for teaching physics, astronomy, and their histories when new discoveries are made that involve concepts accessible to students at every level. Such an opportunity currently exists thanks to the fact that notes…
During the past two decades, cosmologists turned to particle physics in order to explore the physics of the very early Universe. The main link between the physics of the smallest and largest structures in the Universe is the idea of…
Applying the known physics of plasmas, the 40 plus year old "Strong" Magnetic Field (SMF) model has been extended from explaining the nature of the AGN/quasar central engine, the evolution of galaxies, quasars and jets, the origin of…
Well before the atomistic nature of matter was experimentally established, Ludwig Boltzmann's audacious effort to explain the macroscopic world of human experience in terms of the workings of an unseen microscopic world met with vigorous…
During the years from 1917 to 1921, A.S. Eddington was intensely occupied with Einstein's general theory of relativity and the epic eclipse expedition which confirmed one of the theory's predictions. During the same period, he investigated…
The Yuri Golfand Memorial Volume commemorates Thirty Years of Supersymmetry. It will be published soon by World Scientific. The participants of the project are: D. Brace, L. Brink, S. Deser, G. Dvali, B. Feng, D. Freedman, G.-L. Gervais, G.…
The rich body of physical theories defines the foundation of our understanding of the world. Its mathematical formulation is based on classical Aristotelian (binary) logic. In the philosophy of science the ambiguities, paradoxes, and the…
Neutron stars are unique cosmic laboratories for the exploration of matter under extreme conditions of density and neutron-proton asymmetry. Due to their enormous dynamic range, neutron stars display a myriad of exotic states of matter that…
We discuss a theoretical interpretation of the experiment by Fletcher, Zhang, and Rolston [PRL, 96, 105003 (2006)], who revealed a number of subharmonics of the electron emission under external irradiation of the freely-expanding clouds of…
A brief summary of some highlights in the study of high energy astrophysical sources over the past decade is presented. It is argued that the great progress that has been made derives largely from the application of new technology to…
The physics of stars, their workings and their evolution, is a goldmine of problems in statistical mechanics and thermodynamics. We discuss many examples that illustrate the possibility of deepening student's knowledge of statistical…
The first light from stars and quasars ended the ``dark ages'' of the universe and led to the reionization of hydrogen by redshift 7. Current observations are at the threshold of probing this epoch. The study of high-redshift sources is…
In his treatise on light, written in about 1225, Robert Grosseteste describes a cosmological model in which the Universe is created in a big-bang like explosion and subsequent condensation. He postulates that the fundamental coupling of…
In this lecture, we give a first introduction to neutron stars, based on fundamental physical principles. After outlining their amazing macroscopic properties, as obtained from observations, we infer the extreme conditions of matter in…
Between 1974 and 1975, Stephen Hawking revolutionized the world of physics by proposing that black holes have temperature, entropy, and evaporate gradually. The objective of this article is to offer a brief and updated introduction to these…
In this short report the first attempt of a new approach to the still mysterious phenomenon of the life, and its peak, the human being, is presented from the view point of the natural sciences, i.e. of the physics in the broad sense of the…
The BCS theory injected two powerful ideas into the collective consciousness of theoretical physics: pairing and spontaneous symmetry breaking. In the 50 years since the seminal work of Bardeen, Cooper, and Schrieffer, those ideas have…