物理学史与哲学
At the "Domus Galilaeana" in Pisa, many original documents and records are kept, which belong to the scientific activity carried out by Enrico Fermi until 1938. I compared those documentary sources with the supported evidences, the personal…
Paper provides a brief introduction to SLAC, discusses the origins of the SLAC Archives and History Office, its present-day operations, and the present and future challenges it faces in attempting to preserve an accurate historical record…
Carnot established in 1824 that the efficiency $\eta_{C}$ of reversible engines operating between a hot bath at absolute temperature $T_{hot}$ and a cold bath at temperature $T_{cold}$ is equal to $1-T_{cold}/T_{hot}$. Carnot particularly…
The data on the astronomical orientation of the IV dynasty Egyptian pyramids are re-analyzed and it is shown that such data suggest an inverse chronology between the `first` and the `second` Giza pyramid.
I will describe some of the events that led to the creation of General Atomic, a research and development organization founded in San Diego in 1956.
We note that the first unambiguous description of the Milk Way as being composed of a large number of discrete stars is in Sonnet 31 of Thomas Watson's (d 1592) Hekatompathia (1582), nearly 30 years before Galileo's description. We discuss…
The early Greek and Indian cosmologies are summarized in this paper. The two traditions appear to have developed independently although after the time of Alexander they were consciously aware of each other. The focus and style of the two…
Enrico Fermi lived from 1901 to 1954, a period of great progress in physics and a period in which opportunities for women to study and work in institutions of higher learning increased significantly in Europe and North America. Though there…
Did the Indian and Babylonian astronomy evolve in isolation, was there mutual influence, or was one dependent on the other? Scholars have debated these questions for more than two centuries, and opinion has swung one way or the other with…
Recent intriguing discussion of heat death by Kutrovatz is critically examined. It is shown that there exists another way of answering the heat death puzzle, already present in the ancient philosophical tradition. This alternative route…
When a high voltage (~30 kV) is applied to a capacitor whose electrodes have different physical dimensions, the capacitor experiences a net force toward the smaller electrode (Biefeld-Brown effect). We have verified this effect by building…
There is a section in Chandrashekar's ''Newton's Principia for the Common Reader '', (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1995) in which he claims to find a small error in the Principia. . However we believe that there is a mistake of interpretation…
Lochlainn O'Raifeartaigh and his work are recalled; the connection between fluid mechanics -- his last research topic -- and noncommuting gauge fields is explained.
Aristotle was the first to declare himself in the class of natural philosophers ({\em physiologoi}) and he was the first physicist because he spelled out the first definitions of some basic physical concepts. Moreover, he was the first…
As part of their efforts to consistently and reliably identify and preserve the archival records of their organizations, archivists are trying to address the issue of appraising and collecting World Wide Web documents. This paper discusses…
Insofar as Sir Karl Raimund Popper's writings deal with political statements, they are evident; yet insofar as they deal with scientific issues, they are misleading. If applied to the concrete implementation of science, such as distribution…
Enrico Fermi and Leo Szilard worked together at Columbia in 1939-40, just after nuclear fission was discovered, to ascertain the feasibility of a nuclear chain reaction, and then on the construction of the first nuclear reactor. Szilard…
We discuss the extent to which the visibility of the heavens was a necessary condition for the development of science, with particular reference to the measurement of time. Our conclusion is that while astronomy had significant importance,…
The cyclic model of the universe has an old history in India. It has held the preeminent position regarding the origins of the universe, and it is described in astronomical texts, Puranic encyclopaedias, and philosophical literature. Within…
In contrast to a widely held opinion, the three-body problem has an analytic solution. This solution was found in 1909 by Sundman. The basic ideas behind it and its history are presented. ----- Contrairement \`a une opinion largement…