Ebook: Third thoughts

I. Science history: The uses of astronomy -- The art of discovery -- From Rutherford to the LHC -- Educators and academics, underground in Texas -- The rise of the standard models -- Long times and short times -- Keeping an eye on the present: Whig history of science -- The Whig history of science: an exchange -- II. Physics and cosmology: What is an elementary particle? -- The universe we still don't know -- Varieties of symmetry -- The Higgs, and beyond -- Why the Higgs? -- The trouble with quantum mechanics -- III. Public matters: Obama gets space funding right -- The crisis of big science -- Liberal disappointment -- Keep loopholes open -- Against manned space flight -- Skeptics and scientists -- IV. Personal matters: Change course -- Writing about science -- On being wrong -- The craft of science, and the craft of art -- New York to Austin, and return;This is the third in a series of volumes of essays by Steven Weinberg, the previous two having also been published by HUP (Facing Up in 2001, and Lake Views in 2010). Weinberg, recipient of the Nobel Prize (1979) with Abdus Shalam and Sheldon Glashow for their contributions to the electroweak unification theory, is well known not only for his groundbreaking work in physics, but also for his efforts in popularizing science and the history of science, and for his stances on various matters in politics, public policy, and religion. This volume, like the previous two, runs a wide gamut, from the cosmological to the personal. Specific topics include particle physics, quantum mechanics, astronomy, big science, the history of science, space flight, science funding, the limits of current knowledge, and several other subjects ranging from the art of discovery to being wrong. Nearly all of the work included here, again as with the previous two volumes, has been previously published. The author has added introductions to the volume as a whole and to each essay, putting the material in context and adding further explanation where necessary. He has also added a number of explanatory notes.