Ebook: Physics and beyond (bookmarked)

The present book deals with the developments of atomic physics during the past fifty years, as the author has experienced them. Science rests on experiments; its results are attained through talks among those who work in it and who consult one another about their interpretation of these experiments. Such talks form the main content of this book. Through them the author hopes to demonstrate that science is rooted in conversations. Needless to say, conversations cannot be reconstructed literally after several decades. Nor is the book intended as a collection of memoirs. Instead, the author has freely condensed and sacrificed certain details; all he wishes to reconstruct is the broader picture. In these conversations atomic physics does not invariably play the most important role-far from it. Human, philosophical or political problems will crop up time and again, and the author hopes to show that science is quite inseparable from these more general questions. Many of the dramatis personae are referred to by first name, partly because they are not known to the general public, and partly because the author's relationship to them is best conveyed in that way. Moreover, this should help to avoid the impression that the author is presenting a verbatim report, true in every detail. For that reason there has been no attempt to draw a more precise picture of these personalities; they can, as it were, be recognized only from their manner of speech. Careful attention, however, has been paid to the precise atmosphere in which the conversations took place. For in it the creative process of science is made manifest; it helps to explain how the cooperation of different people may culminate in scientific results of the utmost importance. Contents 1 First Encounter with the Atomic Concept (1919-1920) 2 The Decision to Study Physics (1920) 3 "Understanding" in Modern Physics (1920- 1922 ) 4 Lessons in Politics and History (1922 - 1924) 5 Quantum Mechanics and a Talk with Einstein (1925- 1926 ) 6 Fresh Fields (1926-1927) 7 Science and Religion (1927) 8 Atomic Physics and Pragmatism (1929) 9 The Relationship between Biology, Physics and Chemistry (1930-1932) 10 Quantum Mechanics and Kantian Philosophy (1930 - 1934) 11 Discussions about Language (1933) 12 Revolution and University Life (1933) 13 Atomic Power and Elementary Particles (1935-1937) 14 Individual Behavior in the Face of Political Disaster (1937-1941) 15 Toward a New Beginning (1941-1945) 16 The Responsibility of the Scientist (1945-195°) 17 Positivism, Metaphysics and Religion (1952 ) 18 Scientific and Political Disputes (1956-1957) 19 The Unified Field Theory (1957-1958) 20 Elementary Particles and Platonic Philosophy (1961-1965)

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