Ebook: Heinrich Hertz: Classical Physicist, Modern Philosopher

The sub-title of this symposium is accurate and, in a curious way, promises more than it states: Classical Physicist, Modem Philosopher. Heinrich Hertz, as the con­ summate experimentalist of 19th century technique and as brilliant clarifying critic of physical theory of his time, achieved one of the fulfilments but at the same time opened one of the transition points of classical physics. Thus, in his 'popular' lecture 'On the Relations Between Light and Electricity' at Heidelberg in the Fall of 1889, Hertz identified the ether as henceforth the most fundamental problem of physics, as the conceptual mystery but also the key to understanding mass, electric­ ity, and gravity. Of Hertz's demonstration of electric waves, Helmholtz told the Physical Society of Berlin: "Gentlemen! I have to communicate to you today the most important physical discovery of the century. " Hertz, philosophizing in his direct, lucid, pithy style, once wrote "We have to imagine". Perhaps this is metaphysics on the horizon? In the early pages of his Principles of Mechanics, we read A doubt which makes an impression on our mind cannot be removed by calling it metaphysical: every thoughtful mind as such has needs which scientific men are accustomed to denote as metaphysical. (PM23) And at another place, concerning the terms 'force' and 'electricity' and the alleged mystery of their natures, Hertz wrote: We have an obscure feeling of this and want to have things cleared up.

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This first major collection of essays devoted to Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894) brings together an international group of physicists, philosophers, and historians of science. It includes investigations of Hertz's background, his theoretical and experimental contributions, his philosophy of science, and his influence on science and philosophy in the twentieth century. Its central focus is Hertz's Principles of Mechanics of 1894 which develops the methodological intuitions that also informed his earlier discovery of electromagnetic wave radiation (so-called radio waves). Though his proposed reform of mechanics was not adopted, the book proved influential on physicists like Einstein, Schr?dinger, Bohr, and Heisenberg, and on philosophers like Cassirer, Schlick, and Wittgenstein. It can be regarded as an ancestor of Thomas Kuhn's Structure of ScientificRevolutions, it anticipated current discussions on the role of models in science, and it represents an important chapter in the history of conventionalism.
Audience: Philosophers of science, historians of science, Wittgenstein scholars, historians and philosophers of technology, physicists, electrical engineers, and mathematicians.

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This first major collection of essays devoted to Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894) brings together an international group of physicists, philosophers, and historians of science. It includes investigations of Hertz's background, his theoretical and experimental contributions, his philosophy of science, and his influence on science and philosophy in the twentieth century. Its central focus is Hertz's Principles of Mechanics of 1894 which develops the methodological intuitions that also informed his earlier discovery of electromagnetic wave radiation (so-called radio waves). Though his proposed reform of mechanics was not adopted, the book proved influential on physicists like Einstein, Schr?dinger, Bohr, and Heisenberg, and on philosophers like Cassirer, Schlick, and Wittgenstein. It can be regarded as an ancestor of Thomas Kuhn's Structure of ScientificRevolutions, it anticipated current discussions on the role of models in science, and it represents an important chapter in the history of conventionalism.
Audience: Philosophers of science, historians of science, Wittgenstein scholars, historians and philosophers of technology, physicists, electrical engineers, and mathematicians.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xi
Heinrich Hertz and the Berlin School of Physics....Pages 1-8
From Helmholtz’s Philosophy of Science to Hertz’s Picture-Theory....Pages 9-24
The Loss of World in the Image: Origin and Development of the Concept of Image in the Thought of Hermann von Helmholtz and Heinrich Hertz....Pages 25-38
Heinrich Hertz’s Experiments and Experimental Apparatus: His Discovery of Radio Waves and His Delineation of Their Properties....Pages 39-58
Hertz’s Study of Propagation vs. Rutherford’s Study of Structure: Two Modes of Experimentation and Their Theoretical Underpinnings....Pages 59-72
On Hertz’s Conceptual Conversion: From Wire Waves to Air Waves....Pages 73-87
Hertz’s Views on the Methods of Physics: Experiment and Theory Reconciled?....Pages 89-102
Heinrich Hertz and the Geometrisation of Mechanics....Pages 103-121
Hertz’s Principles....Pages 123-154
“Everything Could be Different”: The Principles of Mechanics and the Limits of Physics....Pages 155-171
The Reception of Heinrich Hertz’s Principles of Mechanics by His Contemporaries....Pages 173-181
Heinrich Hertz’s Mechanics: A Model for Werner Heisenberg’s April 1925 Paper on the Anomalous Zeeman Effect....Pages 183-223
Heinrich Hertz’s Picture-Conception of Theories: Its Elaboration by Hilbert, Weyl, and Ramsey....Pages 225-242
Hertz’s Philosophy of Nature in Wittgenstein’s Tractatus ....Pages 243-268
Reflections on Hertz and the Hertzian Dipole....Pages 269-280
Heinrich Hertz — A Bibliography....Pages 281-305
Back Matter....Pages 307-324

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This first major collection of essays devoted to Heinrich Hertz (1857-1894) brings together an international group of physicists, philosophers, and historians of science. It includes investigations of Hertz's background, his theoretical and experimental contributions, his philosophy of science, and his influence on science and philosophy in the twentieth century. Its central focus is Hertz's Principles of Mechanics of 1894 which develops the methodological intuitions that also informed his earlier discovery of electromagnetic wave radiation (so-called radio waves). Though his proposed reform of mechanics was not adopted, the book proved influential on physicists like Einstein, Schr?dinger, Bohr, and Heisenberg, and on philosophers like Cassirer, Schlick, and Wittgenstein. It can be regarded as an ancestor of Thomas Kuhn's Structure of ScientificRevolutions, it anticipated current discussions on the role of models in science, and it represents an important chapter in the history of conventionalism.
Audience: Philosophers of science, historians of science, Wittgenstein scholars, historians and philosophers of technology, physicists, electrical engineers, and mathematicians.
Content:
Front Matter....Pages i-xi
Heinrich Hertz and the Berlin School of Physics....Pages 1-8
From Helmholtz’s Philosophy of Science to Hertz’s Picture-Theory....Pages 9-24
The Loss of World in the Image: Origin and Development of the Concept of Image in the Thought of Hermann von Helmholtz and Heinrich Hertz....Pages 25-38
Heinrich Hertz’s Experiments and Experimental Apparatus: His Discovery of Radio Waves and His Delineation of Their Properties....Pages 39-58
Hertz’s Study of Propagation vs. Rutherford’s Study of Structure: Two Modes of Experimentation and Their Theoretical Underpinnings....Pages 59-72
On Hertz’s Conceptual Conversion: From Wire Waves to Air Waves....Pages 73-87
Hertz’s Views on the Methods of Physics: Experiment and Theory Reconciled?....Pages 89-102
Heinrich Hertz and the Geometrisation of Mechanics....Pages 103-121
Hertz’s Principles....Pages 123-154
“Everything Could be Different”: The Principles of Mechanics and the Limits of Physics....Pages 155-171
The Reception of Heinrich Hertz’s Principles of Mechanics by His Contemporaries....Pages 173-181
Heinrich Hertz’s Mechanics: A Model for Werner Heisenberg’s April 1925 Paper on the Anomalous Zeeman Effect....Pages 183-223
Heinrich Hertz’s Picture-Conception of Theories: Its Elaboration by Hilbert, Weyl, and Ramsey....Pages 225-242
Hertz’s Philosophy of Nature in Wittgenstein’s Tractatus ....Pages 243-268
Reflections on Hertz and the Hertzian Dipole....Pages 269-280
Heinrich Hertz — A Bibliography....Pages 281-305
Back Matter....Pages 307-324
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