Product Description
This is a detailed study of Niels Bohr's work on an epistemological foundation for twentieth century physics.The connections he drew between physics, language, and philosophy, are traced historically and their validity is analyzed in the light of contemporary science. ... Read more

Product Description
This volume is an important study for understanding the complex interconnections between basic science and its sources of economic support in the period between the two world wars.The focus of the study is on the Institute for Theoretical Physics (later renamed the Niels Bohr Institute) at Copenhagen University, and the role of its director, the eminent Danish physicist, Niels Bohr, in the funding and administration of the Institute.Under Bohr's direction, the Copenhagen Institute was a central workplace in the development and the formulation of quantum mechanics in the 1920s and later became an important center for nuclear research in the 1930s. Dr. Aaserud brings together the scholarhip on the internal origins and development of nuclear physics in the 1930s with descriptions of the concurrent changes in private support for international basic science, particularly as represented by Rockefeller Foundation philanthropy.In the process, the book places the emergence of nuclear physics in a larger historical context. This book will appeal to historians of science, physicists, and advanced students in these areas. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

skilled director and fund raiser
There have been several well regarded biographies of Niels Bohr. But Aaserud takes us on a more focused tour. He looks at Bohr's role as director of Copenhagen's Institute of Theoretical Physics, in the 1930s. The intent is to study Bohr's ability as a director, in keeping a nuclear physics research group funded, year after year.

Before the Second World War, this was a far trickier proposition. Then, nuclear physics was seen as pure science; decoupled from the real world. (An attitude that would radically change after the war.) So we see Bohr in a different light. He had clear talents in being able to wheedle funds out of wealthy benefactors. Of course, having the prestige of a Nobel clearly helped!

The book also has an extended discussion of the pre-war refugee problem. Mostly Jews who were denied positions in Nazi Germany, and who sought these at Bohr's institute. He made valiant and often successful attempts to get several of them jobs. But from the vantage point of today, with hindsight, one has to wonder if they should have looked further afield (like outside Europe). ... Read more

Product Description
Niels Bohr, founding father of modern atomic physics and quantum theory, was as original a philosopher as he was a physicist. This study explores several dimensions of Bohr's vision: the formulation of quantum theory and the problems associated with its interpretation, the notions of complementarity and correspondence, the debates with Einstein about objectivity and realism, and his sense of the infinite harmony of nature.Honner focuses on Bohr's epistemological lesson, the conviction that all our description of nature is dependent on the words we use and the ways we can unambiguously use them. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Thoughtful Read...
Almost anybody who has taken even a single course in Physics at High School level would have come across Neils Bohr name in what is known as Bohr's Model of the Atom. But that model hardly gives a clue to the geniusof Bohr - what seems simple and evident to us now was a great leap of humanunderstanding. And this book helps us appreciate that.

One senses analmost reverential tone in the way the book has been written. It would havetaken away from the book except that the facts are lucidly and logicallystated. Even the opinions voiced by many of Bohr's colleagues are put inproper context. All in all one gets the feeling of a well thought out andwell-researched book. ... Read more

Product Description
Of all the developments in twentieth century physics, none has given rise to more heated debates than the changes in our understanding of science precipitated by the ``quantum revolution''. In this revolution, Niels Bohr's dramatically non-classical theory of the atom proved to be the springboard from which the new atomic physics drew it's momentum. Furthermore, Bohr's contribution was crucial not only because his interpretation of quantum mechanics became the most widely accepted view but also because in his role as educator and spokesman for atomic physics Bohr was very much the patron spirit of the entire quantum revolution. The conceptual framework which he proposed to provide a new viewpoint for understanding the quantum theoretical description of atomic systems became for most of this century the dominant outlook of countless productive experimental and theoretical physicists. He called this new framework ``complementarity''.

... Read more

Product Description
Niels Bohr, the founder of quantum mechanics, is generally considered to be one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century. His work revolutionized natural science, and his name is inscribed in history side by side with the names of Galileo, Newton, and Einstein. He won the Nobel Prize in physics for his model of the atom, which is still taught today in science classes everywhere. But the image of Bohr is complete only when the physicist is joined with the person Niels Bohr. This book, skillfully interweaving Bohr's scientific and personal life, is the first biography to be based on the extensive archives of the Bohr Institute of Physics in Copenhagen, and on excerpts from many of Bohr's letters to his family, his friends, and his colleagues. In addition, the book includes more than 150 photographs, as well as extracts from Bohr's personal correspondence to his wife, Margrethe, dating from the time of their engagement to just before his death 50 years later. This work of scientific biography is accessible to both the scientist and the general reader. Skillfully translated from the original Danish by Geoffrey French, the book has been carefully edited for an English-speaking readership. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

Product Description
Bohr's first acquaintance with the subject of penetration of charged particles through matter was as early as in 1912 when he treated the absorption of &agr; and &bgr; rays on the basis of Rutherford's atomic model.From then on he kept a lifelong interest in the subject, often using it as an important test of the methods of atomic mechanics. His last paper on penetration, written together with Jens Lindhard, dealt with electron capture and loss and was published in 1954.

Part I of this volume follows Bohr's work on penetration theory based on classical mechanics.Part II deals with the general theory of penetration, taking quantum-mechanical considerations into account.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Whole New World Of Gorm
This book has really opened my eyes to Gorm. The concepts dicussed (the movement of particles through Gorm) are extremely interesting (dare I say arousing..?) and it generally turned me on. GO Jens, GO Gorm, GO GO GOAnders Kohl! ... Read more

Product Description
Part I is devoted to Niels Bohr's mission to promote an "open world" between nations, that is, full sharing of information in the scientific and technical, as well as in the cultural spheres the scientific and technical, as well as in the cultural spheres.He started his mission immediately upon escaping from Nazi-occupied Denmark in the autumn of 1943, when he realized that the bomb was on the way to becoming a reality.As he wrote in 1944, he considered that the existence of the atomic bomb "would not only seem to necessitate but should also, due to the urgency of mutual confidence, facilitate" the realization of an open world.During the Second World War, while being actively involved in the Allied atomic bomb project, Bohr was able to obtain access to Prime Minister Churchill and President Roosevelt to promote his view.After the war he continued his confidential approaches to the statesmen while publishing more generally oriented articles on the issue.

Although Bohr put in as much work in appeals to the statesmen as in his other writings, they were not intended for publication.This has called for the inclusion of a greater number than in earlier volumes of the Collected Works of previously unpublished documents as well as a particularly extensive historical introduction written by the editor.The material adds up to a fascinating sotry of the political dedication and social responsibility ofone of the major scientists of the twentieth century.

Part II documents Bohr's other social and political activities, such as his long-time presidency in the Royal Danish Academy of Sciences and Letters and his promotion of the peaceful uses of atomic energy.Taking a broader approach than most of his other publications, these occasional writings, which are most often published versions of talks at public events, are particularly well suited to present Bohr to the general public, as a thinker as well as a person.

* Niels Bohr
* Open World
* Atomic Bomb Project
* Science and Politics
* Collected Works
* Archival Documents
* Original Photographs ... Read more

Product Description
The influence of Niels Bohr's work, of his approach to research, both practical and theoretical, is widely felt today. His contributions to our knowledge of the atomic constituents of matter and to our view of science, remain of fundamental importance.

The publication of his collected works will give historians of science and scientists easy access to a life-work entirely devoted to the rational analysis of the laws of nature and of the singular character of their meaning for us.

In addition to Bohr's published papers, the series includes unpublished manuscripts and a wide selection of letters and other documents, with explanatory notes.

... Read more