Book Description

Customer Reviews (9)

Perhaps the best non-technical overview out there
This is perhaps the best of the non-technical treatments out there of RT that require some mathematical literacy but no higher math like calculus. I read an earlier edition of this book almost 30 years ago when first in college, after reading one of the non-mathematical books, and it really opened my eyes to some of more advanced and technical aspects of the theory. Yes, there is considerable math in the book, but it's all algebra, no calculus is needed. Born covers all the important facets and aspects of the theory, without skipping over the more difficult concepts.

Years later, when my mathematical skills were more developed (I was up thru advanced calc and a year of differential equations), I went to the trouble (although I was just a biology major), of reading one of Born's books on Optics, which was quite fascinating. It brought back memories of the earlier, more readable relativity book, since I wasn't quite up to the level of his book on Optics, but then it's always good to try to stretch your mind a bit. But Born was such a great presenter that I struggled through the book despite the overall level of technical difficulty. I find optics for some reason the most interesting of all the areas of physics that I have tried to learn something about, perhaps because of my graduate work in the neurophysiology and biophysics of visual perception, to which it has some relevance.

But getting back to this book, you won't find the math too daunting if you just remember some high school algebra. I learned more from this book than any other popular treatment, of which I've probably read half a dozen. Overall, a great intro to the subject and probably the most unstintingly detailed in coverage of the more difficult ideas.

The Lament
Dr. Einstein oft lamented that so few really understood his theories.He said that perhaps there was one or maybe two people that understood.It seems to me Max Born must be one of them.His work simplifies as much as possible without sacrificing the level of knowledge needed to grasp the topic and begin to see its implications. It is a complex topic but Max Born rises to the occasion to give us at least a glimpse into this important subject.

If you only have one physics book
This little book is a complete delight;if you can only take one physics book to bed with you at night, this might be it.Born reviews much of classical mechanics and E&M, and gives a great introduction to special relativity.There is a bit more on the history of ether than I really wanted to see, but that aside, this a wonderful, comprehensive, handy (not big and heavy) and inexpensive book. I highly recommend it.

Interesting Overview
The book starts with an interesting and simple overview on Mechanics and Electromagnetism. The basic concepts of SR are presented, like Lorentz Transformations, space contraction, time dilatation, velocities addiction and the well known "E = mc2". It ends with a small introduction to GR.

The notation is not quite usual, so don't be surprised to read "K = mb" for the usual "F = ma". Anyway, read it if you are young (I read it right after my "Sweet Sixteen") or if you want reduced knowledge of the matter.

A Gem
At times notation can be a distraction, at other times notation can cause confusion, as in E&M most notably. Max Born's book is a gem and if you can get around the mild distractions and focus on the ideas then you may even get around the paradoxes in Relatively, where "common sense" is a distraction.
Some gifted people can write and explain well the most complex ideas some cannot. Max Born succeeds one of the best popular books on Relativity. ... Read more

Book Description
The year is 1971.With mounting casualties and a rising anti-war sentiment, America's time in Vietnam is coming to a close.Yet in the isolated Valley Forge Firebase on the Cambodian border, Captain Frank Castle is one of the few soldiers still committed to the fight against the enemy.With dwindling reserves, Castle must stand against an impending Viet Cong attack that threatens to wipe out the entire American platoon.To survive the battle, what grim decision must he make that will forever alter the course of his life?In this acclaimed tale, superstar Garth Ennis reveals the never-before-told story of the horrors Castle was forced to face to come home fromVietnam alive, ending in a shocking twist that will forever change how readers see Marvel Comics' most famous urban vigilante. Collecting BORN #1-4. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (15)

Frank's inner demons
Frank Castle, the man who would one day be known as The Punisher, is on his third tour of duty in Vietnam when something terrible starts creeping into his psyche as his bloodthirsty nature gets the better of him in this trade paperback entitled BORN. I enjoyed it a lot, and I would love it if Garth Ennis took it upon himself to write more tales starring a younger Punisher who is still learning the ropes and coming to grips with who he is and what he will eventually become. BORN appealed to me because it centers around the notion that the death of Frank's family was not the catalyst that gave birth to The Punisher, but that the vigilante side has lurked beneath the surface ever since Frank's last tour in 'Nam, when he made a deal with something or someone that feeds on death and bloodshed. This allowed him to survive long enough to become the world's fiercest vigilante, but at a terrible price. I adore Robertson's art (check out Ennis and Robertson's other project The Boys for similar brilliance) and the covers of the individual issues by Wieslaw Walkuski are absolutely amazing. Punisher shows that even during his early years no one was safe from his wrath as he punishes Vietnamese and fellow soldiers alike in typically violent ways in trademark Ennis style. I loved the plot and the overall realization that some dark entity inspired the Punisher, and it makes for an interesting read at the end of the day. I gave it four stars because the comic turned out to be a tad more predictable than Ennis' ongoing Punisher MAX series, and it felt as if I had seen something like it before somewhere (a man in dire peril makes a deal with a devil or whatever to become something inhuman that serves the devil's needs, almost like Ghost Rider). What is different here though is that Frank Castle enjoyed killing and just needed an excuse to go on an endless rampage and become what he always wanted to become. Even when he moralizes with fellow officers his inner voice or demon refutes his claim that he wishes to be 'saved'.Throughout the book Frank is portrayed as a man in love with death, and though he is presented with a choice the reader gets the feeling towards the end that we know which path Frank will take, since he is obviously destined to become Marvel's quintessential vigilante, so the comic basically just shows you how the situation in which Frank makes the choice came about. I heartily recommend this book to anyone who has read the MAX series or even Ennis' earlier Preacher comics, it won't disappoint.

Thinly Plotted But Pretty Good
Punisher Born shows that Frank Castle was a hard bitten US Marine in the Viet Nam War, dispensing his own brutal justice long before he became The Punisher.

Darrick Robertson's art is nicely done, albeit with a few major blunders.For example, his opening scene of a US C-130 is not well drawn and later on he shows a US airstrike that first depicts a pair of F-8 Crusaders that mysteriously transform one panel later into a pair of F-4 Phantoms.That is way too big of a blunder.

The coloring is excellent, especially in the jungle scenes.It's a solid piece of the Punisher puzzle but I think Garth Ennis could have plotted it more thickly.

not good enough
I think that this subject, the birth of the Punisher, or the background for his birth, should be one of the best possible chances any writer will ever have to be creative and violent in his storytelling. Alas, this story is only violent. There is no creativeness. The Vietnam setting dosen't really get used in the story, the action far too much resembles that of Platoon, and the story is only about half as long as it should be.

I must applaud the interaction between Frank Castle and Death though. I don't, as another reviewer does, see it as unlikely or out of character. It's a psychological twist to the character that would become the Punisher. It gives him that sort, in lack of better words, mental dysfunction, that one would expect from a man as brutal and determined as the Punisher.

Overall, I don't think justice has been done to the subject of the birth of the Punisher, but there are a few good things in there.

excellent comic book
This is a great comic book!If you're interested in why The Punisher started punishing criminals, you should read this.Garth Ennis' style is awesome, and the book has a realistic feel.The story line is great as well.

Everything you would expect from Ennis
Frank Castle isn't the only man to ever lose his family to violence, so why is he the only one to go on a three decade long killing spree of societies worst? Garth Ennis attempts to answer that question in this must own volume for any Punisher fan. In this book you get the real origin. Here you learn what makes Castle a killing machine, not just what pushes him over the edge. Not only are all the blood, guts and cursing that would actually be there evident but so are the horrible situations and choices that must be made during wartime.Ennis takes great care to tell not only the story of the Punisher but also the story of Vietnam and what it might have meant for the average grunt on the ground. This book is everything you would want in a Punisher story, a vietnam story or a Garth Ennis story. ... Read more

Book Description
Albert Einstein and Max Born were great friends. Their letters span 40 years and two world wars. In them they argue about quantum theory, agree about Beethoven's heavenly violin and piano duets (that they played together when they met) and chat about their families. Equally important, the men commiserate over the tragic plight of European Jewry and discuss what part they should play in the tumultuous politics of the time.Fascinating historically, The Born-Einstein Letters is also highly topical: scientists continue to struggle with quantum physics, their role in wartime and the public's misunderstanding. First published by Macmillan in 1971, this book is re-issued, with a substantial new preface by leading US physicists Kip Thorne and Diana Buchwald, as part of 2005's Relativity Centenary celebrations. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

A vivid account of XXthcentury history and science
This book is the history of a lifelong frienship between two great scientists, but is much more than this as it covers perhaps the most dramatic period of the history of humanity. Their lives were conditioned by the two world wars which originated the scene in which we all live now in XXI century.

A peculiar glimpse into the relationship of two physicists
Take a great mathematician, add to it the talent of a philosopher, the mindfulness of a Buddhist monk and the intuition of a gifted doctor and you get a world's greatest physicist. This book is a peculiar glimpse into the relationship of two accomplished physicists. The letters touch up on a number of scientific, humanitarian, and political issues. Enlightening account of two intelligent people dealing with the inevitable intellectual and personal differences within the context of their freindship. A fascinating account of Einstein's state of mind during his last days and his general attitude towards dying at the end of the book. The translations are done in questionable English but it only adds to the charms. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

Revealing the Human Side of Two Brilliant Scientists!!
+++++

The highlight of this book by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Max Born (1882 to 1970) is the letters he and Nobel Prize-winning physicist Albert Einstein (1879 to 1955) exchanged between the years 1916 and 1955.These letters (that were never meant to be published) show the human side of these brilliant physicists.

This book has an overall introduction broken up into seven sections:

(1) Note on this new edition by Gustav Born (one of Max Born's sons).
(2) Acknowledgements for this new edition again by Gustav.
(3) A Modern Preface to this new edition by historian Diana Buchwald and physicist Kip Thorne.
(4) Forward to the original edition by Nobel Prize-winning philosopher Lord Bertrand Russell.
(5) Introduction to the original edition by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Werner Heisenberg.
(6) Acknowledgements to the original edition by Max Born.
(7) A kind of Preamble to the letters again by Max.

Then we come to:

(8) "The Born-Einstein Letters"
(9) "Index"

I recommend reading the seven sections of the overall introduction first before reading the actual letters themselves.

Special mention should be given to the Modern Preface (written in Sept. 2004) to this new edition.This section is very thorough (it has more than 60 footnotes) explaining everything you need to know about the letters themselves.

The "Born-Einstein Letters" themselves are numbered for easy reference.The first letter is dated (Feb. 27, 1916) while the last is dated (Jan. 29, 1955).There are commentaries, explanations, and autobiographical remarks by Born accompanying almost every letter. As the modern preface says:

"These commentaries are striking in their candor, in their admiration for Einstein and the apparent need for Born to comprehend and explain some of the major disagreements with Einstein over the years."

This collection of 120 translated letters itself can be broken down as follows:

(i) 39 letters from Einstein to Born
(ii) 7 from Einstein to (Born and his wife Hedwig nicknamed "Hedi")
(iii) 17 letters between Einstein and Hedi
(iv) 48 from Born to Einstein
(v) 3 from (Born and Hedi) to Einstein
(vi) 1 from Born to Einstein's second wife
(vii) 1 in each direction between Einstein and Born and Max's friend, the physicist James Franck
(viii) 3 from Wolfgang Pauli, a theoretical physicist, to Born

As the modern preface says:

"The letters themselves constitute one of the most vivid and valuable testimonies in the development of modern science.They also tell us much about the personal hardships that Einstein and Born overcame during two world wars, the vagaries of academic life, the daily grind of administrative work, and the steadfastness and frailty of human relationships.Throughout runs a scientific dialogue that was central to their lives...

[Most of these letters] attest to the close, lively, and at times turbulent relationship among [Born, Hedi, and Einstein].Esteem, affection, and occasional criticism from the Borns is countered by warmth from Einstein with occasional flirtatiousness toward Hedi and at times defensive, even wounded humor...

Born included [the 3 letters from Pauli (as indicated in viii above)] as they illuminate a misunderstanding between himself and Einstein about quantum mechanics...

The frequency, topics, and tone of the letters...reflect the initial closeness, and cooling and final rapprochement between Einstein and Born.Between 1916 and 1920 both wrote to each other eagerly.After Einstein's rise to national and international fame, they exchanged less than four letters per year on average, until the final year and a half of Einstein's life, when the early warmth returned and their correspondence regained its original intensity."

The themes in these letters and Born's commentaries impart an "impressive tapestry."Some include those of a personal nature such as Einstein's philosophy of life; his relaxed attitude towards mistakes in his scientific work; and Born's disappointment over the poor early recognition of his contributions to quantum theory.Larger social and political themes include Communism; Zionism; Born's and Einstein's extensive efforts to help Jewish scientists in the wake of Hitler's rise to power; the Holocaust; the atomic bomb; Hiroshima and Nagasaki; and the evolution of Germany after World War Two.

In these letters we meet a large number of distinguished scientists of the era.We also see the extensive range of scientific issues that occupied Born and Einstein during their careers.

A highlight of this book (for me, at least) is the historical 1927 black and white photo of almost 30 distinguished scientists (all men except one woman) of that time.Born and Einstein are highlighted in this photo.

Don't worry!You don't have to know any science to read this book.You can simply skip those science parts you don't understand.However, knowing some science or having access to a good science dictionary would be beneficial.

Finally, there were two problems I found with this book:

First, there is no table of contents.I thought this odd since the book is so well organized.Instead there is only a title page that only lists (without giving page numbers) 5 of the 9 sections indicated above.For a book of such important historical and scientific historical magnitude, I thought this was a major oversight.

Secondly, the index is only a name index.There is no subject index.Why?There is an impressive array of topics covered in these historical letters (some of which I touched on above).Thus, I think a subject index should have been mandatory.

In conclusion, this is a unique book that includes the actual letters between Albert Einstein and Max Born.Be sure to read this book and see why Born said, "With [Einstein's] death, we, my wife and I, lost our dearest friend."

(first published in English 1971;this edition published 2005;overall introduction of 7 sections;120 letters with commentaries;overall introduction and letters comprise 270 pages;name index)

+++++
... Read more

Book Description
In 1920, Albert Einstein wrote to Max Born, "Theoretical physics will flourish wherever you happen to be; there is no other Born to be found in Germany today." The End of the Certain World presents for the first time Born's full story: Nobel physicist, a discoverer of quantum theory, exile from Hitler's Germany, teacher of nine Nobel physicists. Born's role in the "Golden Age of Physics" helped to shape the science of the twentieth century and open the door to the modern era. Robert Oppenheimer, Edward Teller, and Eugene Wigner, among others, flocked to Gšttingen, Germany in the 1920's to work with Born, the physicist who had discovered one of the most profound principles of the century - the physics of indeterminacy. In a cruel twist of fate Born, a pacifist who loved science for its beauty, had educated these renowned scientists who developed the atom bomb.

Not everyone embraced Born's revolutionary quantum principle. Throughout much of his forty year friendship with Einstein, the two debated the nature of the universe - deterministic versus non-deterministic -with Einstein declaring "God does not play dice", even though the Nobel Committee supported Born's position when they awarded him the 1954 Prize. A social history and a history of science as well as an intimate biography, The End of the Certain World reveals the story of a great physicist and humanitarian and his struggle with the forces of religion, politics, and war during the upheavals of the twentieth century. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

A magnificent biography that links Born's science with his personal life...
I've been reading steadily about the physicists from the same time period as Einstein up through and including oppenheimer and Feynman. My training in science is mostly neuroscience and cell biology, but I've been teaching a lot of chemistry lately at the local community college. This means I have to teach about the atom and what is now known about electrons and basic atomic theory. I've always been very curious about physics, especially physics that deal with atomic particles and light. Einstein has always been one of my favorite people to read about and quote, so it was natural to me to start reading about the people he came across, and those who helped build on his work through work of their own. Besides, it has always driven me batty trying to separate all the names and the countries of these guys. So many were German, and if they were not German, they went to German schools of physics for their training, or were deeply involved with the German school of physics. I was always getting Born and Bohr mixed up...so I decided the more I knew about these guys the better able to explain their work.

This book is first rate. I cannot comment on the accuracy of the physics, but there are many physics concepts that Greenspan elucidated because they were Born's ideas or discoveries, and from reading this book, I certainly understand these ideas much better than I did before. Just as in reading David McCullough's books on John Adams, where you cannot separate the man from his political beliefs about individual freedom, neither should you read a book about a man such as Born and expect to get through without being introduced to the work of his lifetime, which was explaining and proving parts of atomic theory through mathematics. I enjoy reading the science, even if I have to go back and read it more than once to gain an understanding of it. Even more thrilling is reading the work of these men and being able to better explain these concepts in my classes.

I admire greatly theoretical physicists and mathematicians, even if I am incapable of doing this work myself. As Einstein once stated, he wanted to know these things because he could better understand the 'work of God.' I find that the more I read from the physicists of this period of time, the more I understand. It's difficult to fathom so many great men (and a few women) who lived at one time period and worked together to bring the world to an understanding of physics as we know it. It makes you wonder why we have no outstanding physicists now (except for Stephen Hawkings) and it makes me wonder how limiting our education is, that not only the U.S. but Europe and Asia seem not to be able to produce the great men that we saw so many of during the first 50 years of atomic physics (say from 1890 to 1950). What happened, and where have all these magnificent minds gone? Why can we not produce men and women like this now...these are the questions that educators should be asking themselves.

Born's life with his family and friends, the escape from a rabidly anti-Semitic Germany, the life spent in Scotland, all of which were entwined with his work is absolutely fascinating. Greenspan did a beautiful job not only of research but of editing, and placing in her book, the important letters and research. I've only seen biographies like this from one other person, and he dealt with the great men from the Revolutionary time period in America. This is definitely a book worth buying and reading, and one that I recommend highly to my students and those interested in this time period. Warning to readers, this is a heavy duty book, and not one to be undertaken lightly!

Karen Sadler

fascinating time period
This is a good, easy-to-read biography of a well known yet not quite household name physicist who was pivotal in the early days of quantum mechanics and beyond.

This book is mainly a biography of the man and less so of the science. It is very good in that respect and shows how Born fit into the history of those times. Due to the fact that he was a Jew in Germany before WWII lends well to an interesting history.

The science is in here yet quite useless to the layman and the language the author sometimes uses is confusing to the physicist. The physicist will want to see more of the physics and mathematics but you will not get it in this book.

Many will see that Max Born was a person not too much different than a university educated person nowadays in his beliefs, morals, and ethics. Since mine are opposed to his, I personally did not find his life to be much of an inspiration (with such quotes as "For the belief that there is only one truth and that oneself is in possession of it, seems to me the deepest root of all that is evil in the world").

Of course, the book just made me jealous of his brains, but most biographies do that to me.

Thorough research has uncovered many fascinating facts
Although the physics in this book has been criticized, I noticed only a couple of errors. They did not seriously degrade the book. Be sure to read Born's reaction to his student Oppenheimer on page 146. ("My soul was nearly destroyed by this man.") I was a little disappointed that there was not more about Jordan - the Nazi who collaborated with Born for many years. Also, it would have been nice to have put in a little about Born's granddaughter - the singer/actress Olivia Newton-John.

The end of the certain world
The title of the book clearly is to be taken two ways. Relating to the development of quantum theory where the calculations of the most basic quantities such a position and momentum of a particle yield fundamentally inexact quantities, probabilistic distributions rather specific numbers.Also relating to the end of the relatively tranquil and to an extent predictable, world of well to do professional and academic Jews in Germany as the result of a horrific anti-Semitism. That story, the far more poignant of the two, makes the book, unexpectedly, a page-turner.

The origin of matrix mechanics and wave mechanics appears here directly connected to the individuals involved, their personalities including Born's often openly exposed. The book is a wonderfully detailed history of the scientific events described, paper by paper, as they happened. The author has done a wonderful job. The book is very thoroughly annotated. The personal biographical information is sometimes very revealing. I'd read the published Born-Einstein correspondence and was aware of Einstein's understandable refusal to find acceptable Born's move back to Germany, pretty explicit in one letter.Einstein though probably understood and so will you if you read the book.

The End of the Certain World: The Life and Science of Max Born
An excellent blend of biography with the relevant aspects of the history of physics and the social context in which it evolved.It makes clear that the immense importance of Born's role in the emrergence of quantum mechanics has been inadequately recognized.The author also conveys clearly the great impact Born had as a teacher of great physicists and through his many magisterial books.I learned considerably more than I expected to about both Born and the history of physics in the first half of the 20th century, and the graceful, clear prose fo the author made it a pleasure to do so. ... Read more

Book Description
Principles of Optics is one of the classic science books of the twentieth century, and probably the most influential book in optics published in the past forty years. This edition has been thoroughly revised and updated, with new material covering the CAT scan, interference with broad-band light and the so-called Rayleigh-Sommerfeld diffraction theory. This edition also details scattering from inhomogeneous media and presents an account of the principles of diffraction tomography to which Emil Wolf has made a basic contribution. Several new appendices are also included. This new edition will be invaluable to advanced undergraduates, graduate students and researchers working in most areas of optics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

Need modernising
Yes - all classical (linear) optical concepts are in here, and yes, it's the 'bible', but it's very dated in its content, style and references, generally, and not very practical to use.

I wish Hecht - or someone like him - would re-write this classic as a more advanced version of his book.

The Bible

Amazing book. It's the bible of geometric optics. Have everything you might need.

Needs a little previous knowledge, but which book doesn't?

A Classic in the Science of Optics
I read this book in the late sixties, when some of my fellow engineers built and tested an acoustic lens for a developmental company. Born & Wolf were well-acquainted with antenna aperture theory, and were among the first to write that the human eye could resolve 5X better than aperture theory would predict. This they credited to involuntary eye movements called flicks and saccades, which when combined with the brain's ability to do signal processing, was able to produce much better resolution than would have been predicted by the diameter of the retinal rods. In many ways the book gives testimony to God's wonderful gift of vision with color, depth, clarity, and order.

Good book
It is just a rare book on physical optics based on Maxwell equations. Rarely a book states the assumptions,the validity of the equations, the principles and how the equations arrived. Certainly, it is a great book for postgraduates and researchers in physical optics not so for undergraduate students who don't want to go through all the mathematics.

A Classic
This book is a classic with all problems associated. Half of the reference quoted have been written before the WWII. Very useful if you like to quote original papers. This book cover most topics of the classical optics but hardy cover modern topics.

However, it is hard to read and use a weird notation. Certainly not useful for rapid referencing. Like the bible, use it only when you have serious problem to deal with. ... Read more

Book Description
At the time of its original publication this reissued 'classic' text, co-written by the Nobel Laureate of 1954, Max Born, represented the final account of the subject and in many ways it still does. The book is divided into four sections. The first of these is very general in nature and deals with the general statistical mechanics of ideal lattices, leading to the electric polarizability and to the scattering of light. The second part deals with the properties of long lattice waves; the third with thermal properties and the fourth with optical properties. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

THE ORIGIN OF THE BORN-OPPENHEIMER APPROACH
This is not only the first, but still one of the best, explicit formulation of the Born-Oppenheimer approach, which stands as the basis for most of the quantum chemistry.

this book really sucked
i dont want to because this book sucked so ba ... Read more

Book Description

Customer Reviews (5)

Good preparation for your preliminary exam in Modern Physics
I used this book many years ago to prepare for my preliminary exams (pre-PhD exams) in modern physics. Although it's dated (ca. 1950), that doesn't matter very much. The strong feature is that it discusses the content without getting into a lot of formalism, and gives the historical connection between different aspects that one is not likely to see in the usual text books.

An excellent overview of the development and character of modern physics!
Atomic Physics is based upon a series of lectures on physics that Born gave in Germany in 1933.Since then it has been translated into English updated significantly as physics developed.This means that the book represents sound physics, and not the relatively undeveloped 1933 picture of the physics.

I should note that the title of the book is slightly misleading. The original German edition was called modern physics. However, the publisher of the English version already had a book called modern physics, so the English version was renamed Atomic Physics.

Born covers a wide range of topics dealing with the gasses, elementary particles, the structure of the nucleus, atoms, molecules.He has written the book in the context of describing the historical development of each topic.This is done in a flowing style by only including important equations in the text.Derivations and so fourth are placed in the 130 pages of appendices in the back of the book.This allows the text to tell a story without the burden of constant discontinuities due to equations. If you want to see the maths, just flip to the back of the book.

I would classify this book somewhere between popular science and a textbook.Like a popular science it tells a story, it flows and readable.People with some knowledge of physics can read this book and learn a lot form it.Even without the appendices.On the other hand, like a text it doesn't give hand wavy, simplified descriptions of the physics.This is good hard physics.

While I wouldn't call this book a text, it is far too general for that, it does give an excellent overview of the development and character of modern physics from one of the people who was there in the thick of it.I highly recommend it to any person that is acquainted with physics.Non-scientists would probably benefit more from reading something like Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe.

This is a great book, it is well written, structure and relevant.It fully deserves five stars.To reiterate what other reviewers have said, I wish present-day textbooks were written this well.

You must have it
Well, this is probably not the most up to date text but it is still one of the best. The book is a collection of topics (Atomic Physics, Solid State Physics, some of QM, some of classical Physics, Statistical Thermodynamics), which are explained in a short, simple and clear way. This is also a great book for those who are familiar with QM: they will find an excellent collection of topics that are just outlined on other standard QM textbooks. Moreover one can learn a lot from the original way M. Born approaches important subjects in Physics (how to recognize the Physics in every concept, for example). This is a book everyone interested in Physics should have in her/his library.

Simple, exact and excelent
When we see how much quantum mechanics pushed our civilization and how badit became explained on 'modern' textbooks it is a relief to find out thatthis book is still published and affordable. A must for anyone interestedin the subject or needing to understand it with the help of one of thefathers of QM.

Why do we need Quantum Mechanics?
Max Born was one of the fathers of quantum mechanics, a great physicist and a cultivated gentleman. His "Atomic Physics" has been around since a long time, but is still the best place to find out why do we really need to replace Newtonian mechanics. This book studies every kind of phenomena which puzzled the physicsts of the early century, like thermal equilibrium of radiation, photo-electric effect, the Bohr model of the atom, specific-heat irregularities, cohesion forces among molecules, etc. Then he shows how quantum mechanics correctly describes each one of them. This is done in a pedagogically very effective way: the ideas are explained in the text, while the more formal derivations appear in a large set of appendices. These are gems of precision and concision, precious by themselves. My favorite one is the derivation of the Van der Waals forces (between molecules), which he shows to be essentially quantal, as they are due to the zero-point energy of the ! quantum harmonic oscillator. One of the great text-books of this century. ... Read more

Product Description
A wonderful collection of letters sent to Max Born including papers from the great physisists of the 20th century. ... Read more

Book Description
This digital document, covering the life and work of Max Born, is an entry from Contemporary Authors, a reference volume published by Thompson Gale. The length of the entry is 1023 words. The page length listed above is based on a typical 300-word page. Although the exact content of each entry from this volume can vary, typical entries include the following information:

• Place and date of birth and death (if deceased)
• Family members
• Education
• Professional associations and honors
• Employment
• Writings, including books and periodicals
• A description of the author's work
• References to further readings about the author

Book Description
The articles in this book reflect the omnipresence of diffusion processes in the natural sciences. They describe experimental results as well as theoretical models and computer simulations, and address a wide readership including graduate students. The problems treated stem from physics, astronomy, physical chemistry, biology, and medicine. The papers are presented in a tutorial style and reflect the present-day trends in the field. ... Read more

Book Description
"Die Welt wird eben nicht mit Vernunft regiert, und erst recht nicht mit Liebe", schrieb Max Born 1921 an seinen engen Freund Albert Einstein. Zwölf Jahre später, als die Nazis ihn zur Emigration nach England zwangen, sollte er am eigenen Leib erfahren, was dies bedeutete. Und selbst als das Nazi-Regime bezwungen war, erlebte Born die Zündung der ersten Atombombe als eine weitere Katastrophe. Es mag wie eine grausame Ironie des Schicksals erscheinen, dass gerade der überzeugte Pazifist Born, der die Wissenschaft um ihrer Schönheit willen liebte, der Lehrmeister für die Entwickler der Atombombe war: Robert Oppenheimer, Edward Teller, Eugene Wigner, Johann (John) von Neumann und andere waren einst nach Göttingen gepilgert, um mit Born zusammenzuarbeiten, jenem Physiker, der eines der grundlegendsten Prinzipien des 20. Jahrhunderts entdeckt hatte: die Unbestimmtheit.Max Born - Baumeister der Quantenwelt erzählt erstmalig die ganze Geschichte Borns - die des Nobelpreisträgers, des Mit-Architekten der Quantentheorie, des Exilanten aus Hitler-Deutschland, des Lehrers von neun Nobelpreisträgern. Born war maßgeblich daran beteiligt, die Wissenschaft des 20. Jahrhunderts zu prägen und der Moderne den Weg zu weisen. Zusammen mit seinen "Wunderkindern" - darunter sein Assistent Werner Heisenberg - löste Born das Quantenrätsel. Aber während Heisenberg 1933 der Nobelpreis verliehen wurde, ging Born leer aus. Mehr als 20 Jahre musste er noch warten, und als man ihm 1954 den Preis endlich zuerkannte, erhielt er ihn für seine statistische Deutung der Quantenmechanik. Dies war in mehr als nur einer Hinsicht eine Bestätigung: Über lange Jahre hatte er hierüber eine Debatte mit Einstein geführt, und sein Standpunkt, dass Gott doch würfelt, erfuhr mit dem Nobelpreis eine späte Anerkennung.Max Born - Baumeister der Quantenwelt ist nicht nur eine sozial- und wissenschaftsgeschichtliche Analyse, sondern auch eine intime Biografie. Nancy Thorndike Greenspan entfaltet die Geschichte eines großen Physikers und Humanisten und zeigt seinen Kampf mit den Mächten der Religion, der Politik und des Krieges auf. ... Read more

Book Description
This volume presents detailed discussions of a number of unsolved conceptual and technical issues arising, in particular, in the foundations of quantum theory and the philosophy of science. The 14 contributions capture a wide variety of viewpoints and backgrounds. Some chapters deal primarily with the main experimental issues; others focus on theoretical and philosophical questions. In addition, attempts are made to systematically analyze ways in which quantum physics can be connected to the neurosciences and consciousness research. ... Read more