Product Description
This text will thoroughly update the existing literature on atomic physics. Intended to accompany an advanced undergraduate course in atomic physics, the book will lead the students up to the latest advances and the applications to Bose-Einstein Condensation of atoms, matter-wave inter-ferometry and quantum computing with trapped ions. The elementary atomic physics covered in the early chapters should be accessible to undergraduates when they are first introduced to the subject. To complement the usual quantum mechanical treatment of atomic structure the book strongly emphasizes the experimental basis of the subject, especially in the later chapters. It includes ample tutorial material (examples, illustrations, chapter summaries, graded problem sets). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

old and new material [especially on qubits]
This book has two types of material; both well done. The first could have been written decades ago, and is the "traditional" atomic physics. Where you start with the hydrogen atom, and investigate its spectroscopy with the Schrodinger equation. Then the book takes the next logical step by going to helium and thence to heavier atoms. LS and JJ coupling and other refinements. Such material is now quite well known and you need this for a solid background.

But the book also has much more recent material. On quantum computing using qubits. These attempt to use the quantum states of small groups of atoms, to perform computations fundamentally different from current digital efforts. Enough detail is given for you to appreciate the severe experimental travails of the field, and how much more remains to be done, if qubits are ever to become useful. ... Read more

Product Description
The Nobel laureate’s brilliant exposition of the kinetic theory of gases, elementary particles, the nuclear atom, wave-corpuscles, atomic structure and spectral lines, electron spin and Pauli’s principle, quantum statistics, molecular structure and nuclear physics. Over 40 appendices, a bibliography, numerous figures and graphs.
... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Atomic Physics: 8th Edition (Dover Books on Physics and Chemistry)
This book on Atomic Physics is in its eighth printing for good reason. Its a five star book and I have evaluated against a college level, more detailed equivalent.This book has a balanced level of dialog, illustrations, graphs, charts and theoretical formulas to understandable explanations.I would recommend it to anyone interested in the subject. It will become your Bible. PS: I am retired and seventy+.CFC

Wonderful Real Physics
This is a wonderful book to read if you have an advanced degree in math and physics. The latter is needed to understand it completely. It's probably also a wonderful book to read even if you don't have an advanced degree in math and physics, for it does actually penetrate the equations and reveal the physics hidden within them. It is telling of the calculus-centric view of its era, that the author uses Fourier transforms, separation methods for PDEs, perturbation theory, and other advanced analysis tools, without flinching, but shies away from simple algebraic methods as being 'mathematically too advanced.'

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. ... Read more

Product Description
Quantum Electronics for Atomic Physics provides a course in quantum electronics for researchers in atomic physics. The book covers the usual topics, such as Gaussian beams, cavities, lasers, nonlinear optics and modulation techniques, but also includes a number of areas not usually found in a textbook on quantum electronics. It includes such practical matters as the enhancement of nonlinear processes in a build-up cavity, impedance matching into a cavity, laser frequency stabilization (including servomechanism theory), astigmatism in ring cavities, and atomic/molecular spectroscopic techniques for the generation of a discriminant for laser frequency locking. A number of very recent developments are discussed, such as fiber lasers and frequency metrology using femtosecond lasers. Problem sets are included at the end of each chapter. ... Read more

Product Description
Rich in personality, action, confrontation and deception, "Atomic" is the first fully realized popular account of the race between Nazi Germany, Britain, America and the Soviet Union to build atomic weapons. These were weapons that ended the Second World War and framed the early Cold War between the superpowers. The book draws on declassified material such as MI6's Farm Hall transcripts, coded Soviet messages cracked by American cryptographers in the Venona project and interpretations by Russian scholars of documents from the Soviet archives. Jim Baggott weaves these threads into a monumental book that spans ten historic years, from the discovery of nuclear fission in 1939 to 'Joe-1', the first Soviet atomic bomb test in August 1949. It includes dramatic episodes such as the sabotage of the Vemork heavy water plant by Norwegian commandos and the infamous meeting between Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, the subject of Michael Frayn's stage play Copenhagen.Baggott also tells of how Allied scientists were directly involved in the hunt for their German counterparts in war-torn Europe following D-Day; and, brings to light the reactions of captured German scientists on hearing of the Allied success at Hiroshima. Why did physicists persist in developing the atomic bomb, despite the devastation that it could bring? Why, despite having a clear head start, did Hitler's physicists fail? To what extent did the Soviet atomic programme rely on intelligence gathered by spies such as Klaus Fuchs, Theodore Hall, David Greenglass and the Rosenbergs? Did the Allies really plot to assassinate a key member of the German bomb programme? Did the physicists knowingly inspire the arms race? The book answers these and many other questions. Atomic is an epic story of science and technology at the very limits of human understanding; a tale barely believable as fiction, which just happens to be historical fact. ... Read more

Product Description
An epic story of science and technology at the very limits of human understanding: the monumental race to build the first atomic weapons.
Rich in personality, action, confrontation, and deception, The First War of Physics is the first fully realized popular account of the race to build humankind's most destructive weapon. The book draws on declassified material, such as MI6's Farm Hall transcripts, coded soviet messages cracked by American cryptographers in the Venona project, and interpretations by Russian scholars of documents from the soviet archives.

Jim Baggott weaves these threads into a dramatic narrative that spans ten historic years, from the discovery of nuclear fission in 1939 to the aftermath of 'Joe-1,' August 1949's first Soviet atomic bomb test. Why did physicists persist in developing the atomic bomb, despite the devastation that it could bring? Why, despite having a clear head start, did Hitler's physicists fail? Could the soviets have developed the bomb without spies like Klaus Fuchs or Donald Maclean? Did the allies really plot to assassinate a key member of the German bomb program? Did the physicists knowingly inspire the arms race? The First War of Physics is a grand and frightening story of scientific ambition, intrigue, and genius: a tale barely believable as fiction, which just happens to be historical fact. 32 black-and-white illustrations ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Good until about page 300
I have wanted to read a good, solid history of the Atomic Bomb for a while and grabbed this one as it was the most up-to-date. Although I enjoyed it, I wished I had chosen another one. Although Baggott is a very good writer, and he keeps things moving and makes the history come alive, I was disappointed by how little 'physics' there was in a book called The First War of Physics.
I was not expecting mathematical formulas, nor enough info to build my own, I was expecting more details and insight. If you asked me to explain how an atomic bomb works, I still cannot explain it - although I can explain Einstein's relativity theory, so it's not me, it was the lack of information in the book.He really skims over Oak Ridge and several other important areas of development.
A second issue was, after about 300 pages or so leading up to the first test, suddenly it's over. It's described in about 2 pages. He does the same with Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A real let down.
The last 150 pages really come down to spy vs. spy. Not what I was expecting. Overall I think he ended up trying to tell too many stories at once. I would strongly suggest he change the book to cover just 1939-1945 to flesh out that era. He can then start another book from 1945 through the 1960 or even through 1989. Overall, I'll be looking to read another book on this topic.

It was no "sin" to give democracies the atomic bomb
I should say up front that I defected from communist Czechoslovakia in 1965, am a nuclear scientist, and we all had to undergo years of Marx-Leninist studies, 1955-1960, at our university (Charles) in Prague. I know quite well what communism is like, in theory and practice.
This book is based, however, on the presumption that USSR had been morally equivalent, equally trustworthy, as the West.
Well, Stalin had murdered 30-50 thousand of surrendered Polish officers and other "class enemies", in 1940, in Katyn (this was not mentioned by Baggot). They surrendered believing they will find refuge in USSR. Stalin was supposedly preparing for the defense against Hitler(Baggott says). Well, by killing Polish officers, potentially his best allies?
Only now the Russians admitted fully they committed this horrible - and stupid - crime, that is after 70 years.
Klaus Fuchs helped the Soviets build the bomb so that they had it as early as 1949. The invasion of South Korea was facilitated by this fact. The communists always believed that their final victory is historically inevitable (similar to Hitler's belief that the Nordic race will conquer the world). The Korean war was also the first attempt to break the "confinement" policy, as outlined by Kennan in his famous long telegram (mentioned by Baggot). Thanks to Truman, and the US/UN forces, they failed.
In 1956 Eisenhower did not help the Hungarians. Then the Soviets gained Cuba. Who would be the next? Turkey? Vietnam? Malaysia?
Oleg Penkovsky, who told Kennedy that Khrushchev did not have very many atomic bombs during the Cuban crisis, and helped so the West, was caught by KGB, and sentenced to death by being slowly cremated alive. The movie of Penkovsky's death is being shown to KGB recruits. It's true the Russians have not owned up to this cruelty yet- well, it's been only 45 years...
Another and more recent case - Litvinenko. His also very painful murder could have been perpetrated only by the Russians who have access to nuclear reactors, to manufacture Po210. The proofs of this crime were beyond doubt. The Russians refused to extradite the murderer to England.
Anglo-Saxon countries had no revolutions or conquests for more than two centuries (England no conquest since 1066, others never). They cannot imagine what it's like to have complete reversals of governments, imposed on them from outside, and to live under the Nazis, or the Communists, etc. And to add insult to injury, many in the West consider us some pathetic East European tribesmen who have some local hard to understand disputes. No. The West was mostly the good guys, and the Communists were mostly the bad ones. I've sided with the good guys (and still do).
I'd add a personal plea, I wish I would not be hearing over and over again how the physicists "have known sin". The sensible ones did their duty - providing their duly elected leaders with the atomic bomb. Its use was exclusively Truman's responsibility. The dear physicists' hands are not "bloodied".
I salute Truman's decision - it saved millions of lives of both countries, and prevented Stalin's conquering parts of Japan
This book deserves the lowest score.

The Best I've Read
I agree very much with the previous comments and conclusions of Joe Pardue "Smiley's" review.My only addition would be to say that over the years I have read a good deal about this subject in books by Norris, Herken, Groves, Groueff and Feynman. This is the most complete, and yet concise, version of the story including the efforts in Europe as well as in the United States. Best of all is his unbiased approach and resistance to making moral conclusions about this complicated subject. If I could ever get my son-in-law to read it he might understand all of the facts which lead to the difficult decision to bomb Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Compelling read
I was born about the time that the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists first featured the Doomsday Clock and lived my formative years under the threat of nuclear annihilation. I can remember many times looking at a contrail in the sky and wondering if this was finally it?As a young adult I worked in Oak Ridge at the X-10 plant and got to see first-hand some of the artifacts of what Baggot calls `The First War of Physics'. I was in awe of the events that could have destroyed civilization. And I've often wondered how we managed not to destroy ourselves. Baggot's book is very well written and follows the important scientific, historical, and political events. His style flows well and at times makes the reading compelling almost like reading a novel. You see the ideas behind the science, the personalities that made the discoveries, and the truly frightening politics of the time. There are many events in this story that could easily lead to moralizing on the part of an author, but Baggot avoids the temptation and fairly expresses the concerns of the folks involved without taking a side. I strongly recommend this book. ... Read more

Product Description
This book provides a bridge between the basic principles of physics learned as an undergraduate and the skills and knowledge required for advanced study and research in the exciting field of atomic physics.The text is organized in a unique and versatile format --- as a collection of problems, hints, detailed solutions, and in-depth tutorials. This enables the reader to open the book at any page and get a solid introduction to subjects on the cutting edge of atomic physics, such as frequency comb metrology, tests of fundamental symmetries with atoms, atomic magnetometers, atom trapping and cooling, and Bose-Einstein condensates. The text also includes problems and tutorials on important basics that every practicing atomic physicist should know, but approached from the perspective of experimentalists: formal calculations are avoided where possible in favor of 'back-of-the-envelope' estimates, symmetry arguments, and physical analogies. The 2nd edition contains over 10 new problems, and includes important updates, revisions, and corrections of several problems of the 1st edition. ... Read more

Product Description

This established text contains an advanced presentation of quantum mechanics adapted to the requirements of modern atomic physics. The third edition extends the successful second edition with a detailed treatment of the wave motion of atoms, and it also contains an introduction to some aspects of atom optics that are relevant for current and future experiments involving ultra-cold atoms. Included: Various problems with complete solutions.

Product Description
In Laser Physics the interaction of radiation and matter, and the principles of laser operation are treated at a level suitable for fourth-year undergraduate courses or introductory graduate courses in physics, chemistry or engineering. The factors which determine efficiency, wavelength coverage, output power, and beam quality of the different classes of laser are treated both in terms of fundamental theory and practical construction aspects. Details of established types of solid-state, semiconductor, and gas lasers are examined together with the techniques that enable their output to be converted widely across the spectrum. The latest advances in high power fibre lasers, femtosecond lasers, and X-ray lasers are explained. The text is liberally illustrated with more than 300 diagrams. An extensive bibliography is provided, together with numerical problems in each chapter. Solutions are available via the web. ... Read more

Product Description
This indispensable new resource from AIP Press is the first single volume to bridge the many interrelated disciplines of atomic, molecular, and optical (AMO) physics. Along with a summary of key ideas, techniques, and results, many chapters offer you diagrams of apparatus, graphs, and table of data. From atomic spectroscopy to applications in comets, you'll find contributions from over 100 authors, all leaders in their respective disciplines. Available on CDROM ... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

a great help in preparing the coursework of atomic and molecular dynamics
The topics covered by this handbook is extensive and well chosen. I have got a great help in preparing a coursework, in particular in choosing the topics and in finding the appropriate references.

The biggest book I ever bought!
This book should come with warnings of possible back injury due to improper lifting :)It's a physics library you can carry on your back.A must have for all physics majors!

Drake has done a great job!
The AMOP Handbook has been a treasured tool back at the lab.This text is invaluable whether your need results from course work or understanding research.Buy it now! ... Read more

Product Description

Here for the first time, in rich, human, political, and scientific detail, is the complete story of how the bomb was developed, from the turn-of-the-century discovery of the vast energy locked inside the atom to the dropping of the first bombs on Japan.

Few great discoveries have evolved so swiftly -- or have been so misunderstood. From the theoretical discussions of nuclear energy to the bright glare of Trinity there was a span of hardly more than twenty-five years. What began as merely an interesting speculative problem in physics grew into the Manhattan Project, and then into the Bomb with frightening rapidity, while scientists known only to their peers -- Szilard, Teller, Oppenheimer, Bohr, Meitner, Fermi, Lawrence, and yon Neumann -- stepped from their ivory towers into the limelight.

Richard Rhodes takes us on that journey step by step, minute by minute, and gives us the definitive story of man's most awesome discovery and invention. The Making of the Atomic Bomb has been compared in its sweep and importance to William L. Shirer's The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. It is at once a narrative tour de force and a document as powerful as its subject.Amazon.com Review
If the first 270 pages of this book had been published separately,they would have made up a lively, insightful, beautifully written history oftheoretical physics and the men and women who plumbed the mysteries of theatom. Along with the following 600 pages, they become a sweeping epic, filledwith terror and pity, of the ultimate scientific quest: the development ofthe ultimate weapon. Rhodes is a peerless explainer of difficult concepts; heis even better at chronicling the personalities who made the discoveries thatled to the Bomb. NielsBohr dominates the first half of the book as J. Robert Oppenheimer doesthe second; both men were gifted philosophers of science as well as brilliantphysicists. The central irony of this book, which won a National Book CriticsCircle Award, is that the greatest minds of the century contributed to thegreatest destructive force in history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (173)

A riveting read
This book is proof that history need not put us to sleep. Rhodes takes us through the process of the development of the bomb, entertains us with the various personalities involved, horrifies us with the result of the effort, then challenges us to re-evaluate the misconception that science was responsible for nuclear weapons. The power was and is there, waiting to be understood. I couldn't put this book down and it has led me to investigate further some of the people involved. It doesn't get any better than this.

Even better twenty years later
I just re-read my copy of this book, after a lapse of twenty years. Funny how I forgot so much of the detail. This time through, I carefully made sure I understood each page before moving on, and there was plenty of flipping back and looking up things in the index.I am glad I did. I am almost finished with it for the second time, and appreciated it much more thesecond time, although I thought it one of the best books I ever read twenty years ago.
I am able to understand all of the concepts in the book, but I have studied physics for years.
Even if you don't want to study the physics involved, (made totally clear to the layman, no math), you will understand the politics of the project from beginning to end.
Simply put, a page turner.

landmark of 20th century historical writing
definitive. exhaustive. gripping. without a doubt one of the one hundred nonfiction books of the 20th century, and i don't think in this case that is empty hyperbole.

The "War and Peace" of Our Only Nuclear War
I think this book is a touch overrated.

Having said that, I couldn't put it down.

"The Making of the Atomic Bomb" is incredibly well-researched; it's thought-provoking and deep, yet lively and literary. And make no mistake, it is well worth your while; its greatest sections and passages are as absorbing and exciting as anything I've ever read. (As a precocious 4th grader prone to fleeing the world by burying my nose in books, I'd read eagerly about the incredible feats of engineering and physics that went into the atomic bombs; this book made me revert to my 4th-grade-self, walking around Chicago oblivious to the comparatively drab sights and sounds of the real world as I explored the livelier world within.) And given the primary research Rhodes has done, especially the interviews with many of the physicists and chemists who literally manufactured history in a hastily-assembled laboratory in the New Mexico desert, it seems impossible that anyone could put together even a comparably comprehensive history without copiously copping from this one. Nothing else compares; it is the "War and Peace" of our only nuclear war.

And yet, this feels like a science experiment where one has settled on a hypothesis prior to doing the research, and has ignored or minimized those results that threatened the theory. Rhodes takes us through virtually all of 20th century atomic physics, but he's assembled it in a structure that resembles one of those black hole coin wells one sees at the science center; everything starts out slow and lazy and happy, but eventually things get more energetic and more frentic; valuable time is lost, and valuable money disappears into an abyss of war and militarism. Also, if it shares "War and Peace's" strengths, it also shares its flaws; rather than sticking around to observe things and let events speak for themselves, the author spends many of the closing pages on maddening flights of philosophical fancy centered around the potential for worldwide Armageddon that the atomic bomb unleashed. When Rhodes was writing and researching this book--from 1981 to 1986, according to the endnotes--such fears surely seemed lively and compelling, topical and true, matters of monumental import to the whole human race; now they feel quaint and outdated. (In these post 9/11 days of endless hot wars, one almost feels nostalgic for the Cold War. Armageddon clocks ticking down the minutes to midnight? ICBMs on alert in North Dakota, waiting for the launch signals that would send them off on flaming arcs over the polar ice cap, but held at bay only by the prospect of Mutual Assured Destruction? I'll take that over fanatical and resourceful terrorists with a divine mandate any day. Our current world makes MAD feel sane.) At any rate, one realizes at the end that Rhodes' musings are not mere detours at the end of a masterful narrative; they have also warped its course, for in between his excellent chronicling of the bomb's development, Rhodes gets pulled off by other vectors, particularly by Neils Bohr's utopian musings about making nuclear weapons research subject to the same standards of openness and free disclosure that prevail in the rest of scientific discourse.

And it's a shame, because in the vast majority of the narrative Rhodes proves himself to be an incredibly talented writer and reporter, with a telling eye for facts and details, and an ease with complicated scientific concepts and analogies that, in turn, sets the reader at ease. I have read many other books on similar subjects and studied nuclear physics at the college level; still, I found myself learning new things from Rhodes' lucid and cogent descriptions of, say, the way a uranium atom fissions almost like a raindrop, or the way a cyclotron spins and separates atomic particles. And he weaves these descriptions into memorable scenes and stories; his descriptions of the construction and operation of the first nuclear reactor, a round-ish pile of graphite bricks and uranium trussed up by wooden scaffolding and nestled in a squash court at the University of Chicago, for instance, are lyrical and unforgettable. It is fascinating to read about the world's top nuclear physicists engaging in an experiment that was by turns precise and haphazard; it is engrossing to envision Enrico Fermi plotting neutron fluxes and calculating reaction coefficients while many of his staff members were wearing leftover raccoon coats to warm themselves against the Chicago winter because they had built the world's first nuclear reactor in an unheated building.

Rhodes turns these dead physicists into live characters by keeping his eyes open for the characteristic anecdotes, and his ear tuned for the telling quotes. During the Manhattan Project, for instance, General Leslie Groves, frustrated at wartime copper shortages that threatened to derail the construction of uranium-separating cyclotrons, decided to borrow thousands of tons of silver from the Treasury to build them instead; his assistant was told: "Colonel, in the Treasury we do not speak of tons of silver; our unit is the troy ounce." Eventually they ended up with over 10,000 tons of silver, though; Rhodes judiciously uses this fact, and others, to convey the sheer magnitude of America's nuclear effort. Thanks to the Manhattan Project, a whole city sprung up in Tennessee to support the uranium processing efforts, a city with tens of thousands of people which nonetheless remained off the map. And meanwhile the government was establishing the Hanford reservation in Washington State--an area a third the size of Rhode Island. The upshot of all of these efforts, Rhodes tells us, was that the U.S. essentially constructed a nuclear industry from scratch and grew it, in three short years, to be the size of the automobile industry.

And yet, of course, it was not about industry alone, but about dropping the product of that industry on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Here, too, I must take issue with the author; he expounds at length on Hiroshima, to the point that one almost becomes numb to its horrors, and yet he skimps on describing Nagasaki. The bomb used there was the more complicated and technically challenging of the two. (The tricky details of its construction end up taking far more space in the narrative than those for the relatively simple gun-type Hiroshima bomb; despite his revulsion at its use, Rhodes clearly admires the complicated engineering challenge it represented.) The mission which dropped it nearly ended up an unqualified and costly failure after it met with a string of bad luck. (Or good luck, at least, for the citizens of Kokura, the Japanese city which was saved from dubious immortality and near-total destruction thanks to unexpectedly cloudy weather that sent the second nuclear mission on to its secondary target; it is doubtful that bad weather has ever been more beneficial for a city and its populace.) And yet the last use of nuclear weapons in anger merits barely more than a page in this lengthy narrative, which is unfair to the reader, unfair to the story, and unfair to the hapless citizens of Nagasaki, whose fluke-filled fate deserves to be better remembered than as a glorified footnote.

Short shrift, too, is given to the considerable efforts of Soviet spies at security-heavy Los Alamos; it is possible that much of this information was simply not known when Rhodes wrote, and he did cover this subject in his later "Dark Sun;" still, it means this feels somewhat incomplete.

None of this is to say that one should avoid this book; it's massive enough and weighty enough that one simply can't avoid it if one is even tangentially interested in these topics. (Indeed, if one were to read only one book on the development and first use of the atomic bomb, this should probably be it.) Still, despite its lengthy word count, its thorough research, and its generally excellent writing, this is neither the last word nor the only word on its subject.

One of the important books of the 20th Century
"The Making of the Atomic Bomb"by Richard Rhodes is one of the most important books of the 20th Century,and comparable as non-fiction to"The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" byWilliam L. Shirer.

The ultimate understandingof the early 20thCentury, that Chemistrywas ultimately an Electrical phenomenon, gave riseto a profound understanding of physical matter.

The three broad criteria of science at the time were:

(a)PLAUSIBILITY

(b)SCIENTIFIC VALUE

(c)ORIGINALITY

The book details the research of ErnestRutherford and Niels Bohr into a question"old as Aristotle"which was that of VITALISM versus MECHANISM. It involved an
ongoing debate between philosophical and religious assumptives as to whether or not the Universe exhibited a "purpose" (the question of Teleology),or whether or not the Universe
operates according to mere Chance and automatic function. [The debate still rages, by the way.]



... Read more

Product Description
Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork. ... Read more

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Students and researchers in physics, engineering and other sciences will find this compilation of more than 3,000 physics formulas and tables invaluable. All the information included is practical, rarely used results are excluded. Topics range from elementary to advanced - from classical mechanics, thermodynamics and electromagnetism to optics and atomic physics. Great care has been taken to present all results concisely and clearly. Excellent to keep as a handy reference!

Customer Reviews (2)

Don't bother
This is not what I though it would be given the title and above review...in fact 1-star is too generous. It is correct to state that this e-book has physics formulas and tables related to thermodynamics, optics, quantum physics, etc and BEGINNING students may find it somewhat useful since it does have some rather vague explanations of the formulas.However, as a reference it falls and it is practically useless compared to the "Cambridge Handbook of Physics Formulas" or the "Physicist's Desk Reference"...both of which I use on a day to day basis.

My recommendation: If the Cambridge Handbook of Physics Formulas is available as an e-book, get it instead.

Excellent reference ebook
Physics Formulas and Tables. FREE Laws of Science and Weights and Measures chapters in the trial version

This is an excellent reference and self-study guide. And for the price, it's an absolute steal. If you've been wanting a concise, yet relatively complete Physics ebook, and one that is well-written and easy to follow, I highly suggest Physics Formulas and Tables by MobileReference. ... Read more

Product Description
In each generation, scientists must redefine their fields: abstracting, simplifying and distilling the previous standard topics to make room for new advances and methods. Sethna's book takes this step for statistical mechanics--a field rooted in physics and chemistry whose ideas and methods are now central to information theory, complexity, and modern biology. Aimed at advanced undergraduates and early graduate students in all of these fields, Sethna limits his main presentation to the topics that future mathematicians and biologists, as well as physicists and chemists, will find fascinating and central to their work. The amazing breadth of the field is reflected in the author's large supply of carefully crafted exercises, each an introduction to a whole field of study: everything from chaos through information theory to life at the end of the universe. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

Not good
This book is good only if you already know the subject from other books (like Donald Macquire or Pathria).

Short on info, long on problems
Overall, this is not a really bad book, the problem is the text is really short on explanations, and has virtually no examples. The author assumes that most of the learning will be done through the problems. Problem is most people don't have that kind of time to waste with problems.

If you like working problems, this is the book for you, if you want an informative text, than this is definitely not the book for you.

I really would like an updated version of Kerson Huang's truly excellent text. Statistical Mechanics, 2nd Edition

Great book, got me into the subject
I'mstudying for my final physics exams and - after having a look at a half-dozen or so other statistical mechanics book in the library - (none got me really involved) I have just to say that I'm really glad that I decided to buy this book!
It's really a joy and fun to read! I think that the other reviewers already gave a good description of the book and about the exercises I can confirm that there are lots of them with many topics being covered there. I personally think this is good, specially for self study - better do-it-yourself, the majority of them are very well elaborated and interesting.
I only wish also that some solutions would have been provided... (although I guess all of them together would fill another 300 pages book);
In any case highly recommended!

Deep, thoughtful, and beautiful introduction to the field
This advanced undergraduate or introductory graduate level text on statistical mechanics is clearly written by a master and perhaps visionary teacher. Statistical mechanics remains, in my opinion, the only truly rigorous science of emergent phenomena. As the scientific community in general focuses more on complex systems, it is likely that the techniques developed for the theoretical study of the statistical thermodynamic properties of matter will find widespread applications from biology to banking. In this spirit, this book is written to educate the next generation of scientists rather than as a text focused solely on existing applications.

While the subject matter of this book easily devolves into mathematical gymnastics, this text is wonderfully written to simultaneously build up an intuitive grasp along with proficiency with mathematical concepts. Introductory chapters on "What is statistical mechanics?" and "Random walks and emergent properties" are deceptively simple: the mathematical techniques employed in these chapters should be immediately accessible to senior level physics and engineering students. Yet by the end of Chapter 2, one finds oneself deriving a simple one-dimensional Fokker-Planck equation--a nontrivial application in statistical mechanics with applications in chemical kinetics, transport phenomena, mathematical biology, and finance.

This appeal to potentially broad applications is part of what makes this book unique. While a great number of important physical concepts are developed, this is really not an ordinary physics book. Instead, the tools and techniques of statistical mechanics are developed from an exceptionally broad perspective.

While I have worked very few of the problems, the end-of-chapter problems sets present deep and detailed questions that are critically integrated into the text. A reader who has the time and dedication to do the problems will gain much more than one who does not.

A terrific, contemporary and courageous textbook
The book Statistical Mechanics: Entropy, Order Parameters and Complexity by James Sethna is excellent. I have used it as the main textbook in my course on Statistical Physics for first year graduate students at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) in Brazil. The students and I liked it very much.

I think that the main quality of the book is that it presents Statistical Physics as a very dynamical subject, interconnected with several subjects within physics, as well as outside it.

Since the book is aimed for a one semester course on the subject, the author had to make important choices. I really liked his choices. For instance, the book does not discuss approximate methods used to treat systems with interacting particles, instead the author has chosen to have a chapter on Calculation and Computation. Although these methods have played an important role in the past, nowadays the study of the relevant problems in the field require computer simulations. The chapter on Computer Simulation is excellent. Instead of only discussing how to perform a Monte Carlo simulation, it proofs mathematically in detail (except for the Perron-Frobenius theorem) why one ends up with an equilibrium probability distribution after a number of Monte Carlo steps. Another important subject covered in the book is that of Abrupt Phase Transitions. For most Statistical Physics books, only Second Order or Continuous Transitions exist. The exercises are also another very important and interesting choice made by the author. They are very different from the usual exercises one can find in a regular textbook on Statistical Physics. The exercises are in general very intelligent and they appear in a broad range of difficulty, from those which can be solved by inspection to those that are small projects. I recall two great examples, exercises 5.7 and 5.10, where it is shown in a very clear and clever way that, when we know the system from a microscopic point of view, its entropy does not increase, whereas if we know only a coarse-grained description of it, then its entropy does increase. Some exercises lead the reader, in a secure way, through aspects of the theory that are not covered in the text. For instance, Landau's theory for phase transitions is presented in a very nice way in exercise 9.5.

Perhaps, the aspect that I have enjoyed most in the book is that the author does not shy away from discussing one of the thorniest points in the fundamentals of Statistical Physics: what entropy really is. The book discusses in some detail Phase Space Dynamics and Ergodicity. It presents some physical situations where the ergodic hypothesis breaks down. Usually this problem with the theory is swept under the rug in most textbooks. One very interesting case is that of the entropy of glasses. A subject the author himself has worked on. If a liquid is cooled down very fast it may become a glass, undergoing what is called a glass transition. When the system is in the liquid phase its atoms are diffusing and the system goes through all different possible configurations, that is believed to be the cause for its entropy (ergodicity). When the liquid undergoes a glass transition, the atoms cease diffusing and the system is jammed in one (a single one) structure of the liquid that generated it. If the system is not anymore going through all the possible configurations available what has happened to its entropy? No heat is released in this transition, therefore, one does not expect a change in its entropy. A hardcore purist would answer that the glass is not a system in equilibrium and, therefore, the entropy is not well defined. The point is, it may take much more than the age of the Universe for the glass to reach the final equilibrium and become a crystal (reported changes in glasses of ancient churches are urban legends). The question about what has happened to the entropy of the liquid remains there, despite the purist's answer. The experimentalists can measure very well the residual entropy of a glass. For the author, for me and fortunately nowadays for many others, the satisfactory answer is that the entropy of a glass is the missing information about the system. Another example of residual entropy can be found in the ice cubes in your refrigerator.

At last but not least, I would like to comment on a misconception of a previous reviewer about Shannon's Information Theory. The entropy proposed by Shannon is a measure of the uncertainty of a set of possible messages that can be exchanged, regardless the content of each message. Therefore, this entropy is related to the probability distribution associated with the ensemble of possible messages, regardless of their content. If there are any doubts, I would suggest reading the first chapter of the book Mathematical Foundations of Information Theory by A. Ya. Khinchin. In section 5.3.2 of the book, the author is just analyzing the properties of the Shannon entropy of a probability distribution using a humorous example. The probability distribution can be associated with anything, even with a key lost by a careless room-mate. This entropy is a property of the probability distribution, independent of any possible meaning attributed to it by a human being. ... Read more

Product Description

New edition of a well-established second and third year textbook for Physics degree students, covering the physical structure and behaviour of atoms and molecules. The aim of this new edition is to provide a unified account of the subject within an undergraduate framework, taking the opportunity to make improvements based on the teaching experience of users of the first edition, and cover important new developments in the subject.
 

Customer Reviews (5)

A 'must have' for any physicist
This book contains a complete program on the atomic and molecular physics field, where the concepts are correctly explained, not leaving behind the formalism but making them easy to follow and understand for the student. I would like to leave a note on what I think is a very small number of examples, which sometimes would help to make the explanations and concepts more digestible.
So far, I had used the first edition, and this 2nd edition, while more complete and reformatted, has not changed too much the good book it has always been.

On another note, I simply can't understand how difficult it is to find/purchase this book anywhere else out of amazon. Even in the publishing house I had troubles trying to purchase it! Eventually, Amazon was the answer (a bit more expensive but not a huge difference) and I have no regrets. It was delivered way before the expected date and that is a thumbs-up in my opinion.
It is surprising because in every field of each science, there are always a few basic books that should be available -almost- everywhere, and in the field of atomic physics, this is definitely one.

Excellent textbook for a course on atomic physics
This book is comprehensive, updated, and enjoys
the ineffable insight and clarity of a real
institution in the field: prof. C. J. Joachain.
A definite plus is that the discussions are
disseminated with a lot of references to the
literature, so it can work as a good introduction
to any of the manifold fields treated.
It is true, though, that it is not extremely advanced,
nor very general in its derivations, therefore if
you are looking for THE "summa theologica", perhaps
this is not what you are looking for.

Great book

This is a very good book in AMO.Very intelligible, nice flow, stuff comes naturally.. It's a classical text, but very well done.(I recommend Liboff for QM and introduction to AMO, and Bransden for good AMO).

Excellent Atomic and Molecular physics book
This book is excellent for a 1st year graduate course on Atomic and Molecular physics.The initial sections cover QM in as good and concise a manner as I've ever seen.The coverage of perturbation theory is also very clear.After that the book concentrates on Atomic and Molecular topics like fine structure, Hyperfine strucutre, Hartree-Fock, and a very nice section on Atomic collision physics.It's truly regrettable that this book is out of print.

a good book
here is a classic of a book. the contents are an exposition of the applied aspects of quantum mechanics. suitable for undergraduate/graduate text. a must have for any practising physicist. ... Read more

Product Description
This text is intended to teach the fundamentals of physics to computer scientists, electrical engineers, and others interested in electronics. The presentation is thus directed toward understanding the fundamental physics of how a computer works, while still providing a broad and effective one-year introduction to classical and modern physics. The first half of the book includes many of the topics of a standard introductory physics course, but with the selection and presentation tailored to be of use in the second half, which develops the physics of semiconductor devices. This second part covers the fundamentals of quantum mechanics, solid-state physics, crystal structure, semiconductor devices, and logic circuits. The mathematical complexities are alleviated by intuitive physical arguments. Students are encouraged to use their own programming skills to solve problems. Some knowledge of calculus is a prerequisite, and the second part can serve by itself as an introduction to the physics of electronic materials and devices for students who have had a standard two-semester introductory physics course.In this second edition, the material on electronic devices has been updated and the coverage of carrier transport, operation of bipolar transistors and MOSFETs, and fabrication of integrated circuits has been expanded. New material includes descriptions of the fundamentals of solar cells, dynamic random-access memories, charged-coupled-device imaging arrays, and of such compound semiconductor devices as light-emitting diodes and heterostructure lasers. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Too short and not enough info
This book does not elaborate the topics . It is very short and not enough info to gain knowledge. So I am looking for a good study guide for this book, it might help. ... Read more

Product Description

Topics that are covered include electron scattering in the scanning TEM; basic theory of inelastic electron imaging; study of confined atoms by electron excitation; helium bubbles created in extreme pressure with application to nuclear safety; lithium ion implantation; electron and positron scattering from clusters; electron scattering from physi- and chemi-absorbed molecules on surfaces; coincidence studies; electron scattering from biological molecules; electron spectroscopy as a tool for environmental science; electron scattering in the presence of intense fields; electron scattering from astrophysical molecules; electon interatctions an detection of x-ray radiation.

Product Description
The third edition of a classic book, Basic Ideas and Concepts in Nuclear Physics sets out in a clear and consistent manner the various elements of nuclear physics. Divided into four main parts: the constituents and characteristics of the nucleus; nuclear interactions, including the strong, weak and electromagnetic forces; an introduction to nuclear structure; and recent developments in nuclear structure research, the book delivers a balanced account of both theoretical and experimental nuclear physics.

In addition to the numerous revisions and updates to the previous edition to capture the developments in the subject over the last five years, the book contains a new chapter on the structure and stability of very light nuclei. As with the previous edition the author retains a comprehensive set of problems and the book contains an extensive and well-chosen set of diagrams. He keeps the book up to date with recent experimental and theoretical research, provides mathematical details as and when necessary, and illustrates topics with box features containing examples of recent experimental and theoretical research results. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

one of the best
As from the first two editions, the book is excelent, readable and full of interesting details. It is not a book for an introductory course on nuclear physics, it is an ideal companion on general courses on nuclear reactions as well as nuclear structure. It could also be suitable for a plain advance course on nuclear physics (graduate course). I have myself the first edition, without the problems so it is nice to see them there, and also that they are ment to learn and not to just test some wird skills or silly/tricky questions.
Also it is a good companion for nuclear physicist/particle physicist, both experimentalist and theoreticiens. Also nuclear engineers that seek for advanced books on nuclear physics could have a very good time with it. ... Read more