Atomic Physics: 8th Edition (Dover Books on Physics) [Paperback]

Max Born (Author), Physics (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0486659844 | ISBN-13: 978-0486659848 | Publication Date: June 1, 1989 | Edition: 8 Revised

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.

Editorial Reviews

Language Notes

Text: English, German (translation)

Product Details

• Paperback: 495 pages
• Publisher: Dover Publications; 8 Revised edition (June 1, 1989)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0486659844
• ISBN-13: 978-0486659848
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #456,966 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #90 in Books > Professional & Technical > Professional Science > Physics > Nuclear Physics > Atomic & Nuclear Physics

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

58 of 60 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why do we need Quantum Mechanics?, July 23, 1998

By 

henrique fleming - See all my reviews

This review is from: Atomic Physics: 8th Edition (Dover Books on Physics) (Paperback)

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.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent overview of the development and character of modern physics!, June 29, 2005

By 

Mostyn (Australia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Atomic Physics: 8th Edition (Dover Books on Physics) (Paperback)

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.

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Simple, exact and excelent, August 5, 2000

By 

Richard Axor (Brazil) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Atomic Physics: 8th Edition (Dover Books on Physics) (Paperback)

When we see how much quantum mechanics pushed our civilization and how bad it became explained on 'modern' textbooks it is a relief to find out that this book is still published and affordable. A must for anyone interested in the subject or needing to understand it with the help of one of the fathers of QM.