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Hydrogen: The Essential Element

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It makes sense, if you are going to try to understand something, to go to the simplest instance of it and get all the information you can from the subject unimpeded by complications. Hydrogen is the simplest of all atoms. It is all around us; though hydrogen gas floats out of our atmosphere to join the hydrogen atoms that are in the "vacuum" of space, hydrogen makes up a large proportion of stars, water, and ourselves. John S. Rigden has written an admiring tribute to the simplest atom, _Hydrogen: The Essential Element_ (Harvard University Press). It turns out that hydrogen has played an enormous role in our understanding of matter and energy, and that the simplest of atoms is so complicated and surprising that Rigden's book is a continual source of elemental wonder.

Hydrogen is element number one, only a single electron orbiting a single proton. Repeatedly Rigden shows that this simplicity has been a boon to research. The lessons learned from this basic atom, in Rigden's story, form a history of physics in the twentieth century. The refinements to theory have largely been to explain the dark bands in the spectrum produce when hydrogen is made to glow. Niels Bohr produced the first modern picture of the atom, incorporating the experimental data from Rutherford and the hydrogen spectrum, but recklessly disregarding the historic laws of physics which he felt could not apply within the atom. He thus began the amazingly successful and fabulously strange quantum explanation for the behavior of matter. Rigden has not just included experimenters and theorizers, but also appealing stories about them, such as I. I. Rabi developing magnetic resonance in the 1930s to measure the nucleus, but then in 1988 being wheeled into a Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine. He said, "It was eerie... I would never have dreamed that my work would come to this." _Hydrogen_ is not just about understanding the inner workings of the atom, but also about hydrogen as the ticker of a clock, as anti-matter, and as a confirmer of big bang cosmology.

There are plenty of challenging chapters here, meant for the non-scientist but not necessarily easy reading. Although the mathematics is not detailed, there are some equations shown that could be intimidating; Dirac's equation, predicting antiparticles and electron spin, Rigden assures us is a "little equation" that can be "written in one line," and while this is true, the line has twenty algebraic symbols in it. Also, surprisingly, there is little about the hydrogen bomb. Rigden decided that the bomb did not fit into the theme of how the hydrogen atom has led and will continue to lead to improved scientific knowledge. His charming and informative book shows how some mysteries have been solved but that we should never come to the conclusion that we are close to knowing all: "After all, H stands not only for hydrogen, but also for humility."

Written for the layman, the author takes you through the history of modern physics through a series of essays on the historical quest to understand the simplest atom.

John Rigden was very clever in the layout. It was not until the third chapter or so that I realized he was doing this by writing short 7 - 10 page vignettes on those physicists most important in developing a model of hydrogen that explains its observed properties. Obviously, one could see that by looking at the chapter headings but for some reason I missed that the first time I read the book.

By focusing on the one physicist at a time, and the specific question that physicist was trying to answer at a particular time, Rigden is able to walk you down a path that actually suggests you might understand quantum mechanics (QM) and the wave function, which united QM with Einstein's theory of relativity. Rigden uses almost no formulas in the book; the few that he does is simply to give the reader an example of how simple some of the concepts can be when placed in mathematical formulas. You won't understand the symbology, but you will be amazed at the elegance of the formulas. None is as good as Einstein's E = mc^2 but they come close.

It is very, very good. Along the way you will meet some very interesting physicists, most who had very humble beginnings. As interesting as the physicists themselves are, the implications of their discoveries and the strangeness of the simplest atom will have you re-reading the book.

This is a relatively compact book -- I have the hardback, which I see is now going for $60 and more through resellers on Amazon -- perfect for your carry-on. The short essays allow for easy reading during even the shortest of flights.

I highly recommend this for summer reading for the advanced high school student planning to major in physics, chemistry or biology, and to read it between the junior and senior year of high school, or the summer before going to college. I would assume this book is already considered a classic and is being recommended by college science professors for "recreational" reading.

If you have any doubt about whether you want to read this book, read the 2 1/2 page epilogue while visiting your favorite bookstore and you will be hooked.

I found the book was excellent. Hydrogen is an historical book that begins with the Balmer series. The book is very expert in the area of theoretical physics and the developments of the 20th century. The book does touch upon areas of chemistry and astronomy where hydrogen plays a role, but not overly so.

I found the book to be highly readible and technical. I have worked through the various equations and have had many discussions on the subject. My brother who majored in Chemistry and has done material science research prior to becoming a doctor was unaware of many of the historical developments.

I enjoyed reading about Balmber, Lamb, and the developments of QED. The very last part of the book is not as tight as the first part. This is because the book is primarily descriptive. It is hard to know which developments in condensed physics will be primary in a hundred years.

Overall, the best book on the subject I have read. The terminology is very precise. He makes use of terms with such great specificity that the book is an excellent primer to Astronomy Methods by Bradt.

Gary

The author takes us on a history of 20th century physics by focusing on the signal element of Hydrogen. He does a good job of providing enough technical detail to make it clear why certain discoveries are important without overwhelming you. His choice of focusing on Hydrogen does limit him a little as to what he looks at though. A fairly short book so worth the investment in time for me.

An excellent description, not only of the Hydrogen atom, but the way that very simple structure informed scientists about more complex structures in the universe. Very well written and not mathematically intense.