QED and the Men Who Made It (Paperback)

by Silvan S. Schweber (Author) "In the next two chapters the history of quantum electrodynamics from 1927 to 1939 is adumbrated..." (more)
Key Phrases: Shelter Island, New York, United States (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
A remarkable and exciting book. . . . Schweber brings to his efforts the tools of the professional historian . . . and the tools of a professional physicist who has himself worked on QED, a field as highly technical and abstruse as it is important. -- Review

Review
A remarkable and exciting book. . . . Schweber brings to his efforts the tools of the professional historian . . . and the tools of a professional physicist who has himself worked on QED, a field as highly technical and abstruse as it is important.
(Science )

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Product Details

• Paperback: 784 pages
• Publisher: Princeton University Press (April 4, 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0691033277
• ISBN-13: 978-0691033273
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.1 x 2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #617,513 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Thorough Coverage of the Pinaccle of 20th Century Physics, November 24, 1999

By	"charlesdsilva" (Agoura Hills, CA United States) - See all my reviews

This is a very technical and historical review of the creation of the 20th Centuries most accurate of all physics, QED. The work is very complete and besides the mathematics, it provides excellant yet terse backgrounds of the 4 major players: Tomonaga, Schwinger, Feynman and Dyson. The backgounds of these personalities is weaved into their astounding developments leading to QED. This book should not only serve as a historical timepiece, but I beleive it could serve very well as an adjunct to even graduate level physics.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Superb overview of the development of QED..., September 10, 2001

By	Kersi Von Zerububbel "Kersi" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: QED and the Men Who Made It (Hardcover)

This book is a superb overview of the development of QED. The slant is geared towards the major personalities involved in it's development. The key players of course were: Feynman, Schwinger, Dyson, and Tomonaga. The text is quite detailed and is directed towards the academic community and assumes a cursory knowledge of quantum mechanics. That being the case, I got lost in much of the math. However, I kept at it and got much out of the book. If you are a physics major then this book will be a jewel to own. What an experience to "see" the human mind come up with ideas which at first glance seem impossible but later turn out to be perfectly true. The writing is quite turgid as is the case with books put out by Princeton, but the material is just fantastic. If the math overwhelms you, as it did me, just get the main idea down and forge on. Later, if time and patience permits re-visit the portion that got you lost and try again. I did this but still am lost in many areas. Nevertheless, a great read!!

4 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Provides physical insight into the derivation of QED, October 26, 2002

By	avarma "avarma" (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews

While this is meant to be a historical account of the development of QED, it turns out to be much more than that. The actual physics described in the book - is well explained - and is typically viewed from the eyes of originator(s) of the theory. For e.g. how Dirac came up with the formulation of the relativistic wave equation or how Feynman originated his famous diagrams. That type of 'how did the theory's originator derive this..' provides a deeper understanding of the physics - than just reading the equation(s) in a textbook.