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Einstein's Heroes: Imagining the World through the Language of Mathematics 1st Edition
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Blending science, history, and biography, this remarkable book reveals the mysteries of mathematics, focusing on the life and work of three of Albert Einstein's heroes: Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday, and especially James Clerk Maxwell, whose work directly inspired the theory of relativity. Robyn Arianrhod bridges the gap between science and literature, portraying mathematics as a language and arguing that a physical theory is a work of imagination involving the elegant and clever use of this language. The heart of the book illuminates how Maxwell, using the language of mathematics in a new and radical way, resolved the seemingly insoluble controversy between Faraday's idea of lines of force and Newton's theory of action-at-a-distance. In so doing, Maxwell not only produced the first complete mathematical description of electromagnetism, but actually predicted the existence of the radio wave, teasing it out of the mathematical language itself.
Here then is a fascinating look at mathematics: its colorful characters, its historical intrigues, and above all its role as the uncannily accurate language of nature.
- ISBN-100195308905
- ISBN-13978-0195308907
- Edition1st
- PublisherOxford University Press
- Publication dateJuly 20, 2006
- LanguageEnglish
- Dimensions7.9 x 0.61 x 5.38 inches
- Print length336 pages
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- Publisher : Oxford University Press; 1st edition (July 20, 2006)
- Language : English
- Paperback : 336 pages
- ISBN-10 : 0195308905
- ISBN-13 : 978-0195308907
- Item Weight : 14 ounces
- Dimensions : 7.9 x 0.61 x 5.38 inches
- Best Sellers Rank: #2,895,851 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,211 in Psychologist Biographies
- #1,652 in Mathematical Physics (Books)
- #1,721 in Mathematics History
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"But perhaps the most memorable tribute to Maxwell—and to his belief that mathematics is the best language with which to imagine the world—is the t-shirt slogan seen on university campuses in the 1990s:
"And God said,
∂ E/ ∂ t = c ∇ × B − 4πJ
∂ B/ ∂ t = − c ∇ × E
∇. E = 4πρ
∇. B = 0
And there was light.''
Explains the change from Newtonian 'action at a distance' to Faraday's 'fields'. Recounts the severe opposition from the Newtonian's to Faraday's fields. Lord Kelvin laments at the end of his life that he failed as a physicist for rejecting Maxwell's discoveries.
Reveals story of Oliver Heaviside, a self-taught physicist who discovered the correct application of Maxwell's theory, but was rejected due to the arrogance of the elite. He never gave up because he felt "Science was a means of seeking the laws of God and banishing superstition, filled with a strong sense of my Duty to impart my knowledge to others and help them." Inspiring to any who fight the same fight. He published his work at his cost to benefit his fellow man. He did.
Explains that Faraday had the same fight for the same reason, the educated elite not accepting his conclusions since he was not of their class. We now view Faraday as the physicist responsible for modern technology. He did the work that Maxwell and then Einstein used to create modern physics.
Connects the three mathematical theories, Newton's, Maxwell's and Einstein's. Shows how these have changed our view of reality, from physical solids to energy as fields to mathematical ideas.
Page 281: "it is a paradigm shift that has provoked some to wonder weather mathematics is somehow written into the very structure of the universe."
Good observation. This is a modern doubt. The men who implemented the modern use of mathematics, Galileo, Kepler, Barrow, Newton, Pascal, Maxwell, Wren, etc. did so because they believed ' god eternally mathematizes'. Their faith was validated.
Arianrhod relates that Einstein had three portraits on his wall, Faraday, Newton and Maxwell. All three were devout, Bible reading Christians. Their faith in the mathematics given by the great Mathematician never wavered.
Good insight into the life and personality of Faraday and Maxwell. Also, some detail on others of that time and how this new science affected radio, telephone and even quantum theory.
Well written. I enjoyed the way she connected the cultural effect to the science.
A Seamless Intertwining
A Reluctant Revolutionary Beetles, Strings and Sealing Wax
The Nature of Physics
The Language of Physics
Why Newton Held the World in Thrall
Rites of Passage
A Fledgling Physicist
Electromagnetic Controversy
Mathematics as Language
The Magical Synthesis of Algebra and Geometry
Maxwell’s Mathematical Language
Maxwell’s Rainbow
Imagining the World with the Language of Mathematics: A Revolution in Physics
Newton also used mathematics to provide insight into the unseen . . .
“Newton went even further than this. He hypothesised that gravity is a universal force, not just an earthly one. He worked out a formula describing how gravity would theoretically behave everywhere in the universe if it actually did extend beyond the earthly environment. . . . But in Newton’s day, while some scientists had begun to think of each planet having its own specific type of gravity, the idea that the Sun and other ‘heavenly bodies’ had the same gravity as the Earth was considered almost sacrilegious. Most of Newton’s contemporaries believed that the ‘heavens’—the home of the Moon, Sun and stars—must be governed by very different laws from the Earth, so they did not expect that earthly gravity would exist in the celestial realms.’’ (51)
Newton now known as early Unitarian, one who rejects the trinity in favor of the Jewish concept of the one Jehovah. This is why he wanted to unify all creation. This would confirm Jehovah's godship. How difficult?
“Newton’s theory was almost pure speculation: no one had been to the Moon or launched a spaceship when he made his revolutionary prediction that gravity is a property of all matter, anywhere in the universe. And that the Earth’s gravity is strong enough to extend as far as the Moon, and is keeping the Moon in its orbit, while the Sun’s gravity can be felt on Earth and is keeping Earth and the other planets in orbit.’’
This ‘pure speculation’ was derived from Newton's faith in the one universal creator.
“As for Newton’s theory of gravity, it was first published in 1687—twenty years after he had first begun working on the problem of planetary motion—in a great book called Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica (Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy). Nowadays referred to as ‘Newton’s Principia’, it is the most important book in the history of science because it introduced the world to the first consistent, broad-ranging scientific theory.’’ (77)
Newton created one science to confirm the belief in the one Creator!
This is my second copy.
Albert Einstein is considered the father of modern physics. His equations showed that the universe was created in an explosion called the Big Bang theory. Although his "general relativity theory predicted the existence of black holes and the Big Bang, it cannot tell physicists what happens at the center of a black hole, or what happened at the moment of the Big Bang. It works on the cosmic scale, describing the origin and evolution of the universe itself." No one will ever be able to prove beyond doubt that mathematical creations like black holes exist, and that the Big Bang actually happened "because we can never return from an exploratory trip into a black hole."
Sir Isaac Newton's predictive theory of physics is "the mathematical law -- an equation -- that accurately described the effects of this ubiquitous but little understood downward pull." The most astounding part of Newton's theory was its use of math to prove a brilliant and radical hypothesis "that laid the foundations of the modern science of astronomy" -- the hypothesis that gravity is a universal force, not just and earthly one ...and that the ancient mystery of why the planets move through the sky can be explained by assuming the Sun's gravity is responsible for holding them in their orbits."
She gives the ancient history of the field of astronomy of Copernicus, Gailileo, Aristarchus, Hipparchus, Ptolomy, Kepler and others who paved the way for William Thomson, the most famous physicist of his day, who took James Clark Maxwell under his tutelage. It was his work which primarily inspired Einstein's special theory of relativity in 1905, and his portrait hung on the walls of Einstein's lab. The 100th anniversary of this discovery has just been observed by MIT as the era of modern physics. His general theory of relativity was developed in 1915.
Many scientists, still riding on Newton's wave of success, had turned to science rather than religion for answers to the important questions about the nature of the universe and our role in it. Maxwell saw science as a means of "understanding...creation." Charles Darwin developed his theory of human evolution by natural selection, which would bring "renewed heat to debates about God's role in designing and creating the universe. Meanwhile, in an Apostles essay on the nature of the evidence for design by an intelligent Creator, Maxwell wrote (following Kant) that 'our understanding of nature is limited by the structure of our brains,' so that the very belief in design 'is a necessary consequence of the Laws of Thought acting on the phenomena of perception.'"
Einstein is quoted as saying, "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind." Whatever the ultimate reality of our origins, "and whatever the fate of relativity theory itself, physicists have learned an incredible amount about the universe over the past century, guided by Einstein's mathematical theory of gravity." The high success rate of various tests of Newton's theory over the previous 160 years had made astronomy 'the most glamorous and prestigious of the sciences.' Einstein also said, "The discovery of nuclear chain reactions need not bring about the destruction of mankind any more than did the discovery of matches. We only must do everything in our power to safeguard against its abuse."
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The addictive way this book has been written and narrated is exceptional and author who has perhaps written a book for the first time must be appreciated for this great piece of exceptional work. It is written like a smooth novel which anyone can read easily.
