Paper
Remarkable physicists: from Galileo to Yukawa
Published May 1, 2005 · D. Jones
Contemporary Physics
4
Citations
1
Influential Citations
Abstract
The term ‘physicist’ was coined in 1840 by the Rev. William Whewell (1794 – 1866) in the preface to Philosophy of the Inductive Sciences. However, Faraday and Kelvin continued to prefer the term natural philosopher until late in the 19th century. Whewell also gave currency to the word ‘scientist’ for a cultivator of science, initially regarded as an uncouth Americanism. If few specific laboratories and organizations for physics emerged until the 1860s, what we now understand as physics has been conducted for over 400 years. The biography of a master in a field in which one is passably competent or at least seriously interested is often enlightening. It may not be a page-turner unless the gifted practitioner has led an eventful life or perhaps has achieved distinction across a range of activities. Many of the 17th and 18th century men of science did indeed contribute fundamental ideas across several scientific disciplines as well as attaining distinction in philosophy, religious thought, technological advances or affairs of state. As the 19th century progressed, most eminent physicists focused more exclusively on their discipline. 20th century science commonly progressed across boundaries while scientists of stature have increasingly concerned themselves with the applications, governance and social implications of science. Recognition of physicists per se, whether contemporary or historic, by the general public is somewhat limited. The intelligent layperson is aware of Albert Einstein (1879 – 1955) and Stephen Hawking and probably of Galileo Galilei (1564 – 1642) and Isaac Newton (1642 – 1726) and perhaps also, thanks to Michael Frayn, the playwright of Copenhagen, of Niels Bohr (1885 – 1962) and Werner Heisenberg (1901 – 1976). The influence wrought on human existence in the last 150 years by electricity, nuclear power and successive technological developments in communications, transport, energy and high-speed computing is widely acknowledged; but there is less perception of the earlier fundamental science underpinning these, and hence of the physicists involved. Contemporary physicists must either be awarded the Nobel prize or die to achieve much media attention. Although the award of the prize (actually in medicine) for nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) imaging in medical diagnosis ensured temporary media recognition for Paul Lauterbur and Peter Mansfield in 2004, few lay people would know of Felix Bloch and Edmund Purcell (1952 Nobel prize in physics) who carried out the original NMR spectroscopic experiments in the 1940s. The 19th and early 20th century saw spectacular advances in the theory and applications of electromagnetism, quantum theory and wave mechanics and relativity, but, Einstein apart, few of the brilliant physicists involved, some of them absorbing characters, are known to most non-scientists. Many of the great physicists of the past have been the subjects of full-scale scholarly biographies, while reassessments continue to appear. Ioan Jones has compiled brief biographies, arranged chronologically, of 50 remarkable physicists or natural philosophers born between 1560 and 1910 for people, as he puts it, ‘who would like to read something but not too much’ about their life stories. ‘Something’ is typically 5 – 6 pages extending up to twice that for a dozen or so; 15 of the subjects were born in the 18th century and 25 in the 19th. The word remarkable, rather than great, in the title emphasizes that one of the selection criteria appears to be an eventful or a singular life, but each of his chosen characters has at least a touch of greatness, if not of genius. While there are no formulae or technicalities in the book the historical processes of experiment, discovery and development, failure and success, are set in the context of scientific education and recognition and of domestic and public life. Contemporary Physics, Vol. 46, No. 3, May–June 2005, 221 – 224
This paper highlights the importance of recognizing and studying the contributions of physicists from Galileo to Yukawa, who have made significant contributions to modern physics and society.
Full text analysis coming soon...