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From Data to Quanta: Niels Bohr’s Vision of Physics
by Slobodan PerovicThe first comprehensive philosophical and historical account of the experimental foundations of Niels Bohr’s practice of physics. Niels Bohr was a central figure in quantum physics, well known for his work on atomic structure and his contributions to the Copenhagen interpretation of quantum mechanics. In this book, philosopher of science Slobodan Perovic explores the way Bohr practiced and understood physics, and analyzes its implications for our understanding of modern science. Perovic develops a novel approach to Bohr’s understanding of physics and his method of inquiry, presenting an exploratory symbiosis of historical and philosophical analysis that uncovers the key aspects of Bohr’s philosophical vision of physics within a given historical context. To better understand the methods that produced Bohr’s breakthrough results in quantum phenomena, Perovic clarifies the nature of Bohr’s engagement with the experimental side of physics and lays out the basic distinctions and concepts that characterize his approach. Rich and insightful, Perovic’s take on the early history of quantum mechanics and its methodological ramifications sheds vital new light on one of the key figures of modern physics.
From Deep Sea to Laboratory 1: The First Explorations of the Deep Sea by H.M.S. Challenger (1872-1876)
by Frederic Aitken Jean-Numa FoulcThe scientific expedition of H.M.S. Challenger in the 1870s marks the starting point of physical oceanography. This ship traveled the seas of the globe pursuing a dual objective: to conduct an in-depth study of animal life and to observe the physical properties of ocean waters. Volume 1, richly illustrated, relates the expedition of the Challenger and addresses the problems of measuring the great depths. A theoretical approach to the immersion velocity of a probe is also proposed, as well as a presentation of some results of bathymetric surveys and physical observations made by the Challenger scientists. From Deep Sea to Laboratory is available in three volumes for curious readers drawn to travel, history and science. Students, researchers and teachers of physics, fluid mechanics and oceanography will find material to deepen their knowledge.
From Dissent to Diplomacy: The Pugwash Project During the 1960s Cold War (SpringerBriefs in History of Science and Technology)
by Alison KraftThis book provides new and critical perspectives on the internal development of the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs (the PCSWA; Pugwash) and its role in international nuclear diplomacy during the 1960s Cold War. Conceived by western scientists dissenting from their own government’s position on nuclear weapons, the conferences brought together elite scientists from across the East-West divide to work towards nuclear disarmament and for peace. The analysis follows two lines. First, the book charts the emergence during the conferences of a distinctive form of technopolitical communication that was crucial to the role of Pugwash in Informal cross-bloc dialogue about disarmament. This enabled Pugwash to realize its paradoxical vision of working both with and against governments to promote disarmament and was key to its role as both a forum for and actor within the realm of informal diplomacy. It is argued that Pugwash scientists formed the vanguard of what came in the 1960s to be called Track II diplomacy. The relevance of the contemporary concept of Science Diplomacy for Pugwash is discussed. The second analytical focus of the book centers on the internal dynamics of the international Pugwash organization. It is argued that informal modes of working and a code of confidentiality accorded the leadership enormous power and autonomy: this small network of senior figures was able to control the Pugwash agenda and priorities, and to launch diplomatic initiatives beyond the conferences. However, by 1967, competing interests were fueling tensions and instability within Pugwash as it struggled for coherence and direction amid with the political challenges posed by the Vietnam War and European security. This crisis manifest the limits of the Pugwash project and placed its future in doubt.
From Dust to Life
by Jacqueline Mitton John ChambersThe birth and evolution of our solar system is a tantalizing mystery that may one day provide answers to the question of human origins. This book tells the remarkable story of how the celestial objects that make up the solar system arose from common beginnings billions of years ago, and how scientists and philosophers have sought to unravel this mystery down through the centuries, piecing together the clues that enabled them to deduce the solar system's layout, its age, and the most likely way it formed. Drawing on the history of astronomy and the latest findings in astrophysics and the planetary sciences, John Chambers and Jacqueline Mitton offer the most up-to-date and authoritative treatment of the subject available. They examine how the evolving universe set the stage for the appearance of our Sun, and how the nebulous cloud of gas and dust that accompanied the young Sun eventually became the planets, comets, moons, and asteroids that exist today. They explore how each of the planets acquired its unique characteristics, why some are rocky and others gaseous, and why one planet in particular--our Earth--provided an almost perfect haven for the emergence of life. From Dust to Life is a must-read for anyone who desires to know more about how the solar system came to be. This enticing book takes readers to the very frontiers of modern research, engaging with the latest controversies and debates. It reveals how ongoing discoveries of far-distant extrasolar planets and planetary systems are transforming our understanding of our own solar system's astonishing history and its possible fate.
From Dust to Life: The Origin and Evolution of Our Solar System
by Jacqueline Mitton John ChambersThe birth and evolution of our solar system is a tantalizing mystery that may one day provide answers to the question of human origins. From Dust to Life tells the remarkable story of how the celestial objects that make up the solar system arose from common beginnings billions of years ago, and how scientists and philosophers have sought to unravel this mystery down through the centuries, piecing together the clues that enabled them to deduce the solar system's layout, its age, and the most likely way it formed. Drawing on the history of astronomy and the latest findings in astrophysics and the planetary sciences, John Chambers and Jacqueline Mitton offer the most up-to-date and authoritative treatment of the subject available. They examine how the evolving universe set the stage for the appearance of our Sun, and how the nebulous cloud of gas and dust that accompanied the young Sun eventually became the planets, comets, moons, and asteroids that exist today. They explore how each of the planets acquired its unique characteristics, why some are rocky and others gaseous, and why one planet in particular--our Earth--provided an almost perfect haven for the emergence of life. From Dust to Life is a must-read for anyone who desires to know more about how the solar system came to be. This enticing book takes readers to the very frontiers of modern research, engaging with the latest controversies and debates. It reveals how ongoing discoveries of far-distant extrasolar planets and planetary systems are transforming our understanding of our own solar system's astonishing history and its possible fate.
From ER to E.T.: How Electromagnetic Technologies Are Changing Our Lives
by Rajeev BansalThis book sweeps the broad field of applied electromagnetics and describes how electromagnetic technologies affect our daily lives. Presents topics that investigate many aspects of electromagnetic technology throughout history Explores societal and global issues that relate to the field of electrical engineering (emphasized in current ABET accreditation criteria) Includes light-hearted quizzes (with answers) relevant to every chapter, which add additional zest to the technical material
From Egg to Chicken (Lifecycles Series)
by Gerald LeggLarge illustrations and simple text describe what an egg is made of and how it hatches into a chicken.
From Electrons to Elephants and Elections: Exploring the Role of Content and Context (The Frontiers Collection)
by Ian Stewart Shyam WuppuluriThis highly interdisciplinary book, covering more than six fields, from philosophy and sciences all the way up to the humanities and with contributions from eminent authors, addresses the interplay between content and context, reductionism and holism and their meeting point: the notion of emergence. Much of today’s science is reductionist (bottom-up); in other words, behaviour on one level is explained by reducing it to components on a lower level. Chemistry is reduced to atoms, ecosystems are explained in terms of DNA and proteins, etc. This approach fails quickly since we can’t cannot extrapolate to the properties of atoms solely from Schrödinger's equation, nor figure out protein folding from an amino acid sequence or obtain the phenotype of an organism from its genotype. An alternative approach to this is holism (top-down). Consider an ecosystem or an organism as a whole: seek patterns on the same scale. Model a galaxy not as 400 billion-point masses (stars) but as an object in its own right with its own properties (spiral, elliptic). Or a hurricane as a structured form of moist air and water vapour. Reductionism is largely about content, whereas holistic models are more attuned to context. Reductionism (content) and holism (context) are not opposing philosophies — in fact, they work best in tandem. Join us on a journey to understand the multifaceted dialectic concerning this duo and how they shape the foundations of sciences and humanities, our thoughts and, the very nature of reality itself.
From Environmental to Comprehensive Security
by Arthur H. WestingThis work presents the evolution of the traditional concept of "national security" as military security to additionally embrace "environmental security" and then necessarily also "social (societal) security", thence to be termed "comprehensive human security". It accomplishes this primarily by presenting 11 of the author's own benchmark papers published between 1983 and 2010 (additionally providing bibliographic citations to a further 36 of the author's related publications during that period). The work stresses the importance of transfrontier (regional) cooperation, and also recognizes global overpopulation as a key impediment to achieving comprehensive human security.
From Eros to Gaia
by Freeman DysonReaders of Freeman Dyson's previous books, Disturbing the Universe, Weapons and Hope, and Infinite in All Directions, have discovered for themselves what Dyson reveals here: that he was a writer long before he became a distinguished scientist. The aim of this new book, as Dyson says, is to open windows, to let the experts inside the temple of science see out, and to let the ordinary citizens outside see in." In this process an immensely broad range of ideas, people, contemporary history, and discoveries of many sorts pass in review. Beginning with a piece of writing he did as a child and ending with recent work, he goes from Eros, the god or youthful passion, to Gaia, the fertile life-giving mother-planet Earth. The pilgrimage is a good metaphor for the life of a writer. This book is full of discoveries. In the company of one of the most lucid minds of our time, one approaches great men and problems central to our common existence. Always there is warmth, kindness, high intelligence and humor. Dyson is intimate with both science and man. Whether he is dealing with the problems of physics or politics, whether he is engrossed in astronomy or literature, whether he is concentrating on an African village of space science, Dyson's view is always "infinite in all directions," always following the path of diversity, always keeping his eye on the wonder of our earth and the health and happiness of its inhabitants.
From Eternity to Here
by Sean CarrollA rising star in theoretical physics offers his awesome vision of our universe and beyond, all beginning with a simple question: Why does time move forward?Time moves forward, not backward--everyone knows you can't unscramble an egg. In the hands of one of today's hottest young physicists, that simple fact of breakfast becomes a doorway to understanding the Big Bang, the universe, and other universes, too. In From Eternity to Here, Sean Carroll argues that the arrow of time, pointing resolutely from the past to the future, owes its existence to conditions before the Big Bang itself--a period modern cosmology of which Einstein never dreamed. Increasingly, though, physicists are going out into realms that make the theory of relativity seem like child's play. Carroll's scenario is not only elegant, it's laid out in the same easy-to- understand language that has made his group blog, Cosmic Variance, the most popular physics blog on the Net. From Eternity to Here uses ideas at the cutting edge of theoretical physics to explore how properties of spacetime before the Big Bang can explain the flow of time we experience in our everyday lives. Carroll suggests that we live in a baby universe, part of a large family of universes in which many of our siblings experience an arrow of time running in the opposite direction. It's an ambitious, fascinating picture of the universe on an ultra-large scale, one that will captivate fans of popular physics blockbusters like Elegant Universe and A Brief History of Time.Watch a Video
From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time
by Sean CarrollTwenty years ago, Stephen Hawking tried to explain time by understanding the Big Bang. Now, Sean Carroll says we need to be more ambitious. One of the leading theoretical physicists of his generation, Carroll delivers a dazzling and paradigm-shifting theory of time's arrow that embraces subjects from entropy to quantum mechanics to time travel to information theory and the meaning of life. From Eternity to Here is no less than the next step toward understanding how we came to exist, and a fantastically approachable read that will appeal to a broad audience of armchair physicists, and anyone who ponders the nature of our world.
From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time
by Sean CarrollA rising star in theoretical physics offers his awesome vision of our universe and beyond, all beginning with a simple question: Why does time move forward?Time moves forward, not backward--everyone knows you can't unscramble an egg. In the hands of one of today's hottest young physicists, that simple fact of breakfast becomes a doorway to understanding the Big Bang, the universe, and other universes, too. In From Eternity to Here, Sean Carroll argues that the arrow of time, pointing resolutely from the past to the future, owes its existence to conditions before the Big Bang itself--a period modern cosmology of which Einstein never dreamed. Increasingly, though, physicists are going out into realms that make the theory of relativity seem like child's play. Carroll's scenario is not only elegant, it's laid out in the same easy-to- understand language that has made his group blog, Cosmic Variance, the most popular physics blog on the Net. From Eternity to Here uses ideas at the cutting edge of theoretical physics to explore how properties of spacetime before the Big Bang can explain the flow of time we experience in our everyday lives. Carroll suggests that we live in a baby universe, part of a large family of universes in which many of our siblings experience an arrow of time running in the opposite direction. It's an ambitious, fascinating picture of the universe on an ultra-large scale, one that will captivate fans of popular physics blockbusters like Elegant Universe and A Brief History of Time.Watch a Video
From Eternity to Here: The Quest for the Ultimate Theory of Time
by Sean CarrollTwenty years after Stephen Hawking's 9-million-copy selling A Brief History of Time, pioneering theoretical physicist Sean Carroll takes our investigation into the nature of time to the next level. You can't unscramble an egg and you can't remember the future. But what if time doesn't (or didn't!) always go in the same direction? Carroll's paradigm-shifting research suggests that other universes experience time running in the opposite direction to our own. Exploring subjects from entropy and quantum mechanics to time travel and the meaning of life, Carroll presents a dazzling new view of how we came to exist.
From Evolutionary Biology to Economics and Back: Parallels and Crossings between Economics and Evolution (History, Philosophy and Theory of the Life Sciences #28)
by Philippe Huneman Jean Gayon Bernard Walliser Mikael Cozic Jean-Baptiste André Silvia De Monte Johannes MartensThis book offers a comprehensive exploration of the major key concepts common to economics and evolutionary biology. Written by a group of philosophers of science, biologists and economists, it proposes analyses of the meaning of twenty-five concepts from the viewpoint respectively of economics and of evolutionary biology –each followed by a short synthesis emphasizing major discrepancies and commonalities. This analysis is surrounded by chapters exploring the nature of the analogy that connects evolution and economics, and chapters that summarize the major teachings of the analyses of the keywords. Most scholars in biology and in economics know that their science has something in common with the other one, for instance the notions of competition and resources. Textbooks regularly acknowledge that the two fields share some history – Darwin borrowing from Malthus the insistence on scarcity of resources, and then behavioral ecologists adapting and transforming game theory into evolutionary game theory in the 1980s, while Friedman famously alluded to a Darwinian process yielding the extant firms. However, the real extent of the similarities, the reasons why they are so close, and the limits and even the nature of the analogy connecting economics and biological evolution, remain inexplicit. This book proposes basis analyses that can sustain such explication. It is intended for researchers, grad students and master students in evolutionary and in economics, as well as in philosophy of science.
From Experimental Network to Meta-analysis: Methods and Applications with R for Agronomic and Environmental Sciences
by David Makowski François Piraux François BrunThis book has been designed as a methodological guide and shows the interests and limitations of different statistical methods to analyze data from experimental networks and to perform meta-analyses. It is intended for engineers, students and researchers involved in data analysis in agronomy and environmental science.
From Falling Bodies to Radio Waves: Classical Physicists and Their Discoveries
by Emilio SegrèMeet a diverse group of highly original thinkers and learn about their lives and achievements: Galileo, a founding father of astronomy and physics; Christiaan Huygens, a seventeenth-century pioneer of wave-particle duality; and Isaac Newton, the English mathematician and physicist who laid the groundwork for a scientific revolution and promoted radical investigation as the means to reveal nature's hidden workings.This chronicle of physics and physicists traces the development of scientific thought from these originators to their successors, among them Faraday, Watts, Helmholtz, Maxwell, Boltzmann, and Gibbs. Combining his own engaging style with the physicists' original writings, the author illustrates the evolution of individual physical ideas, as well as their roles in the wider field.A student and colleague of Enrico Fermi, Emilio Segrè (1905-89) made numerous important contributions to nuclear physics, including his participation in the Manhattan Project. A Nobel laureate, Segrè is further renowned for his narrative skills as an historian. Hailed by the Journal of the History of Astronomy as "charming and witty," this book is a companion to the author's From X-Rays to Quarks: Modern Physicists and Their Discoveries, also available from Dover Publications.
From Flood Safety to Spatial Management: Expert-Policy Interactions in Dutch and US Flood Governance (Water Governance - Concepts, Methods, and Practice)
by Emmy BergsmaThis book deals with the introduction of a new type of “spatial measures" in flood governance. In contrast to traditional “safety measures" that aim to provide protection against floods by building structural flood defenses such as levees and flood walls, the goal of spatial measures is to reduce the exposure to flood risks by changing the spatial layout of flood-prone areas. By limiting developments and flood-proofing buildings in areas at risk to flooding, investments in structural flood defenses can be circumvented and vulnerabilities reduce. World-wide, spatial measures are gaining attractiveness as a response strategy to increasing flood risks caused by climate change and urbanization. The introduction of spatial measures in flood governance involves more than the simple development of new policies and laws. Research has demonstrated that the implementation of spatial measures can have huge implications for how costs and responsibilities are divided between different levels of governance and between public and private actors, changing the whole organization behind flood governance. Both for the effectiveness and for the legitimacy of spatial flood governance strategies, it is important that these distributive implications are well understood. This book describes the introduction of spatial measures in the context of two very different delta countries: the Netherlands and the United States. In the United States, a spatial flood governance strategy was already developed in de mid-20th century whereas in the Netherlands, a safety paradigm institutionalized over the course of the 20th century and spatial measures have only recently been introduced. By analyzing the science-policy interactions underlying the implementation of spatial measures in both countries, this book shows how under the influence of different types of experts (engineers in the Netherlands and social geographers in the United States) different spatial flood management strategies emerged with different distributive implications, each with its own challenges for effectiveness and legitimacy.
From Fossil Fuels to Low Carbon Energy Transition: New Regulatory Trends in Latin America (Energy, Climate and the Environment)
by Geoffrey Wood Juan Felipe Neira-CastroFocusing on five key themes - hydrocarbons, electricity, mining, social license to operate, and arbitration/dispute resolution- via in-depth country and regional case studies, this book seeks to capture the contrasting and sometimes conflicting trends in energy governance in Latin America as it wrestles with a dependence on fossil fuels whilst shifting toward a low carbon future. Energy transition continues to sit at the centre of the Latin American policy debate as the world continues to push for carbon neutrality by 2050. Latin America is undergoing a renewable energy transition, with substantial reserves (solar, wind, hydro, geothermal) and many countries in the region setting ambitious renewable energy policies, laws, and regulations to address climate change. However, recent initiatives to promote renewables must be placed in context. Historically, Latin America has developed and improved its economic and social standards due primarily to an economy based on the extractive industries and fossil fuels. This places renewables at the crossroads of multiple drivers, as the region seek to ensure security of supply, attract investment, and facilitate a low carbon energy transition.
From Galileo to Newton
by A. Rupert HallThe near century (1630-1720) that separates the important astronomical findings of Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) and the vastly influential mathematical work of Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) represents a pivotal stage of transition in the history of science. As a result of the raging intellectual battle between tradition and innovation that began in the fifteenth century, science was penetrated by a new outlook that placed emphasis on experiment and observation. Galileo showed the promise of its new methods of discovery; Newton brought out their full force and effect. Galileo suffered from an attempt to censure scientific inquiry; Newton showed how science could discover the universal laws of nature. The triumph of this new outlook marked the birth of modern science.From Galileo to Newton describes those new patterns of thought that emerged during this time of great excitement and widespread controversy. It discusses the discoveries revealed by telescope and microscope in the work of Huygens and Leeuwenhoek, and the new speculations to which these gave rise; Boyle's attempts to include chemical experiments within a rational theory of matter, and those begun by Descartes to explain the workings of the body on the basis of chemical and physical principles; and the revolutionary ideas in astronomy that generated the transition from the Ptolemaic concept of the universe to the Copernican and the subsequent acceptance of the heliostatic system.Since the dawn of civilization man has tried to find logic in the mysterious and order in the chaotic. From Galileo to Newton will appeal to anyone who wants to know what modern science is all about and how it came into being. One of the foremost authorities on the history of science, Professor Hall is not only a scholar of great learning and originality, he also writes with clarity, liveliness, and a keen biographical sense.
From Genes to Animal Behavior
by Alexander Weiss Shoji Kawamura Miho Inoue-MurayamaThe biological and genetic bases of behavioral diversity have long been topics of study within many disciplines, including evolutionary biology, genetics, ethology, sociobiology, and comparative psychology, but only relatively recently have attempts been made to bring these different approaches together. This volume covers a wide range of interdisciplinary research which uses some of the newest and most promising methods and technologies. Presented here is an overview of findings in the ongoing search for the ultimate causes of behavior in several different species, including primates, dogs, rodents, birds, and fish. Divided into five parts, the work describes research on sexual and kin selection, personality and temperament, molecular genetics of personality, color vision and body coloration, and the neurological underpinnings of complex behaviors. Valuable for researchers as well as graduate students in a wide range of fields from neuroscience to ecology, the book is also useful to those seeking to move beyond the boundaries of their own discipline and to expand their knowledge.
From Genes to Genomes
by Jeremy W. Dale Malcolm Von Schantz Nicholas PlantThe latest edition of this highly successful textbook introduces the key techniques and concepts involved in cloning genes and in studying their expression and variation.The new edition features:Increased coverage of whole-genome sequencing technologies and enhanced treatment of bioinformatics.Clear, two-colour diagrams throughout.A dedicated website including all figures.Noted for its outstanding balance between clarity of coverage and level of detail, this book provides an excellent introduction to the fast moving world of molecular genetics.
From Genesis to Genetics: The Case of Evolution and Creationism
by John A. MooreA distinguished science educator's clear and fair-minded accounts of evolution and creationism: two irreconcilable modes of seeing the world, science and religion.
From Genetics to Gene Therapy: The Molecular Pathology of Human Disease
by David S. LatchmanDistinguished scientists provide an overview of the molecular pathology of human disease. Each chapter provides an analysis of the molecular biological approaches to individual diseases, such as leukaemia, cardiovascular disease and cancer. To celebrate the formation of the new Department a I-day meeting entitled 'From Genetics to Gene Therapy' was held on 14 December 1992, at which a large audience was inspired by talks from a variety of distinguished speakers. This volume is based on the meeting and contains contributions provided by the invited speakers.
From Geocentric to Heliocentric: How Discoveries Are Made
by Yunbao Ge (葛云保)Has anyone ever seen with their own eyes that the Earth goes around the sun? Even to this day, no one has. However, 500 and even 2000 years ago, some astronomers managed to point out that this is the case. At that time, people’s range of activities was strictly confined, the technology and tools used were extremely primitive, and many of the mathematical methods used today had not been developed. How did those astronomers make and verify this discovery? This book explains this exciting demonstration process. It enables anyone with a basic junior-high-school knowledge of geometry and a certain degree of spatial imagination to understand this and other interesting discoveries in the solar system. By demonstrating this interesting process, the book not only satisfies readers' curiosity using the simplest mathematics, but also inspires them to explore the new and unknown world.