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It is the end of an historical epoch, but to an old professor of physics, Victor Jakob, sitting in his unlighted study, eating dubious bread with jam made from turnips, it is the end of a way of thinking in his own subject. Younger men have challenged the classical world picture of physics and are looking forward to observational tests of Einstein's new theory of relativity as well as the creation of a quantum mechanics of the atom. It is a time of both apprehension and hope.In this remarkable book, the reader literally inhabits the mind of a scientist while Professor Jakob meditates on the discoveries of the past fifty years and reviews his own life and career--his scientific ambitions and his record of small successes. He recalls the great men who taught or inspired him: Helmholtz, Hertz, Maxwell, Planck, and above all Paul Drude, whose life and mind exemplified the classical virtues of proportion, harmony, and grace that Jakob reveres. In Drude's shocking and unexpected suicide, we see reflected Jakob's own bewilderment and loss of bearings as his once secure world comes to an end in the horrors of the war and in the cultural fragmentation wrought by twentieth-century modernism. His attempt to come to terms with himself, with his life in science, and with his spiritual legacy will affect deeply everyone who cares about the fragile structures of civilization that must fall before the onrush of progress.… (plus d'informations)
This book was interesting but not really an easy page-turner. I read it slowly and consulted the Notes every few pages. While, strictly speaking, Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist is a short novel it is more a history of the changes that were happening in the field of physics. We are in the mind of Victor Jacob, a classical physicist who is nearing retirement from his Institute in 1918. Jacob is a composite character with the thoughts and events of his life and career taken from the lives of many German physicists of the time. He reflects on his own life, remembering how he served in the Army during an earlier war with France, his early studies and career, the new theories that are supplanting those with which he is most comfortable, the course of the war, and a little about what will happen to Germany and to physics after it's over.
Not for everyone but if you are interested give it a try.
Though this takes the form of a short novel, it is essentially an historically-based account, though presented fictionally to make it more readable. The main character is an allegory of classical physics in Germany as they were in the early 20th century, during the war. They are old, and being superseded by the newer relativity and quantum physics, and for this reason feel somewhat useless, despite still being proud and unwilling to change, preferring the established simplicity and the aesthetics of the classical way of doing things. There is a very thick atmosphere in the book, not only involving the difficulties facing scientists in Germany, but culturally too, due to the war and the problems it creates, and the disturbances among the arts. The conflicts between classical physics and modern physics are represented by the characters' conflicts with other people in the university, which also seem to have parallels with the troubles Germany is facing, with its relations to other countries deteriorating and slowing the advance of science. The tone of this book is melancholy and somewhat sentimental throughout, but is not in any way exaggerated or inaccurate, as every event corresponds to something that actually happened, these being referenced at the end. It is very well written and should appeal greatly to those with an interest in the history of science, and those who are interested in physics. ( )
Informations provenant du Partage des connaissances anglais.Modifiez pour passer à votre langue.
His thoughts go this way and that without order, reality and dreams, wishes and events that actually happened, place and time pass his soul in foglike rolling motion; most of the time he does not know where he is, believes himself to be traveling, in America, on the boat . . . It is always as if his soul were far, far away, in a beautiful, noble sphere where only science and eternal laws rule, and then that does not correspond to anything which surrounds him and he becomes unclear and confused. — Anna von Helmholtz to her sister, 18 July 1894
Dédicace
Informations provenant du Partage des connaissances anglais.Modifiez pour passer à votre langue.
For Christa Jungnickel
Premiers mots
Informations provenant du Partage des connaissances anglais.Modifiez pour passer à votre langue.
Would it ever get light, the old professor wondered.
Citations
Derniers mots
Informations provenant du Partage des connaissances anglais.Modifiez pour passer à votre langue.
It is the end of an historical epoch, but to an old professor of physics, Victor Jakob, sitting in his unlighted study, eating dubious bread with jam made from turnips, it is the end of a way of thinking in his own subject. Younger men have challenged the classical world picture of physics and are looking forward to observational tests of Einstein's new theory of relativity as well as the creation of a quantum mechanics of the atom. It is a time of both apprehension and hope.In this remarkable book, the reader literally inhabits the mind of a scientist while Professor Jakob meditates on the discoveries of the past fifty years and reviews his own life and career--his scientific ambitions and his record of small successes. He recalls the great men who taught or inspired him: Helmholtz, Hertz, Maxwell, Planck, and above all Paul Drude, whose life and mind exemplified the classical virtues of proportion, harmony, and grace that Jakob reveres. In Drude's shocking and unexpected suicide, we see reflected Jakob's own bewilderment and loss of bearings as his once secure world comes to an end in the horrors of the war and in the cultural fragmentation wrought by twentieth-century modernism. His attempt to come to terms with himself, with his life in science, and with his spiritual legacy will affect deeply everyone who cares about the fragile structures of civilization that must fall before the onrush of progress.
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While, strictly speaking, Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist is a short novel it is more a history of the changes that were happening in the field of physics. We are in the mind of Victor Jacob, a classical physicist who is nearing retirement from his Institute in 1918. Jacob is a composite character with the thoughts and events of his life and career taken from the lives of many German physicists of the time. He reflects on his own life, remembering how he served in the Army during an earlier war with France, his early studies and career, the new theories that are supplanting those with which he is most comfortable, the course of the war, and a little about what will happen to Germany and to physics after it's over.
Not for everyone but if you are interested give it a try.