Yoshio Nishina : father of modern physics in Japan / Dong-Won Kim.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Kim, Dong-Won, 1960-

Contributor:

Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Nishina, Yoshio, 1890-1951.

Nishina, Yoshio.

Physicists--Japan--Biography.

Physicists.

Japan.

Genre:

Biographies.

Physical Description:

195 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Boca Raton, FL : Taylor & Francis, [2007]

Summary:

Yoshio Nishina not only made a great contribution to the emergence of a research network that produced two Nobel prize winners, but he also raised the overall level of physics in Japan. Focusing on his roles as researcher, teacher, and statesman of science, Yoshio Nishina: Father of Modern Physics in Japan analyzes Nishina's position in and his contributions to the Japanese physics community.

After a short introduction, the book examines Nishina's family, his early studies, the creation of Riken, and the greater Japanese physics community in the early twentieth century. It then focuses on Nishina's work at the Cavendish Laboratory and at the University of Gottingen as well as his more fruitful research at Niels Bohr's Institute of Theoretical Physics in Copenhagen. The book also describes the establishment of the Nishina Laboratory at Riken, the collaboration between its experimentalists and theoreticians, and the cosmic ray research of its scientists. The last two chapters discuss Nishina's controversial construction and operation of two cyclotrons at Riken as well as his presidency at Riken after World War II.

Contents:

Chapter 1 Youth 1

1.1 The Nishina Family 1

1.2 Yoshio Nishina: The Student 2

1.3 Institute of Physical and Chemical Research (Riken) 6

1.4 Japan's Physics Community in the Early Twentieth Century 10

Chapter 2 Nishina in Europe 15

2.1 Heading for Europe 15

2.2 Cambridge and Gottingen 16

2.3 Research in Experimental Subjects at Copenhagen 20

2.4 The New Quantum Mechanics and the Klein-Nishina Formula 26

2.5 A Truly Accomplished Researcher 39

Chapter 3 Preacher of the New Quantum Mechanics 47

3.1 The Introduction of the New Quantum Mechanics to Japan During the 1920s 47

3.2 Nishina: The Preacher of the New Quantum Mechanics 55

Chapter 4 Beloved Sensei: Theoretical Research and the Emergence of a Research Network 73

4.1 A New Kind of Boss at Riken 73

4.2 The Theory Group 75

4.3 The Emergence of a Research Network 88

Chapter 5 Cosmic Ray Research: "This is Interesting. Let Us Try It." 103

5.1 Cosmic Ray Research in the Early Twentieth Century 103

5.2 The Effect of the 10th Subcommittee of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science on Cosmic Ray Research in Japan 107

5.3 The Cosmic Ray Research Group 110

5.4 Cosmic Ray Research and the Meson Theory: Cooperation between Experimentalists and Theoreticians 123

Chapter 6 Father of Big Science: The Construction of Two Cyclotrons 133

6.1 The Small (26-inch) Cyclotron 133

6.2 The Large (60-inch) Cyclotron 145

6.3 The Legacy of Two Cyclotrons 155

Chapter 7 Statesman of Science 165.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Local Notes:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edward Potts Cheyney Memorial Fund.

ISBN:

9780750307550

0750307552

OCLC:

77767361