Maxwell's enduring legacy : a scientific history of the Cavendish Laboratory / Malcolm Longair.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Longair, Malcolm S., 1941- author.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Cavendish Laboratory (Cambridge, England)--History.

Cavendish Laboratory (Cambridge, England).

History.

Genre:

History.

Physical Description:

xxi, 664 pages : illustrations (chiefly color) ; 26 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, United Kingdom : Cambridge University Press, 2016.

Summary:

"The Cavendish Laboratory is arguably the most famous physics laboratory in the world. Founded in 1874, it rapidly gained a leading international reputation through the researches of the Cavendish professors beginning with Maxwell, Rayleigh, J.J. Thomson, Rutherford and Bragg. Its name will always be associated with the discoveries of the electron, the neutron, the structure of the DNA molecule and pulsars, but these are simply the tip of the iceberg of outstanding science. The physics carried out in the laboratory is the central theme of the book and this is explained in reasonably non-technical terms. The research activities are set in their international context. Generously illustrated, with many pictures of the apparatus used and diagrams from the original papers, the story is brought right up to date with descriptions of the science carried out under the leadership of the very different personalities of Mott, Pippard and Edwards."--Page 4 of cover.

Contents:

Part I. To 1874. Physics in the nineteenth century

Mathematics and physics in Cambridge in the nineteenth century

Part II. 1874 to 1879. The Maxwell era

Part III. 1879 to 1884. Rayleigh's quinquennium

Part IV. 1884 to 1919. The challenges facing J.J. Thomson

The Thomson era, 1884-1900 : the electron

The Thomson era, 1900-1919 : atomic structure

Part V. 1919 to 1937. Rutherford at McGill and Manchester universities : new challenges in Cambridge

The Rutherford era : the radioactivists

The Rutherford era : the seeds of the new physics

Part VI. 1938 to 1953. Bragg and the war years

Bragg and the post-war years

Part VII. 1953 to 1971. The Mott era : an epoch of expansion

The Mott era : radio astronomy and high-energy physics

The Mott era : the growth of condensed matter physics

Part VIII. 1971 to 1982. The Pippard era : a new Laboratory and a new vision

The Pippard era : radio astronomy, high-energy physics and laboratory astrophysics

The Pippard era : condensed matter physics

Part IX. 1984 to 1995. The Edwards era : a new epoch of expansion

The Edwards era : new directions in condensed matter physics

The Edwards era : high-energy physics and radio astronomy

Part X. 1995 to present. Towards the new millenium and beyond

Appendix : the evolution of the new museums site.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 589-639) and indexes.

ISBN:

9781107083691

1107083699

OCLC:

949869198