History 143/HPS 104: The Quantum Century

A History of 20th Century Physics

Fall Quarter, September - December 2005

Week 1: Physics at the Turn of the Century

Thursday, September 29

Holton, chapter 1: "The Thematic Imagination in Science," pp. 31-52.

J. L. Heilbron, "Fin-de-Siècle Physics," CR.

Suggested additional reading:

Kevles, chapters 1-2: "The Many Wants of Science," pp. 3-13; and "Ennobling and Purifying the Mind," pp. 14-24.

Nye, chapters 1-2: "Disciplinary Organization in Nineteenth Century Chemistry and Physics," pp. 1-27; and "Dalton's Atom and Two Paths for the Study of Matter," pp. 28-56.

*Martin Klein, "Mechanical Explanation at the End of the Nineteenth Century," Centaurus 17 (1972), pp. 58-82.

Week 2: The Theory of Relativity

Tuesday, October 4

Holton, chapter 3: "Thematic and Stylistic Interdependence," pp. 75-98.

Holton, chapter 6: "On the Origins of the Special Theory of Relativity," pp. 191-236.

Kevles, chapter 3: "The Flaws of American Physics," pp. 25-44.

Suggested additional reading:

Holton, chapter 9: "On Trying to Understand Scientific Genius," pp. 371-98.

Nye, chapter 3: "The Electromagnetic View of Nature and a World of Ether, pp. 57-87.

*Peter Galison, "Einstein's Clocks: The Place of Time," Critical Inquiry 26 (Winter 2000), pp. 355-89.

Thursday, October 6

Holton, chapter 7: "Mach, Einstein and the Search for Reality," pp. 237-278.

Holton, chapter 8: "Einstein, Michelson and the 'Crucial' Experiment," pp. 279-370.

Suggested additional reading:

Kevles, chapter 4: "Pure Science and Practical Politics," pp. 45-59.

*Albert Einstein, Relativity, Part 1: "The Special Theory of Relativity," pp. 1-55.

NB: All reading assignments should be completed by the class meeting specified.

"CR" indicates History 143/HPS 104 Course Reader; "Crystal" is Crystal Fire, by Michael Riordan and Lillian Hoddeson; "Nye" is Before Big Science, by Mary Jo Nye; "Rhodes" is The Making of the Atomic Bomb, by Richard Rhodes. "HO" indicates class hand-outs or articles available on my web site. Suggested additional reading items marked by an asterisk (*) are intended for more advanced students or term-papers.

Week 3: Cutting the Uncuttable

Tuesday, October 11

Kevles, chapter 5: "Research and Reform," pp. 60-74.

Kevles, chapter 6: "Joining the Revolution," pp. 75-90.

Abraham Pais, "The Discovery of the Electron," CR

Suggested additional reading:

Nye, chapter 6: "A New Chemistry, a New Physics," pp. 147-64.

Rhodes, chapter 2, "Atoms and Void," pp. 29-52.

*J. L. Heilbron, "Lectures on the History of Atomic Physics," parts I and II, in C. Weiner, History of Twentieth Century Physics, pp. 40-63.

–> Short writing assignment due Tuesday, October 18

Thursday, October 13

Emilio Segre, "H. Becquerel, the Curies, and the Discovery of Radioactivity," CR

Emilio Segre, "Rutherford in the New World: The Transmutation of Elements," CR

Emilio Segre, "Sir Ernest and Lord Rutherford of Nelson," CR.

Suggested additional reading:

Kevles, chapters 8-10 on the activities of American physicists during WWI, pp. 102-54.

*J. L. Heilbron, "The Scattering of Alpha and Beta Particles and Rutherford's Atom," Historical Studies in the Theory of Atomic Structure, pp. 85-145.

Week 4: The Birth of Quantum Mechanics

Tuesday, October 18

Crystal, chapter 3: "The Revolution Within," pp. 28-53.

Michael Riordan, "Down the Rabbit Hole," CR.

Suggested additional reading:

Cathryn Carson, "The Origins of the Quantum Theory," HO

Robert March, "The Atom and the Quantum," Physics for Poets, pp. 17391.

*M. J. Klein, "The Beginnings of Quantum Theory," in C. Weiner, History of Twentieth Century Physics, pp. 1-39.

Thursday, October 20

Holton, chapter 4: "The Roots of Complementarity," pp. 99-145.

Kevles, chapter 11: "The Impact of Quantum Mechanics," pp. 155-84.

Additional reading:

Rhodes, chapter 3, "Tvi," pp. 53-76.

*R. A. Millikan, "Atomic Theories of Radiation," Science 37 (24 January 1913), pp. 119-33.

*Paul Forman, "Weimar Culture, Causality and Quantum Theory, 1918-1927," Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences 3 (1971), pp. 1-115.

Week 5: From Europe to America

Tuesday, October 25

Kevles, chapter 12: "Popularization and Conservatism," pp. 170-84.

Thomas Hughes, "No Philanthropic Asylum for Indigent Scientists," CR.

Review all previous readings in preparation for Mid-Term Exam.

Suggested additional reading:

Holton, chapter 5: "On the Hesitant Rise of Quantum Physics Research," pp. 147-87.

*Paul A. M. Dirac, "The Origin of Quantum Field Theory," in Brown and Hoddeson, The Birth of Particle Physics (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1983), pp. 39-55.

Thursday, October 27

Kevles, chapter 13: "Making the Peaks Higher," pp. 185-99.

Kevles, chapter 14: "A New Center of Physics," pp. 200-21.

Suggested additional reading:

Nye, chapter 7, "Nationalism, Internationalism and the Creation of Nuclear Science, 1914-1940," pp. 211-224.

*S. S. Schweber, "The Empiricist Temper Regnant: Theoretical Physics in the United States, 1920-1950," Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences 17 (1986), pp. 55-98.

–> Mid-Term Exam – in class (final hour)

Week 6: The Depression Years

Tuesday, November 1

Kevles, chapter 15: "Miraculous Year," pp. 222-35.

Kevles, chapter 16: "Revolt Against Science," pp. 236-51.

Crystal, chapter 4: "Industrial Strength Science," pp. 55-70.

Suggested additional reading:

Rhodes, chapters 57, "Men from Mars," "Machines," and "Exodus," pp. 104-97.

Thursday, November 3

Kevles, chapter 17: "The New Deal and Research," pp. 252-66.

Kevles, chapter 18: "Recovery in Physics," pp. 267-87.

Crystal, chapter 5: "The Physics of Dirt," pp. 71-87.

Suggested additional reading:

Rhodes, chapters 8-10, "Stirring and Digging," "An Extensive Burst," and "Neutrons," pp. 198-317.

Carl D. Anderson, "Early Work on the Positron and Muon," CR.

*Carl D. Anderson, "Unraveling the Particle Content of Cosmic Rays," in L. Brown and

L. Hoddeson, The Birth of Particle Physics, pp. 131-54.

–> Written proposals for term papers due

Week 7: The Physicists' War

Tuesday, November 8

Kevles, chapter 19: "Organizing for Defense," pp. 287-301.

Kevles, chapter 20: "A Physicist's War," pp. 303-23.

Crystal, chapter 6, "The Fourth Column," pp. 88-114.

Suggested additional reading:

Rhodes, chapters 11-14, "Cross Sections," "A Communication from Britain," "The New World," and "Physics and Desert Country," pp. 318-485.

Thursday, November 10

Kevles, chapter 21: "The Bomb and Postwar Research Policy," pp. 324-48.

Crystal, chapter 7: "Point of Entry," pp. 115-41.

Crystal, chapter 8: "Minority Views," pp. 142-67.

Suggested additional reading:

Rhodes, chapters 15-18, "Different Animals," "Revelations," "The Evils of This Time," and "Trinity," pp. 486-678.

Vannevar Bush, Science: The Endless Frontier, HO

Week 8: The Cold War and American Physics

Tuesday, November 15

Kevles, chapter 22: "Victory for Elitism," pp. 349-66.

Kevles, chapter 23: "The Physicists Established," pp. 367-92.

Crystal, chapter 9: "The Daughter of Invention," pp. 168-94.

Suggested additional reading:

Rhodes, "Epilogue," pp. 749-90.

*Stuart W. Leslie, "Accelerating Physics," The Cold War and American Science, pp. 160-87.

Thursday, November 17

Crystal, chapter 10: "Spreading the Flames," pp. 195-224.

Crystal, chapter 11: "California Dreaming," pp. 225-53.

Michael Riordan, "The Particle Kingdom," HO.

Suggested additional reading:

Crystal, chapter 12: "The Monolithic Idea," pp. 254-275.

Peter Galison, "Bubbles, Sparks, and the Postwar Laboratory," in L. Brown et al, Pions to Quarks: Particle Physics in the 1950s, pp. 213-251.

*Paul Forman: "Beyond Quantum Electronics: National Security as Basis for Physical Research in the United States," Historical Studies in the Physical Sciences 18 (1987), pp. 149-229.

Week 9: Pure and Postmodern Physics

Tuesday, November 15

Kevles, chapter 24: "New Revolt Against Science," pp. 393-409.

Kevles, chapter 25: "A Degree of Disestablishment, pp. 410-26.

Alvin Weinberg, "Impact of Large-Scale Science on the United States," CR.

Suggested additional reading:

Michael Riordan, The Hunting of the Quark, pp. 73-193.

*Michael Riordan, "The Discovery of Quarks," HO.

*L. Brown et al., "The Rise of the Standard Model, 1964-1979," in L. Hoddeson et al., The Rise of the Standard Model, pp. 3-35.

Thursday, November 17

Philip Anderson, "More Is Different: Broken Symmetry and the Nature of the Hierarchical Structure of Science," CR.

Kevles, preface: "The Death of the Superconducting Super Collider in the Life of

American Physics," pp. ix-xlii.

Michael Riordan, "The Demise of the Superconducting Super Collider," CR.

Suggested additional reading:

Michael Riordan, The Hunting of the Quark, pp. 194-363.

*Silvan Schweber, "A Historical Perspective on the Rise of the Standard Model," in L. Hoddeson et al., The Rise of the Standard Model, pp. 645-84.

–> Work on term papers over the Thanksgiving break!

Week 10: Revolutions in Modern Physics

Tuesday, December 6

Rocky Kolb, "The Quantum and the Cosmos," HO.

George Johnson, "Challenging Particle Physics as the Path to Truth," HO.

Suggested additional reading:

Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, pp. 1-91.

Thursday, December 8

Steven Weinberg, "The Revolution That Didn't Happen," CR.

Suggested additional reading:

Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, pp. 92-173.

–>Term Paper due (if elected)

There will be no final exam in this course. Have a good holiday season!