Truth and Beauty: Aesthetics and Motivations in Science"What a splendid book! Reading it is a joy, and for me, at least, continuing reading it became compulsive. . . . Chandrasekhar is a distinguished astrophysicist and every one of the lectures bears the hallmark of all his work: precision, thoroughness, lucidity."—Sir Hermann Bondi, Nature The late S. Chandrasekhar was best known for his discovery of the upper limit to the mass of a white dwarf star, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1983. He was the author of many books, including The Mathematical Theory of Black Holes and, most recently, Newton's Principia for the Common Reader. |
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Page 6
... and Dirac were led to a reformulation of the laws of statistical mechanics as they ap- plied to an electron gas and showed that departures from classical laws should be expected at high densities and / or low 6 CHAPTER ONE.
... and Dirac were led to a reformulation of the laws of statistical mechanics as they ap- plied to an electron gas and showed that departures from classical laws should be expected at high densities and / or low 6 CHAPTER ONE.
Page 7
... electron gas has become degenerate . These new laws have found ex- tensive applications in the theory of metals and ... electrons must be degenerate in the sense of the Fermi - Dirac statistics . And with this discovery of Fowler it ...
... electron gas has become degenerate . These new laws have found ex- tensive applications in the theory of metals and ... electrons must be degenerate in the sense of the Fermi - Dirac statistics . And with this discovery of Fowler it ...
Page 9
... electron should have states in which it should have negative energy - an unheard - of possibility ! However , Dirac ... electron in a state of negative energy could be raised to a state of positive energy , creat- ing in this way an ...
... electron should have states in which it should have negative energy - an unheard - of possibility ! However , Dirac ... electron in a state of negative energy could be raised to a state of positive energy , creat- ing in this way an ...
Page 10
Aesthetics and Motivations in Science S. Chandrasekhar. electron pair . Dirac even worked out a theory for the probability of such pair creations . Some three years later all these predictions were verified , which confirmed his ...
Aesthetics and Motivations in Science S. Chandrasekhar. electron pair . Dirac even worked out a theory for the probability of such pair creations . Some three years later all these predictions were verified , which confirmed his ...
Page 11
... electrons : helium and the negative ion of hydrogen . First , regarding helium : Until March 1895 , helium was known only as a chromospheric element on the sun . It had , in fact , been detected during the total eclipse of the sun which ...
... electrons : helium and the negative ion of hydrogen . First , regarding helium : Until March 1895 , helium was known only as a chromospheric element on the sun . It had , in fact , been detected during the total eclipse of the sun which ...
Contents
1 | |
Its Motivations 1985 | 15 |
Shakespeare Newton and Beethoven or Patterns of Creativity 1975 | 29 |
4 Beauty and the Quest for Beauty in Science 1979 | 59 |
Edward Arthur Milne His Part in the Development of Modern Astrophysics 1979 | 74 |
1982 Eddington The Most Distinguished Astrophysicist of His Time | 93 |
The Aesthetic Base of the General Theory of Relativity 1986 | 144 |
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Truth and Beauty: Aesthetics and Motivations in Science Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar Limited preview - 1990 |
Common terms and phrases
A. L. Rowse A. S. Eddington aesthetic Arthur Stanley Eddington astrophysics atomic basic beauty Beethoven black holes black-holes Cambridge Chandrasekhar colliding waves Collision of impulsive consider context cosmical constant cosmological density derived described deSitter's Dirac discovery Einstein Einstein-Maxwell equations electron energy equilibrium Ernst equation example expeditions fact Fermi formulation G. H. Hardy gravitational waves Heisenberg helium hydrogen ideas impulsive gravitational waves interchanges x¹ J. J. Thomson Karl Schwarzschild Kepler Kerr later laws of gravitation lecture mass mathematical theory metric Milne Milne's motion nature Newton Newtonian theory observations Observatory orbit paper particles physical physicist plays polarizations prediction pressure problem pursuit of science quantum theory R. H. Fowler radiation remarkable result Royal Astronomical Society scientific scientist Shakespeare singularity solar solution space-time stars stellar temperature theory of gravitation theory of relativity thought tion Tycho universe Weyl Weyl's wrote x¹ and x²