|
Elementary Particles and the Laws of Physics: The 1986 Dirac Memorial Lectures | 
 enlarge | Authors: Richard P. Feynman, Steven Weinberg
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Category: Book
List Price: $13.99
Buy New: $6.44
You Save: $7.55 (54%)
New (24) Used (16) from $6.44
Rating:  5 reviews
Sales Rank: 33408
Media: Paperback
Edition: 0
Pages: 110
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.2 x 5 x 0.5
ISBN: 0521658624
Dewey Decimal Number: 530
EAN: 9780521658621
ASIN: 0521658624
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
| |
| Also Available In:
|
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
Developing a theory that seamlessly combines relativity and quantum mechanics, the most important conceptual breakthroughs in twentieth century physics, has proved to be a difficult and ongoing challenge. This book details how two distinguished physicists and Nobel laureates have explored this theme in two lectures given in Cambridge, England, in 1986 to commemorate the famous British physicist Paul Dirac. Given for nonspecialists and undergraduates, the talks transcribed in Elementary Particles and the Laws of Physics focus on the fundamental problems of physics and the present state of our knowledge. Professor Feynman examines the nature of antiparticles, and in particular the relationship between quantum spin and statistics. Professor Weinberg speculates on how Einstein's theory of gravitation might be reconciled with quantum theory in the final law of physics. Highly accessible, deeply thought provoking, this book will appeal to all those interested in the development of modern physics.
Book Description
Perhaps the two most important conceptual breakthroughs in twentieth century physics are relativity and quantum mechanics. Developing a theory that combines the two seamlessly is a difficult and ongoing challenge. This accessible book contains intriguing explorations of this theme by the distinguished physicists Richard Feynman and Steven Weinberg.
|
| Customer Reviews:
Tougher than the Lectures on Physics March 20, 2007
John Blackwell (Northern Virginia, USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
When I readThe Feynman Lectures on Physics including Feynman's Tips on Physics: The Definitive and Extended Edition, I was hoping to understand the reasoning behind the exclusion principle, and was disappointed to find that RPF felt that this was too complex for undergraduates, so he asked them to take it on faith for the moment.
Here he is talking to a more advanced audience, and explains it - he was right, it's tough. I'm still struggling to understand it, but I have confidence that this is a good book to help.
[Added nearly a year later] Having reread the book several times, I finally understand Feynman's lecture! As is often the case, once I understand the principle, I see relationships to various other things I had not fully understood before.
I should also comment on Weinberg's lecture: he's talking about more speculative areas than Feynman, which is perhaps one reason I found him less enlightening than Feynman, but in a rather vague way I follow what he's saying. Certainly these are fascinating ideas, but they don't sing to me like Feynman's lecture.
 Recommended January 16, 2007
Erik Bijkerk (The Netherlands)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
From Richard Feynman, with love. Need more to be said? Read it, and read it again. This one can be read all over again once in a while and does not get boring.
Great Lectures. Requires Math Background. February 18, 2006
Michael Wischmeyer (Houston, Texas)
26 out of 26 found this review helpful
This short book, Elementary Particles and the Laws of Physics, offers two lectures: Richard Feynman's The Reason for Antiparticles and Steven Weinberg's Toward the Final Laws of Physics. These two talks comprise the 1986 Dirac Memorial lectures at Cambridge University. Both presentations are cogently structured and make fascinating reading.
The talks were directed at an advanced audience, one that was familiar with quantum mechanics. Unlike many popular presentations by Feynman and Weinberg, these lectures are not suitable for the general layman.
However, these lectures are accessible to a persistent (perhaps, stubborn) layman with a calculus background and a deep interest in particle physics. I am not a physicist, but I did take my share of physics, chemistry, and math courses several decades ago. I encountered Schrodinger's equation in more than one class, but not relativistic quantum mechanics. However, having recently read Bruce Schumm's wonderful review of particle physics (titled Deep Down Things), I was sufficiently motivated to work my way through both Dirac memorial lectures.
Richard Feynman's lecture, The Reason for Antiparticles, is decidedly the more difficult. Feynman first demonstrates that quantum mechanics and relativity together require the existence of antiparticles, and then shows that they also establish the spin-statistics connection. Within a few pages advanced mathematical expressions appear and then persistently stay in the foreground for nearly the entire talk.
Although understanding Feynman's mathematics is critical for a full and deep appreciation of his exposition, with careful, repeated readings the stubborn layman will have sudden moments of enlightenment and can come away with a deeper understanding of antiparticles and spin statistics. For readers engaged in some self-tutorial readings, it may prove helpful to return occasionally to this classic Feynman lecture to qualitatively measure progress. I have no doubt that, on a deeper level, Feynman's lecture will similarly challenge and enlighten physics majors as well.
Steven Weinberg discusses his speculations on the shape of a final underlying theory of particle physics. Initially, his talk is deceptively easy as few mathematical expressions are used. However, about midway a Lagrangian density equation appears, ratcheting the difficulty several notches, as Weinberg considers a theoretical framework based on quantum mechanics and a few symmetry principles, that is also mathematically consistent with the Lagrangian dynamical principle. After discussion of some limitations of the Standard Model, Weinberg concludes his talk with a somewhat mathematical introduction to string theory.
Physics by two of the very best! September 25, 1999
qed100@hotmail.com Mark Martin (Bainbridge, Indiana, U.S.A.)
35 out of 38 found this review helpful
As usual, the best physics books are short and to the point, as is this one. The two Dirac lectures may serve as a perfectly good mini physics course all by themselves. I always enjoy a Feynman lecture, and this is no exception. He cuts to the chase without sacrificing the plot. But, I must say, in this case the Wienberg lecture is the better of the two. Weinberg's style has a particular grace & beauty about it that gently exposes the aesthetic meaning of the search for a picture of nature.
Two of the best give great insight into fundamentals. November 17, 1998
6 out of 25 found this review helpful
Feynman yet again gives great insight into the laws of physics, this time exploring the reasons for existence of anti-particles, starting from the dirac equation etc.. Plus some really outstanding photographs, that fella Weinberg will be chuffed to have his name mentioned on the book cover!
|
|
|
| |
