The Oxford Handbook of the History of Physics

Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

The Oxford Handbook of the History of Physics brings together cutting-edge writing by more than twenty leading authorities on the history of physics from the seventeenth century to the present day. By presenting a wide diversity of studies in a single volume, it provides authoritative introductions to scholarly contributions that have tended to be dispersed in journals and books not easily accessible to the general reader. While the core thread remains the theories and experimental practices of physics, the Handbook contains chapters on other dimensions that have their place in any rounded history. These include the role of lecturing and textbooks in the communication of knowledge, the contribution of instrument-makers and instrument-making companies in providing for the needs of both research and lecture demonstrations, and the growing importance of the many interfaces between academic physics, industry, and the military.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• List of Contributors (p. viii)
• Introduction (p. 1)
• Part I Physics and the New Science
• 1 Was There a Scientific Revolution? (p. 7)
• 2 Galileo's Mechanics of Natural Motion and Projectiles (p. 25)
• 3 Cartesian Physics (p. 56)
• 4 Physics and the Instrument-Makers, 1550-1700 (p. 96)
• 5 Newton's Principia (p. 109)
• 6 Newton's Optics (p. 166)
• 7 Experimentation in the Physical Sciences of the Seventeenth Century (p. 199)
• 8 Mathematics and the New Sciences (p. 226)
• Part II The Long Eighteenth Century
• 9 The Physics of Imponderable Fluids (p. 267)
• 10 Physics on Show: Entertainment, Demonstration, and Research in the Long Eighteenth Century (p. 299)
• 11 Instruments and Instrument-Makers, 1700-1850 (p. 326)
• 12 Mechanics in the Eighteenth Century (p. 358)
• 13 Laplace and the Physics of Short-Range Forces (p. 406)
• 14 Electricity and Magnetism to Volta (p. 432)
• Part III Fashioning the Discipline: from Natural Philosophy to Physics
• 15 Optics in the Nineteenth Century (p. 445)
• 16 Thermal Physics and Thermodynamics (p. 473)
• 17 Engineering Energy: Constructing a New Physics for Victorian Britain (p. 508)
• 18 Electromagnetism and Field Physics (p. 533)
• 19 Electrodynamics from Thomson and Maxwell to Hertz (p. 571)
• 20 From Workshop to Factory: The Evolution of the Instrument-Making Industry, 1850-1930 (p. 584)
• 21 Physics Textbooks and Textbook Physics in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries (p. 651)
• 22 Physics and Medicine (p. 679)
• 23 Physics and Metrology (p. 698)
• Part IV Modern Physics
• 24 Rethinking 'Classical Physics' (p. 721)
• 25 The Emergence of Statistical Mechanics (p. 765)
• 26 Three and a Half Principles: The Origins of Modern Relativity Theory (p. 789)
• 27 Quantum Physics (p. 814)
• 28 The Silicon Tide: Relations between Things Epistemic and Things of Function in the Semiconductor World (p. 860)
• 29 Physics and Cosmology (p. 892)
• Name Index (p. 923)
• Subject Index (p. 936)

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

The greatest challenge facing any attempt to describe the history of an entire field is that few fields are polite enough to restrict themselves to a single clear theme. Thus, it is necessary to either focus on a narrow slice of the field, or create a publication that goes in many directions at once. The Oxford Handbook of the History of Physics, edited by historians Buchwald (Caltech) and Fox (emer., Oxford), opts for breadth, but it does hit certain themes repeatedly over the time periods covered (1600-present). These include the coevolution of physics and the instrumentation used in scientific experimentation, or how the dividing lines between eras are hopelessly blurry when one goes beyond the simplified histories presented in most undergraduate physics texts. This work is not for beginners: while readers can benefit from it without having degrees in both physics and history, it would definitely be helpful to have a solid grounding in at least one of the disciplines, if not both. There is a great deal to learn here that is not typically presented in the teaching of physics, but it is not written to be a first exposure to the topic either. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Upper-division undergraduates, graduate students, and researchers/faculty. D. J. Van Domelen Cottey College