Physics in the 20th Century by Curt Suplee, Abrams, 拢32, ISBN
0810943646
THE next time a stranger at a party asks me what the point of physics is,
I鈥檒l tell them to read Curt Suplee鈥檚 excellent Physics in the 20th
Century. He has managed to achieve that seemingly impossible task:
describing all the major developments in physics in this century without
trivialising or oversimplifying them. When they reach the end, general readers
will have a fair grasp of what Einstein鈥檚 theories of relativity are about, why
chaos theory is important, how nuclear fusion may one day provide clean energy,
and much more.
It鈥檚 a lot of ground to cover. As Suplee says: 鈥淭he world as it is now
understood differs more dramatically from the Victorian view than the science of
Galileo, Copernicus, and Newton differed from that of Aristotle.鈥� But a superb
layout, bite-sized chunks of text and a stunning array of pictures make this
scientific epic an effortless read.
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I particularly liked the way the research process itself is presented. For
example, 鈥渁t the turn of the century even such formidable figures as Austrian
physicist Ernst Mach were still insisting that the supposed atom was no more
than a useful fiction鈥�, writes Suplee. He then describes the experiments that
revealed the atom鈥檚 basic structure. The gradual refinement of the technology
led to astounding developments such as electron microscopes with resolutions so
high that you can see individual large atoms, and the magnetic resonance imaging
techniques so vital to medicine. 鈥淪cience is not some set of specific goals to
be achieved once and for all,鈥� concludes Suplee, 鈥渋t is a never-ending,
ever-improving, self-correcting means of expanding human understanding of
苍补迟耻谤别.鈥�
Throughout, he focuses on how physics has influenced our everyday lives, from
the electronic revolution triggered by the transistor to the development of
lasers and radar. Even the chapter on quantum mechanics is refreshingly down to
earth. Instead of straying towards the field鈥檚 wilder hypothetical shores, it
concentrates on observable effects, spin-off products such as scanning
tunnelling microscopes, and the potential for superfast quantum computers that
might be able 鈥渢o compute a number of possibilities simultaneously鈥�.
Suplee knows when to tackle the larger questions, too. In his chapter on
cosmology, he states that the nature of 鈥渄ark matter鈥濃�攚hich, while making
up around 90 per cent of the Universe, is not yet understood鈥攈olds the key
to 鈥渨hether the cosmos will continue expanding indefinitely, remain about the
way it is, or slow down and ultimately collapse back upon itself鈥�.
There are numerous illustrations, and their captions often go into more
detail than the text, which helps to make more complex topics more palatable.
The images themselves are truly amazing and diverse. Here you鈥檒l find one of the
first X-rays, taken by their discoverer Wilhelm R枚ntgen, and a human hair
notched by a laser beam., Or you can gape at the three technicians aboard a raft
inside the Super-Kamiokande neutrino detector in Japan, snapped as they cleaned
the faces of 13 000 photomultipliers while the detector filled with water.
There is a slight American bias鈥攇iven that it was sponsored by the
American Physical Society and the American Institute of Physics, but it鈥檚 a mild
irrititant for internationally minded readers. And in a few places, the text may
puzzle people without a scientific background. But these are minor criticisms to
set against his achievement. Suplee even manages to capture the excitement the
original experimenters must have felt when they made their groundbreaking
discoveries.
While Physics in the 20th Century is intended for nonspecialists, it
reminded me of why I spent so many years studying this remarkable subject. I
urge anyone with an interest in physics to buy this. Believe me, your coffee
table has room for it.