#OTD in 1933.
Hungarian-American physicist Leo Szilard conceived of the idea of the nuclear chain reaction while waiting for a traffic light in Bloomsbury, London. He patented the idea in 1936.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leo_Szilard
physics
Scottish chemist and physicist James Dewar was born #OTD in 1842.
He is best known for his invention of the vacuum flask, which he used in conjunction with research into the liquefaction of gases. He also studied atomic and molecular spectroscopy, working in these fields for more than 25 years. Dewar was nominated for the Nobel Prize 8 times — 5 times in Physics and 3 times in Chemistry — but he never succeeded in winning it.
Edited 290d ago
Two-way mathematical 'dictionary' could connect quantum physics with number theory
by Institute of Science and Technology Austria via @physorg_com
https://phys.org/news/2024-09-mathematical-dictionary-quantum-physics-theory.html
English physicist and chemist Michael Faraday was born #OTD in 1791.
Faraday discovered that a changing magnetic field could induce an electric current in a wire, laying the foundation for the concept of the electromagnetic field. He formulated the fundamental laws of electrolysis; he was the inventor of the Faraday cage and he discovered the Faraday effect.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Faraday
Books about or by Michael Faraday at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Michael+Faraday&submit_search=Search
Edited 288d ago
#OTD in 1905.
Albert Einstein publishes the third of his Annus Mirabilis papers, introducing the special theory of relativity, which used the universal constant speed of light c to derive the Lorentz transformations.
There are some controversies on the question of the extent to which Mileva Marić contributed to the insights of Einstein's annus mirabilis publications
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Annus_mirabilis_papers#
On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/66944
![Einstein, Albert (30 June 1905). "Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper" [On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies] (PDF). Annalen der Physik (in German). 17 (10): 891–921.](/proxy/post_attachment/390325/9da374cdab.png "Einstein, Albert (30 June 1905). \"Zur Elektrodynamik bewegter Körper\" [On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies] (PDF). Annalen der Physik (in German). 17 (10): 891–921.")
#OTD in 1822.
French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel, in a "note" read to the Academy of Sciences, reports a direct refraction experiment verifying David Brewster's hypothesis that photoelasticity (as it is now known) is stress-induced birefringence.
French physicist Léon Foucault was born #OTD in 1819.
He is best known for his demonstration of the Foucault pendulum, a device demonstrating the effect of Earth's rotation. With Hippolyte Fizeau he carried out a series of investigations on the intensity of the light of the sun, as compared with that of carbon in the arc lamp, and of lime in the flame of the oxyhydrogen blowpipe. His is one of the 72 names inscribed on the Eiffel Tower.
Who really won when Bergson and Einstein debated time?
Henri Bergson and Albert Einstein fundamentally disagreed about the nature of time and how it can be measured. Who was right?
By Evan Thompson via @aeonmag
https://aeon.co/essays/who-really-won-when-bergson-and-einstein-debated-time
"Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it."
Danish physicist Niels Bohr was born #OTD in 1885.
Bohr made foundational contributions to understanding atomic structure and quantum theory, for which he received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1922. Bohr was also a philosopher and a promoter of scientific research.
The Niels Bohr Institute at the University of Copenhagen was inaugurated March 3, 1921, by Bohr.
Niels Bohr at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/search/?query=Niels+Bohr&submit_search=Go%21
A derivation of the correlation of two-channel optical Bell test experiment, WITHOUT QUANTUM MECHANICS, that I recently posted to Facebook. This is a copy of the posting on Tumblr:
It is the same derivation I usually present and have for months. It is among the simplest of disproofs of Bell's and Clauser's famous but utterly fallacious works. In experiments such as those of Aspect, the particles are NOT "entangled" and move normally.
What do planet formation and badminton have in common?
From @ArsTechnica: "Dust grains in protoplanetary disks align via the same aerodynamics as the sport."
See the full paper here: https://academic.oup.com/mnras/advance-article/doi/10.1093/mnras/stae2248/7783265?login=false
For more space news, follow @space-ScienceAlert
English mathematician and physicist Peter Barlow was born #OTD in 1776.
In 1833, Barlow built an achromatic doublet lens of joined flint glass and crown glass. A derivative of this design, named a Barlow lens, is widely used in modern astronomy and photography as an optical element to increase both achromatism and magnification. He contributed to Rees's Cyclopædia articles on Algebra, Analysis, Geometry and Strength of Materials.
Lise Meitner died #OTD in 1968.
She is known for her part in the discovery of nuclear fission. Among physicists she had been known for many years as one of the early pioneers in the study of radioactivity. Einstein nicknamed her ‘the German Madame Curie’.
Edited 253d ago
Italian physicist and academic, first woman to have doctorate in science Laura Bassi was born #OTD in 1711. Bassi became the most important populariser of Newtonian mechanics in Italy.
How (Not) to Win a Nobel Prize in Physics
Certain types of research and people have been historically underrepresented in the ranks of Nobel winners.
By Yuen Yiu via @aip
https://ww2.aip.org/inside-science/how-not-to-win-a-nobel-prize-in-physics
#OTD in 1915.
Albert Einstein presents the field equations of general relativity in the form of a tensor equation to the Prussian Academy of Sciences.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_field_equations
General relativity at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/36114
Why did Louis de Broglie, Nobel laureate in physics, abandon his own pilot wave theory?
By Laurie Letertre
"The moment of discovery" does not always exist: the scientist's work is too tenuous, too divided, for the certainty of success to crackle out suddenly in the midst of his laborious toil like a stroke of lightening, dazzling him by its fire.
Marie Curie was born #OTD in 1867.
#OTD in 1822.
French physicist Augustin-Jean Fresnel, in a memoir read to the Academy of Sciences, coins the terms linear polarization, circular polarization, and elliptical polarization, and reports a direct refraction experiment verifying his theory that optical rotation is a form of birefringence.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Augustin-Jean_Fresnel
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polarization_(waves)
The wave theory of light is available at @internetarchive
https://archive.org/details/wavetheoryofligh00crewrich
"Science cannot solve the ultimate mystery of nature. And that is because, in the last analysis, we ourselves are part of nature and therefore part of the mystery that we are trying to solve."
Where is Science Going? The Universe in the light of modern physics.
#OTD in 1900.
Max Planck presents a theoretical derivation of his black-body radiation law (quantum theory) at the Physic Society in Berlin.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Planck%27s_law
Max Planck at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/35343
Where the atomic nuclei are: Maurice Sendak, physics illustrator
The first credited work of the famed children’s book author was a set of illustrations in a 1947 popular-science book about nuclear physics.
Original files are available at Hathi Thrust:
https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/000672307
J. J. Thomson, who was born #OTD in 1856, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1906 for his discovery of the electron, the first subatomic particle to be found.
Thomson was also a teacher, and seven of his students went on to win Nobel Prizes: Ernest Rutherford, Lawrence Bragg, Charles Barkla, Francis Aston, Charles Thomson Rees Wilson, Owen Richardson and Edward Victor Appleton.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._J._Thomson
Books by J.J. Thomson at PG:
https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/38322
English polymath Isaac Newton was born #OTD in 1642.
Newton's book Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica, first published in 1687, achieved the first great unification in physics and established classical mechanics. Newton also made seminal contributions to optics, and shares credit with German mathematician Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz for formulating infinitesimal calculus, though he developed calculus years before Leibniz.
Did Hilma af Klint draw inspiration from 19th century physics?
Diagrams from Thomas Young's 1807 Lectures bear striking resemblance to abstract figures in af Klint's work.
By Jennifer Ouellette
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Young_(scientist)
What Is Entropy? A Measure of Just How Little We Really Know.
Exactly 200 years ago, a French engineer introduced an idea that would quantify the universe’s inexorable slide into decay. But entropy, as it’s currently understood, is less a fact about the world than a reflection of our growing ignorance. Embracing that truth is leading to a rethink of everything from rational decision-making to the limits of machines.
By Zack Savistky
https://www.quantamagazine.org/what-is-entropy-a-measure-of-just-how-little-we-really-know-20241213/
