Black Bodies and Quantum Cats
Tales from the Annals of Physics
ISBN 9780143036036 | 336 pages | 01 Dec 2005 | Penguin | 5.31 x 7.99in | 18 - AND UP
A delightfully readable history of physics for armchair physicists and other curious readers
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Physics, once known as “natural philosophy,” is the most basic science, explaining the world we live in, from the largest scale down to the very, very, very smallest, and our understanding of it has changed over many centuries. In Black Bodies and Quantum Cats, science writer Jennifer Ouellette traces key developments in the field, setting descriptions of the fundamentals of physics in their historical context as well as against a broad cultural backdrop. Newton’s laws are illustrated via the film Addams Family Values, while Back to the Future demonstrates the finer points of special relativity. Poe’s “The Purloined Letter” serves to illuminate the mysterious nature of neutrinos, and Jeanette Winterson’s novel Gut Symmetries provides an elegant metaphorical framework for string theory.
An enchanting and edifying read, Black Bodies and Quantum Cats shows that physics is not an arcane field of study but a profoundly human endeavor—and a fundamental part of our everyday world. Preface
1. Renaissance Man
2. Talkin' 'bout a Revolution
3. Lens Crafters
4. Good Heavens
5. Gravity's Guru
6. Drawing Down the Fire
7. Trompe I'Oeil
8. Rules of Attraction
9. Ingenious Engines
10. Emperors of the Air
11. Disorderly Conduct
12. Queens of Science
13. Calling Mister Watson March 10, 1876: First Documented Transmission of human Speech
14. Thrill Seekers
15. Current Affairs
16. Shadow Casters
17. Radio Days
18. Mysterious Ways
19. A Thousand Points of Light
20. Quantum Leap
21. It's All Relative
22. Rocket Man
23. That Darn Cat
24. Copy Threat
25. Life during Wartime
26. Gimme Shelter
27. Tiny Bubbles
28. Mimicking Mother Nature
29. Energize Me
30. Small World
31. Contemplating Chaos
32. Kamikaze Cosmos
33. When Particles Collide
34. Checkmate
35. Much Ado about Nothing
36. The Case of the Missing Neutrinos
37. Icarus Descending
38. Sting Section
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