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What books are you reading?
Carol Haynes:
Just finished reading Feynman by Ottaviani & Myrick.
See (UK): http://www.amazon.co.uk/Feynman-Jim-Ottaviani/dp/1596432594
or (US): http://www.amazon.com/Feynman-Jim-Ottaviani/dp/1596432594
I have to say I felt disappointed when I opened the book to find it was one long cartoon strip but having read it I found it absorbing, quite brilliantly written, inspiring and witty.
Pretty sure Richard Feynman would have approved.
Impressed that they managed to get quite a lot of physics into the book.
If you are interested in science and/or Richard Feynman it is definitely worth a read.
If you aren't interested in science it is a good biography of, perhaps, one of the greatest minds of the 20th century - esp. as he simply didn't think or work like other people.
One moving anecdote that I wasn't aware of before reading this book is that of his sister's interest in science at a time when girls weren't expected to do anything other than marry, cook and drop sprogs. Feynman was horrified by this attitude and encouraged his sister, taking her out one evening to watch the Aurora Borealis. She was captivated and having become a scientist against the odds made a study of the Aurora her life's work - such was her brother's inspiration. Many years later Feynman was asked to get involved in research into the Aurora himself but declined saying that was his sister's field and he didn't want to tread on her toes.
daddydave:
I remember going to a lecture where 'electron spin' got mentioned. The lecturer took pains to point out that what are called particles aren't really what we think of as physical particles. I remember his saying something like " Spin is a way of thinking about it. It's not like there's actually an object that's spinning down there."
-40hz (October 04, 2011, 08:39 AM)
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Man!! I had an eerily similar experience when I first started learning about spin in my quantum physics class in college. I remember that it didn't really quite make any sense to me, like in a special way though. It was like I thought "this is...kind of...bullshit", but I wasn't sure if I just wasn't understanding it or something. It was one of those weird, profound moments in my life. That spin thing was the first time I realized that they created this concept deductively from just the math of it, rather than observing something and then fitting the math to it which is the more usual scientific way of doing stuff.
Spin is a way of thinking about it.
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Such a bizarre statement. Yet here we are with the result of all of this progress and technology. And at the very core of it, the very most fundamental part...the electron spin...we don't even know what that really is.
-superboyac (October 04, 2011, 10:00 AM)
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"Spin is a way of thinking about it." -- Funny how "media spin" has kind of the same meaning: it is adding a layer of interpretation, a way to think about it, a way you want someone else to think about something, for good or for evil. Spin is the scientist's "spin" on what is actually happening.
All I remember from college about electron spin is four letters: s, p, d ,f...shells of probability, something. Didn't have an aha moment, myself.
superboyac:
daddydave, yes, those orbitals (s,p,d,f) are fascinating! I used to love that stuff, it really motivated me to learn more about chemistry and quantum physics, even though the actual work and math exercises (pain in the ass) took the fun out of it. If I'm not mistaken, those orbital shapes were first described mathematically using the Schroedingers equations, and THEN it was observed physically. Just amazing stuff.
TaoPhoenix:
Books! Nom Nom Nom...
Rather than list which books I am "actually reading" I'll list links to my personal library that I recently began typing up online! The chance of me reading any particular one at any particualar day resembles Quantum Field theory! Here are the first few sets.
http://www.freevoteusa.com/Culture/RawBookList1.html
http://www.freevoteusa.com/Culture/RawBookList2.html
http://www.freevoteusa.com/Culture/RawBookList3.html
Carol Haynes:
daddydave, yes, those orbitals (s,p,d,f) are fascinating! I used to love that stuff, it really motivated me to learn more about chemistry and quantum physics, even though the actual work and math exercises (pain in the ass) took the fun out of it. If I'm not mistaken, those orbital shapes were first described mathematically using the Schroedingers equations, and THEN it was observed physically. Just amazing stuff.
-superboyac (December 28, 2011, 09:36 AM)
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I love Feynman's comment (loose paraphrase):
"Students don't understand this stuff - hell I don't understand this stuff, anyone who says he does is lying or deluded. It just works - nature knows what she is doing."
If you have time on your hands (and a compelling desire to hit yourself on the head with a brick) try this series of lectures by Feynman:
http://www.vega.org.uk/video/subseries/8
Probably about 5 hours of viewing - very entertaining as well as bewildering.
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