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Description
This class explores the changing roles of physics and physicists during the 20th century. Topics range from relativity theory and quantum mechanics to high-energy physics and cosmology. The course also examines the development of modern physics within shifting institutional, cultural, and political contexts, such as physics in Imperial Britain, Nazi Germany, U.S. efforts during World War II, and physicists' roles during the Cold War.
Subject Requirements
This is a Communications Intensive (CI-M) subject for Course 8 majors. As a CI subject, there will be a heavy emphasis upon writing and oral communication. There will be three papers assigned for a total of 20-24 pages of writing over the course of the semester. The first paper (4-5 pages) will be due in class during Session #7. The second paper (6-7 pages) will be due in class during Session #15. Students will revise and resubmit their second papers, giving them an opportunity to work on specific writing skills before preparing the final paper; the Paper 2 re-writes will be due in class during Session #26. The final paper (10-12 pages) will be due on the final day of class. No late papers will be accepted. There will be an in-class midterm during Session #13.
Required Texts
McCormmach, Russell. Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1991. ISBN: 9780674624610.
Frayn, Michael. Copenhagen. New York, NY: Anchor Books, 2000. ISBN: 9780385720793.
Badash, Lawrence. Scientists and the Development of Nuclear Weapons: From Fission to the Limited Test Ban Treaty, 1939-1963. Atlantic Highlands, NJ: Humanity Press, 1995. ISBN: 9781573925389.
Grading Policy
Grading criteria.
| ACTIVITIES |
PERCENTAGES |
| Paper 1 |
20% |
| Paper 2 |
20% |
| Paper 3 |
25% |
| Mid-term |
25% |
| Participation in Class Discussions |
10% |
Calendar
Course calendar.
| WEEK # |
TOPICS |
KEY DATES |
| I. Introduction and Background |
| 1 |
Course Organization; The Nineteenth-Century Legacy
1. Introductory Lecture
2. Maxwell, Electrodynamics, and Cambridge Wranglers |
|
| II. Einstein: Relativity, Quanta, and the Philosopher-Scientist |
| 2 |
The Rise of Theoretical Physics
3. Mechanical and Electrodynamical World Pictures
4. Special Relativity and the Ether |
|
| 3 |
Philosophy, Experiment, and Special Relativity
5. Einstein and Experiment |
|
| 4 |
From the Special to the General Theory
6. The Reception of Special Relativity
7. The Origins of General Relativity |
Paper 1 due |
| 5 |
First Stirrings of Quantum Theory
8. Rethinking Light
9. Rethinking Matter |
|
| 6 |
Emergence of Quantum Mechanics
10. Matrices and Uncertainty
11. Waves and Probabilities |
|
| 7 |
The Contexts of Quanta
12. Quantum Mechanics in Weimar Germany, Interwar U.S.
13. In-class mid-term examination |
|
| III. Oppenheimer: Physics, Physicists, and the State |
| 9 |
Shifting Topics and Centers
14. Nuclear Physics in the 1930s; From Europe to America
15. Physics under Hitler: deutsche Physik and the Bomb |
Paper 2 due |
| 10 |
The Physicists' War
16. Physics in the U.S.: Radar and the Atomic Bomb
17. Film: The Day After Trinity |
|
| 11 |
Cold War Physics
18. McCarthyism and the Oppenheimer Hearing |
|
| 12 |
Bombs and Big Science
19. Film: The Decision to Build the H-Bomb
20. The Rise of Big Science |
Paper 2 re-write due |
| IV. Feynman and Postwar Theory |
| 13 |
Particles and Fields
21. The Conservative Revolution: QED and Renormalization
22. The Challenge to Field Theory |
|
| 14 |
Standard Models
23. Quarks, Gauge Fields, and the Rise of the Standard Model
24. Big Bang vs. Steady-State Cosmology |
|
| 15 |
Cosmology and Unification
25. Inflation and Superstrings
26. Course Summary |
Paper 3 due
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