The Physics of Chance: From Blaise Pascal to Niels Bohr

Ruhla, Charles; Barton, G.

ISBN 10: 0198539770 / ISBN 13: 9780198539773

Published by Oxford University Press, 1992

The book is in good condition with all pages and cover intact, including the dust jacket if originally issued. The spine may show light wear. Pages may contain some notes or highlighting, and there might be a "From the library of" label. Boxed set packaging, shrink wrap, or included media like CDs may be missing. Seller Inventory # BSM.10O2O

Synopsis:

This is an introduction to the ideas of randomness that are central to much of modern physics and have overthrown the "clock-work universe" conceptions of earlier centuries. The author shows how the laws of probability and statistics were developed by such mathematicians as Fermat, Pascal, and Gauss, and how they received their first major application in physics in the kinetic theory of gases developed by Maxwell and Boltzmann. Here the use of statistics is necessary because the number of particles involved is too great for a deterministic calculation. But soon the mathematician and physicist Poincare demonstrated the unpredictability if certain systems containing only a small number of bodies, because of extreme sensitivity to initial conditions. He thus became a founder of chaos theory. Finally, with the advent of quantum theory, physics seemed to be based on an essential randomness, whose reality was debated by Bohr and Einstein till the end of their lives. Only recently, in the experiments of Alain Aspect, has a convincing demonstration been given the inescapable randomness of quantum theory is a fact of nature. Professor Ruhla guides the reader skilfully through all these developments and provides mathematical details in appendices. The book provides an accessible introduction to the modern physicist's conception of the world of cause and chance.

Review: Charles Ruhla has written a splendid book ... which the new students of such things will find accessible and entertaining. This is a lovely book which will stimulate the imagination of any reader, whether a freshman student or a lecturer quarrying the text for ideas for courses. I strongly recommend it. (Professor P.L. Knight, Imperial College, London,. Contemporary Physics, 1993, volume 34, number 3)

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Physics of Chance: From Blaise Pascal to...
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Publication Date: 1992
Binding: Soft cover
Condition: good