Quantum Theory: A Very Short Introduction

Author: John Polkinghorne
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191577677
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 145

Book Description
Quantum Theory is the most revolutionary discovery in physics since Newton. This book gives a lucid, exciting, and accessible account of the surprising and counterintuitive ideas that shape our understanding of the sub-atomic world. It does not disguise the problems of interpretation that still remain unsettled 75 years after the initial discoveries. The main text makes no use of equations, but there is a Mathematical Appendix for those desiring stronger fare. Uncertainty, probabilistic physics, complementarity, the problematic character of measurement, and decoherence are among the many topics discussed. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Quantum Theory

Author: John C. Polkinghorne
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780191775598
Category : Quantum theory
Languages : en
Pages : 113

Book Description
Quantum theory is the most revolutionary discovery in physics since Newton. This book gives a lucid and accessible account of the surprising and counterintuitive ideas that shape our understanding of the sub-atomic world.

Particle Physics: a Very Short Introduction

Author: Frank Close
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 019287375X
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 177

Book Description
Following the discovery of the Higgs boson, Frank Close has produced this major revision to his classic and compelling introduction to the fundamental particles that make up the universe.

Choice Theory: A Very Short Introduction

Author: Michael Allingham
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191579262
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 144

Book Description
We make choices all the time - about trivial matters, about how to spend our money, about how to spend our time, about what to do with our lives. And we are also constantly judging the decisions other people make as rational or irrational. But what kind of criteria are we applying when we say that a choice is rational? What guides our own choices, especially in cases where we don't have complete information about the outcomes? What strategies should be applied in making decisions which affect a lot of people, as in the case of government policy? This book explores what it means to be rational in all these contexts. It introduces ideas from economics, philosophy, and other areas, showing how the theory applies to decisions in everyday life, and to particular situations such as gambling and the allocation of resources. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Philosophy of Physics

Author: David Wallace
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0198814321
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 169

Book Description
Philosophy of physics is concerned with the deepest theories of modern physics - quantum theory, our theories of space, time and symmetry, and thermal physics - and their strange, even bizarre conceptual implications. This book explores the core topics in philosophy of physics, and discusses their relevance for both scientists and philosophers.

Physics

Author: Sidney Perkowitz
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0192543571
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 176

Book Description
Physics, the fundamental science of matter and energy, encompasses all levels of nature from the subatomic to the cosmic, and underlies much of the technology around us. Understanding the physics of our universe is an essential aspect of humanity's quest to understand our environment and our place within it. Doing physics enables us to explore the interaction between environment and human society, and can help us to work towards the future sustainability of the planet. This Very Short Introduction provides an overview of how this pervasive science came to be and how it works: who funds it, how physicists are trained and how they think, and how physics supports the technology we all use. Sidney Perkowitz presents the theories and outcomes of pure and applied physics from ideas of the Greek natural philosophers to modern quantum mechanics, cosmology, digital electronics and energy production. Considering its most consequential experiments, including recent results in elementary particles, gravitational waves and materials science, he also discusses outside the lab, the effects of physics on society, culture, and humanity's vision of its place in the universe. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Relativity: A Very Short Introduction

Author: Russell Stannard
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0199236224
Category : Mathematics
Languages : en
Pages : 129

Book Description
Einstein's theory of relativity shattered the world of physics - replacing Newtonian ideas of space and time with bizarre and counterintuitive conclusions: a world of slowing clocks and stretched space, black holes and curved space-time. This Very Short Introduction explores and explains the theory in an accessible and understandable way.

Robotics: A Very Short Introduction

Author: Alan Winfield
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191646482
Category : Technology & Engineering
Languages : en
Pages : 168

Book Description
Robotics is a key technology in the modern world. Robots are a well-established part of manufacturing and warehouse automation, assembling cars or washing machines, and, for example, moving goods to and from storage racks for Internet mail order. More recently robots have taken their first steps into homes and hospitals, and seen spectacular success in planetary exploration. Yet, despite these successes, robots have failed to live up to the predictions of the 1950s and 60s, when it was widely thought - by scientists and engineers as well as the public - that by turn of the 21st century we would have intelligent robots as butlers, companions, or co-workers. This Very Short Introduction explains how it is that robotics can be both a success story and a disappointment, how robots can be both ordinary and remarkable, and looks at their important developments in science and their applications to everyday life. ABOUT THE SERIES: The Very Short Introductions series from Oxford University Press contains hundreds of titles in almost every subject area. These pocket-sized books are the perfect way to get ahead in a new subject quickly. Our expert authors combine facts, analysis, perspective, new ideas, and enthusiasm to make interesting and challenging topics highly readable.

Critical Theory: A Very Short Introduction

Author: Stephen Eric Bronner
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0190692693
Category : Philosophy
Languages : en
Pages : 161

Book Description
Critical theory emerged in the 1920s from the work of the Frankfurt School, the circle of German-Jewish academics who sought to diagnose -- and, if at all possible, cure -- the ills of society, particularly fascism and capitalism. In this book, Stephen Eric Bronner provides sketches of leading representatives of the critical tradition (such as George Lukács and Ernst Bloch, Theodor Adorno and Walter Benjamin, Herbert Marcuse and Jurgen Habermas) as well as many of its seminal texts and empirical investigations. This Very Short Introduction sheds light on the cluster of concepts and themes that set critical theory apart from its more traditional philosophical competitors. Bronner explains and discusses concepts such as method and agency, alienation and reification, the culture industry and repressive tolerance, non-identity and utopia. He argues for the introduction of new categories and perspectives for illuminating the obstacles to progressive change and focusing upon hidden transformative possibilities. In this newly updated second edition, Bronner targets new academic interests, broadens his argument, and adapts it to a global society amid the resurgence of right-wing politics and neo-fascist movements.

An Introduction to Quantum Theory

Author: Keith Hannabuss
Publisher: Clarendon Press
ISBN: 0191588733
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 398

Book Description
This book provides an introduction to quantum theory primarily for students of mathematics. Although the approach is mainly traditional the discussion exploits ideas of linear algebra, and points out some of the mathematical subtleties of the theory. Amongst the less traditional topics are Bell's inequalities, coherent and squeezed states, and introductions to group representation theory. Later chapters discuss relativistic wave equations and elementary particle symmetries from a group theoretical standpoint rather than the customary Lie algebraic approach. This book is intended for the later years of an undergraduate course or for graduates. It assumes a knowledge of basic linear algebra and elementary group theory, though for convenience these are also summarized in an appendix.