Constructing Quarks

Constructing Quarks

Author: Andrew Pickering

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 1999-12

Total Pages: 484

ISBN-13: 9780226667997

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Widely regarded as a classic in its field, Constructing Quarks recounts the history of the post-war conceptual development of elementary-particle physics. Inviting a reappraisal of the status of scientific knowledge, Andrew Pickering suggests that scientists are not mere passive observers and reporters of nature. Rather they are social beings as well as active constructors of natural phenomena who engage in both experimental and theoretical practice. "A prodigious piece of scholarship that I can heartily recommend."—Michael Riordan, New Scientist "An admirable history. . . . Detailed and so accurate."—Hugh N. Pendleton, Physics Today


Book Synopsis Constructing Quarks by : Andrew Pickering

Download or read book Constructing Quarks written by Andrew Pickering and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 1999-12 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Widely regarded as a classic in its field, Constructing Quarks recounts the history of the post-war conceptual development of elementary-particle physics. Inviting a reappraisal of the status of scientific knowledge, Andrew Pickering suggests that scientists are not mere passive observers and reporters of nature. Rather they are social beings as well as active constructors of natural phenomena who engage in both experimental and theoretical practice. "A prodigious piece of scholarship that I can heartily recommend."—Michael Riordan, New Scientist "An admirable history. . . . Detailed and so accurate."—Hugh N. Pendleton, Physics Today


Quarks: Frontiers In Elementary Particle Physics

Quarks: Frontiers In Elementary Particle Physics

Author: Yoichiro Nambu

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 1985-05-01

Total Pages: 240

ISBN-13: 9814338028

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The book explains in a precise and complete manner how elementary particle physics has evolved over the past 50 years. The historical development of the ideas that have shaped our thinking about the ultimate constituents of matter is traced out. The author has been associated with some of the originators of elementary particle theory and has made significant contributions to the field. Here, he gives a first-person description of some of the main developments leading to our present view of the universe.


Book Synopsis Quarks: Frontiers In Elementary Particle Physics by : Yoichiro Nambu

Download or read book Quarks: Frontiers In Elementary Particle Physics written by Yoichiro Nambu and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 1985-05-01 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The book explains in a precise and complete manner how elementary particle physics has evolved over the past 50 years. The historical development of the ideas that have shaped our thinking about the ultimate constituents of matter is traced out. The author has been associated with some of the originators of elementary particle theory and has made significant contributions to the field. Here, he gives a first-person description of some of the main developments leading to our present view of the universe.


Theory's Empire

Theory's Empire

Author: Daphne Patai

Publisher: Columbia University Press

Published: 2005-04-20

Total Pages: 739

ISBN-13: 0231508697

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Not too long ago, literary theorists were writing about the death of the novel and the death of the author; today many are talking about the death of Theory. Theory, as the many theoretical ism's (among them postcolonialism, postmodernism, and New Historicism) are now known, once seemed so exciting but has become ossified and insular. This iconoclastic collection is an excellent companion to current anthologies of literary theory, which have embraced an uncritical stance toward Theory and its practitioners. Written by nearly fifty prominent scholars, the essays in Theory's Empire question the ideas, catchphrases, and excesses that have let Theory congeal into a predictable orthodoxy. More than just a critique, however, this collection provides readers with effective tools to redeem the study of literature, restore reason to our intellectual life, and redefine the role and place of Theory in the academy.


Book Synopsis Theory's Empire by : Daphne Patai

Download or read book Theory's Empire written by Daphne Patai and published by Columbia University Press. This book was released on 2005-04-20 with total page 739 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Not too long ago, literary theorists were writing about the death of the novel and the death of the author; today many are talking about the death of Theory. Theory, as the many theoretical ism's (among them postcolonialism, postmodernism, and New Historicism) are now known, once seemed so exciting but has become ossified and insular. This iconoclastic collection is an excellent companion to current anthologies of literary theory, which have embraced an uncritical stance toward Theory and its practitioners. Written by nearly fifty prominent scholars, the essays in Theory's Empire question the ideas, catchphrases, and excesses that have let Theory congeal into a predictable orthodoxy. More than just a critique, however, this collection provides readers with effective tools to redeem the study of literature, restore reason to our intellectual life, and redefine the role and place of Theory in the academy.


Science as Practice and Culture

Science as Practice and Culture

Author: Andrew Pickering

Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Published: 2010-11-15

Total Pages: 484

ISBN-13: 0226668207

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Science as Practice and Culture explores one of the newest and most controversial developments within the rapidly changing field of science studies: the move toward studying scientific practice—the work of doing science—and the associated move toward studying scientific culture, understood as the field of resources that practice operates in and on. Andrew Pickering has invited leading historians, philosophers, sociologists, and anthropologists of science to prepare original essays for this volume. The essays range over the physical and biological sciences and mathematics, and are divided into two parts. In part I, the contributors map out a coherent set of perspectives on scientific practice and culture, and relate their analyses to central topics in the philosophy of science such as realism, relativism, and incommensurability. The essays in part II seek to delineate the study of science as practice in arguments across its borders with the sociology of scientific knowledge, social epistemology, and reflexive ethnography.


Book Synopsis Science as Practice and Culture by : Andrew Pickering

Download or read book Science as Practice and Culture written by Andrew Pickering and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2010-11-15 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Science as Practice and Culture explores one of the newest and most controversial developments within the rapidly changing field of science studies: the move toward studying scientific practice—the work of doing science—and the associated move toward studying scientific culture, understood as the field of resources that practice operates in and on. Andrew Pickering has invited leading historians, philosophers, sociologists, and anthropologists of science to prepare original essays for this volume. The essays range over the physical and biological sciences and mathematics, and are divided into two parts. In part I, the contributors map out a coherent set of perspectives on scientific practice and culture, and relate their analyses to central topics in the philosophy of science such as realism, relativism, and incommensurability. The essays in part II seek to delineate the study of science as practice in arguments across its borders with the sociology of scientific knowledge, social epistemology, and reflexive ethnography.


Particles, Quantum Groups, High Tc, Phase Transitions And All That - Proceedings Of The First Yanbrian International Workshop On Modern Physics

Particles, Quantum Groups, High Tc, Phase Transitions And All That - Proceedings Of The First Yanbrian International Workshop On Modern Physics

Author: Kyungsik Kang

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 1991-06-05

Total Pages: 414

ISBN-13: 981456933X

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These proceedings are the culmination of the First Yanbian Workshop on Modern Physics, an epoch making event in Korean history that took place in Yanbian, China during 15-18 July, 1990. The meeting was instrumental to bring the active practitioners in the frontier physic together from many parts of the world including for the first time, those from North Korea. This volume contains the most important lectures by experts in Particle Physics, Conformal Field Theory, High-Tc Superconductivity, Phase Transitions, Medium Energy Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology.


Book Synopsis Particles, Quantum Groups, High Tc, Phase Transitions And All That - Proceedings Of The First Yanbrian International Workshop On Modern Physics by : Kyungsik Kang

Download or read book Particles, Quantum Groups, High Tc, Phase Transitions And All That - Proceedings Of The First Yanbrian International Workshop On Modern Physics written by Kyungsik Kang and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 1991-06-05 with total page 414 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: These proceedings are the culmination of the First Yanbian Workshop on Modern Physics, an epoch making event in Korean history that took place in Yanbian, China during 15-18 July, 1990. The meeting was instrumental to bring the active practitioners in the frontier physic together from many parts of the world including for the first time, those from North Korea. This volume contains the most important lectures by experts in Particle Physics, Conformal Field Theory, High-Tc Superconductivity, Phase Transitions, Medium Energy Physics, Astrophysics and Cosmology.


Strange Beauty

Strange Beauty

Author: George Johnson

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2010-09-29

Total Pages: 447

ISBN-13: 0307765458

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With a New Afterword "Our knowledge of fundamental physics contains not one fruitful idea that does not carry the name of Murray Gell-Mann."--Richard Feynman Acclaimed science writer George Johnson brings his formidable reporting skills to the first biography of Nobel Prize-winner Murray Gell-Mann, the brilliant, irascible man who revolutionized modern particle physics with his models of the quark and the Eightfold Way. Born into a Jewish immigrant family on New York's East 14th Street, Gell-Mann's prodigious talent was evident from an early age--he entered Yale at 15, completed his Ph.D. at 21, and was soon identifying the structures of the world's smallest components and illuminating the elegant symmetries of the universe. Beautifully balanced in its portrayal of an extraordinary and difficult man, interpreting the concepts of advanced physics with scrupulous clarity and simplicity, Strange Beauty is a tour-de-force of both science writing and biography.


Book Synopsis Strange Beauty by : George Johnson

Download or read book Strange Beauty written by George Johnson and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2010-09-29 with total page 447 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With a New Afterword "Our knowledge of fundamental physics contains not one fruitful idea that does not carry the name of Murray Gell-Mann."--Richard Feynman Acclaimed science writer George Johnson brings his formidable reporting skills to the first biography of Nobel Prize-winner Murray Gell-Mann, the brilliant, irascible man who revolutionized modern particle physics with his models of the quark and the Eightfold Way. Born into a Jewish immigrant family on New York's East 14th Street, Gell-Mann's prodigious talent was evident from an early age--he entered Yale at 15, completed his Ph.D. at 21, and was soon identifying the structures of the world's smallest components and illuminating the elegant symmetries of the universe. Beautifully balanced in its portrayal of an extraordinary and difficult man, interpreting the concepts of advanced physics with scrupulous clarity and simplicity, Strange Beauty is a tour-de-force of both science writing and biography.


The Social Construction of What?

The Social Construction of What?

Author: Ian Hacking

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 2000-11-15

Total Pages: 272

ISBN-13: 0674254279

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Lost in the raging debate over the validity of social construction is the question of what, precisely, is being constructed. Facts, gender, quarks, reality? Is it a person? An object? An idea? A theory? Each entails a different notion of social construction, Ian Hacking reminds us. His book explores an array of examples to reveal the deep issues underlying contentious accounts of reality. Especially troublesome in this dispute is the status of the natural sciences, and this is where Hacking finds some of his most telling cases, from the conflict between biological and social approaches to mental illness to vying accounts of current research in sedimentary geology. He looks at the issue of child abuse—very much a reality, though the idea of child abuse is a social product. He also cautiously examines the ways in which advanced research on new weapons influences not the content but the form of science. In conclusion, Hacking comments on the “culture wars” in anthropology, in particular a spat between leading ethnographers over Hawaii and Captain Cook. Written with generosity and gentle wit by one of our most distinguished philosophers of science, this wise book brings a much needed measure of clarity to current arguments about the nature of knowledge.


Book Synopsis The Social Construction of What? by : Ian Hacking

Download or read book The Social Construction of What? written by Ian Hacking and published by Harvard University Press. This book was released on 2000-11-15 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Lost in the raging debate over the validity of social construction is the question of what, precisely, is being constructed. Facts, gender, quarks, reality? Is it a person? An object? An idea? A theory? Each entails a different notion of social construction, Ian Hacking reminds us. His book explores an array of examples to reveal the deep issues underlying contentious accounts of reality. Especially troublesome in this dispute is the status of the natural sciences, and this is where Hacking finds some of his most telling cases, from the conflict between biological and social approaches to mental illness to vying accounts of current research in sedimentary geology. He looks at the issue of child abuse—very much a reality, though the idea of child abuse is a social product. He also cautiously examines the ways in which advanced research on new weapons influences not the content but the form of science. In conclusion, Hacking comments on the “culture wars” in anthropology, in particular a spat between leading ethnographers over Hawaii and Captain Cook. Written with generosity and gentle wit by one of our most distinguished philosophers of science, this wise book brings a much needed measure of clarity to current arguments about the nature of knowledge.


Nature and Sociology

Nature and Sociology

Author: Tim Newton

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2007-08-07

Total Pages: 219

ISBN-13: 1134211511

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This book engages with, and contests, the ‘new sociology of nature’. It moves beyond existing debates by presenting new social theory and working across current fields of interest, addressing the debate on new genetics and genomics, taking human biology seriously, and the issues of interdisciplinarity that are likely to arise in longer term attempts to work across the social and natural world. Nature and Sociology will be of great interest to students of a variety of disciplines including sociology and social science, human geography, social and biological anthropology, and the natural sciences.


Book Synopsis Nature and Sociology by : Tim Newton

Download or read book Nature and Sociology written by Tim Newton and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2007-08-07 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book engages with, and contests, the ‘new sociology of nature’. It moves beyond existing debates by presenting new social theory and working across current fields of interest, addressing the debate on new genetics and genomics, taking human biology seriously, and the issues of interdisciplinarity that are likely to arise in longer term attempts to work across the social and natural world. Nature and Sociology will be of great interest to students of a variety of disciplines including sociology and social science, human geography, social and biological anthropology, and the natural sciences.


Are Science and Mathematics Socially Constructed?

Are Science and Mathematics Socially Constructed?

Author: Richard C. Brown

Publisher: World Scientific

Published: 2009

Total Pages: 336

ISBN-13: 9812835245

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This book is a history, analysis, and criticism of what the author calls ?postmodern interpretations of science? (PIS) and the closely related ?sociology of scientific knowledge? (SSK). This movement traces its origin to Thomas Kuhn's revolutionary work, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), but is more extreme. It believes that science is a ?social construction?, having little to do with nature, and is determined by contextual forces such as the race, class, gender of the scientist, laboratory politics, or the needs of the military industrial complex.Since the 1970s, PIS has become fashionable in the humanities, social sciences, and ethnic or women's studies, as well as in the new academic discipline of Science, Technology, and Society (STS). It has been attacked by numerous authors and the resulting conflicts led to the so-called Science Wars of the 1990s. While the present book is also critical of PIS, it focuses on its intellectual and political origins and tries to understand why it became influential in the 1970s. The book is both an intellectual and a political history. It examines the thoughts of Karl Popper, Karl Mannheim, Ludwik Fleck, Thomas Kuhn, Paul Feyerabend, David Bloor, Steve Woolgar, Steve Shapin, Bruno Latour, and PIS-like doctrines in mathematics. It also describes various philosophical contributions to PIS ranging from the Greek sophists to 20th century post-structuralists and argues that the disturbed political atmosphere of the Vietnam War era was critical to the rise of PIS.


Book Synopsis Are Science and Mathematics Socially Constructed? by : Richard C. Brown

Download or read book Are Science and Mathematics Socially Constructed? written by Richard C. Brown and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2009 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book is a history, analysis, and criticism of what the author calls ?postmodern interpretations of science? (PIS) and the closely related ?sociology of scientific knowledge? (SSK). This movement traces its origin to Thomas Kuhn's revolutionary work, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions (1962), but is more extreme. It believes that science is a ?social construction?, having little to do with nature, and is determined by contextual forces such as the race, class, gender of the scientist, laboratory politics, or the needs of the military industrial complex.Since the 1970s, PIS has become fashionable in the humanities, social sciences, and ethnic or women's studies, as well as in the new academic discipline of Science, Technology, and Society (STS). It has been attacked by numerous authors and the resulting conflicts led to the so-called Science Wars of the 1990s. While the present book is also critical of PIS, it focuses on its intellectual and political origins and tries to understand why it became influential in the 1970s. The book is both an intellectual and a political history. It examines the thoughts of Karl Popper, Karl Mannheim, Ludwik Fleck, Thomas Kuhn, Paul Feyerabend, David Bloor, Steve Woolgar, Steve Shapin, Bruno Latour, and PIS-like doctrines in mathematics. It also describes various philosophical contributions to PIS ranging from the Greek sophists to 20th century post-structuralists and argues that the disturbed political atmosphere of the Vietnam War era was critical to the rise of PIS.


Pions to Quarks

Pions to Quarks

Author: Laurie M. Brown

Publisher: Cambridge University Press

Published: 1989-11-24

Total Pages: 770

ISBN-13: 0521309840

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The historical studies and analyses provided in the volume are unique in their scope and level of detail.


Book Synopsis Pions to Quarks by : Laurie M. Brown

Download or read book Pions to Quarks written by Laurie M. Brown and published by Cambridge University Press. This book was released on 1989-11-24 with total page 770 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The historical studies and analyses provided in the volume are unique in their scope and level of detail.