Atomic Physics Books

The Los Alamos Primer: The First Lectures on How To Build an Atomic Bomb

Robert Serber

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Total reviews: 11 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

In April 1943, a young physicist named Robert Serber stood up before a small group of fellow scientists in a laboratory in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and, as one attendee later recalled, began to speak in "a hazy, uncertain voice" about the project on which they would all be working. "The object," he said, "is to produce a practical military weapon in the form of a bomb in which the energy is released by a fast neutron chain reaction in one or more of the materials known to show nuclear fission." That mechanism, of course, was the atomic bomb, which a little more than two years later would be used against Japan.

In the following weeks, Serber touched on many themes, racing to an array of chalkboards to scribble complex formulas and equations. Among other things, he addressed how big a bomb would need to be in order to achieve critical mass--between 13.5 centimeters and 9 centimeters, he calculated--and what the probability of premature detonation might be. (It was, he concluded, always a danger.) At the end of the series, his lecture notes, classified as top secret, were gathered and printed for distribution to later cadres of scientists who came to work at Los Alamos. Years after the war they were declassified, and Serber, who died in May of 1997, took the opportunity to reflect on his work and the strange culture of the laboratory, adding postscripts and other commentary reproduced in the present edition.

Serber's book is an important document in the history of science, and remains one of the most accessible introductions to nuclear physics ever written. (On that note, those who worry that it is all too easy to find bomb-building instructions in the library or on the Web should rest assured: these lectures were tough for the greatest theoretical physicists of the time to follow.) It all makes for provocative reading. --Gregory McNamee

Einstein and Oppenheimer: The Meaning of Genius

Silvan S. Schweber

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

Albert Einstein and J. Robert Oppenheimer, two iconic scientists of the twentieth century, belonged to different generations, with the boundary marked by the advent of quantum mechanics. By exploring how these men differed—in their worldview, in their work, and in their day—this book provides powerful insights into the lives of two critical figures and into the scientific culture of their times. In Einstein’s and Oppenheimer’s philosophical and ethical positions, their views of nuclear weapons, their ethnic and cultural commitments, their opinions on the unification of physics, even the role of Buddhist detachment in their thinking, the book traces the broader issues that have shaped science and the world.

Einstein is invariably seen as a lone and singular genius, while Oppenheimer is generally viewed in a particular scientific, political, and historical context. Silvan Schweber considers the circumstances behind this perception, in Einstein’s coherent and consistent self-image, and its relation to his singular vision of the world, and in Oppenheimer’s contrasting lack of certainty and related non-belief in a unitary, ultimate theory. Of greater importance, perhaps, is the role that timing and chance seem to have played in the two scientists’ contrasting characters and accomplishments—with Einstein’s having the advantage of maturing at a propitious time for theoretical physics, when the Newtonian framework was showing weaknesses.

Bringing to light little-examined aspects of these lives, Schweber expands our understanding of two great figures of twentieth-century physics—but also our sense of what such greatness means, in personal, scientific, and cultural terms.

(20080521)

Atomic physics: An exploration through problems and solutions

Dmitry Budker, Derek Kimball, David DeMille

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Editorial Review:

This book provides a bridge between the basic principles of physics learned as an undergraduate and the skills and knowledge required for advanced study and research in the exciting field of atomic physics. The text is organized in a unique and versatile format --- as a collection of problems, hints, detailed solutions, and in-depth tutorials. This enables the reader to open the book at any page and get a solid introduction to subjects on the cutting edge of atomic physics, such as frequency comb metrology, tests of fundamental symmetries with atoms, atomic magnetometers, atom trapping and cooling, and Bose-Einstein condensates. The text also includes problems and tutorials on important basics that every practicing atomic physicist should know, but approached from the perspective of experimentalists: formal calculations are avoided where possible in favor of 'back-of-the-envelope' estimates, symmetry arguments, and physical analogies. The 2nd edition contains over 10 new problems, and includes important updates, revisions, and corrections of several problems of the 1st edition.

Subatomic Physics (2nd Edition)

Hans Frauenfelder, Ernest M. Henley

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 3.5 of 5

Good introductory text to subject 4 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

I used this book in an undergraduate nuclear physics course. We studied under a working theoretical physicist who uses quantum field theory pretty much everyday, I suppose. I thought the book was pretty good, and had good physical insights. The math derivations always seemed to be pretty transparent so as not to obscure the physics behind it. The problems seemed a little terse, so the instructor expanded some and added some of his own on the assignments. The book assumes a level of competency in quantum mechanics which may not be there for all readers. Also, I thought that the authors didn't highlight the most important points sufficiently. Nevertheless, I think the book is very good, and is a nice introduction to the subject.

Subatomic physics 3rd edition is an update, but not a new book 5 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

This review is an edit. I would change the 5 stars to 3 stars, if there were this option. I adopted Subatomic Physics 3rd ed. by Henley and Garcia for my physics course at Illinois for the spring, 2008 semester. The 3rd ed. is an update to the 2nd ed. by Frauenfelder and Henley. The new material accounts for 30 out of some 600 pages. The figures are redrawn, there are now some color photos, but the equations and problems are all from the 2nd edition. The sections on experimental techniques, symmetries and conservation laws, and models are adequate. The section on interactions (1/3 of the text) has major problems. The theoretical treatment is on very shaky ground. Basic quantum mechanics is violated, because advanced quantum mechanics is beyond the scope of the book. For my taste, not a good compromise. Other problems are references useful only to experts, no appendices with constants and particle properties, and no online errata for the all too many typos.
Paul T. Debevec

Editorial Review:

M->CREATED

The Atom in the History of Human Thought

Bernard Pullman

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Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

What's the matter? This was no trivial question for Democritus, generally considered the father of the atom. Like his fellow philosophers in ancient Greece, he was gravely concerned with discovering the nature of the universe through reason and argument, and hence wanted to understand the basic composition of material things. His postulate, that there are minuscule, indivisible units of matter, was revolutionary and resisted by many scientists until the early 20th century.

The late Dr. Bernard Pullman, former professor of quantum chemistry at the Sorbonne, presents a challenging, broad-ranging history of this seemingly simple idea in The Atom in the History of Human Thought. The language is remarkably clear, thanks in part to the translation of Axel Reisinger; there are no awkward phrasings or unfamiliar idioms to puzzle the reader. Instead we are told the life story of an idea, one so basic to our modern understanding of the world as to seem almost obvious.

But, as Pullman shows us, it was not only resisted but actively suppressed for centuries. From the often-bizarre notions of the ancients (could the universe really be made only of water?) to the equally bizarre concepts of modern atomic theory (is your chair really composed almost entirely of empty space?), with occasional forays into the science of the Islamic and Hindu worlds, he shows many attempts to answer the most fundamental question in science and philosophy. With such a long and controversial history, it's little wonder that we still haven't set matter straight. --Rob Lightner

The End of the Certain World: The Life and Science of Max Born

Nancy Thorndike Greenspan

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Total reviews: 10 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

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In 1920, Albert Einstein wrote to Max Born, “Theoretical physics will flourish wherever you happen to be; there is no other Born to be found in Germany today.” The End of the Certain World presents for the first time Born’s full story: Nobel physicist, a discoverer of quantum theory, exile from Hitler’s Germany, teacher of nine Nobel physicists. Born’s role in the “Golden Age of Physics” helped to shape the science of the twentieth century and open the door to the modern era. Robert Oppenheimer, Edward Teller, and Eugene Wigner, among others, flocked to Göttingen, Germany in the 1920’s to work with Born, the physicist who had discovered one of the most profound principles of the century - the physics of indeterminacy. In a cruel twist of fate Born, a pacifist who loved science for its beauty, had educated these renowned scientists who developed the atom bomb. Not everyone embraced Born’s revolutionary quantum principle. Throughout much of his forty year friendship with Einstein, the two debated the nature of the universe - deterministic versus non-deterministic - with Einstein declaring “God does not play dice”, even though the Nobel Committee supported Born’s position when they awarded him the 1954 Prize. A social history and a history of science as well as an intimate biography, The End of the Certain World reveals the story of a great physicist and humanitarian and his struggle with the forces of religion, politics, and war during the upheavals of the twentieth century.

Volume I - Atomic Theory and the Description of Nature

Niels Bohr

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Working on the Bomb: An Oral History of WWII Hanford

S. L. Sanger; Craig Wollner

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Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

First-hand accounts of a pivotal WWII secret project. 4 out of 5 stars.
12 of 12 people found this review helpful.

This is an edited version of the 1989 edition, with additional essays, and an afterword on the Hanford Dose Reconstruction Project--a continuing epidemiological study on past and recent radioactive contamination of the south-central region of Washington State. There is also a new detailed index. All of the many interviews (done in 1986) readily convey the drama of the early 1940s top secret project of building the world's first plutonium plant, as well as the sense of adventure and total commitment on everyone's part to achieve production at all costs. Of interest to anyone concerned with this region's history, nuclear reactor design, chemical engineering and the role of the DuPont Company in WWII, early atomic physics relating to bombs, the Los Alamos (N.M.) Project, and radioactive contamination of nuclear reactors.

Very interesting read 4 out of 5 stars.
3 of 3 people found this review helpful.

Now the story can be told........

For anybody who has an interest in the Manhattan Project, or the precursor to the DoE, the AEC, this is a great read. Not many people actually know the role of all the plants around the US, and this book pulls back the drapes on the 'canyons' that comprises Hanford.

This book is a good addition to the library of any peron with an interest in the field.

Laser Cooling and Trapping (Graduate Texts in Contemporary Physics)

Harold J. Metcalf, Peter van der Straten

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

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Laser cooling allows one to slow atoms to roughly the speed of a mosquito and to control their motions with unprecedented precision. This elegant technique, whereby atoms, molecules, and even microscopic beads of glass, can be trapped in small regions of free space by beams of light and subsequently moved at will using other beams, has revolutionized many areas of physics. In particular, it provides a useful research tool for the study of individual atoms, for investigating the details of chemical reactions, and even for the study of atomic motion in the quantum domain. This text begins with a review of the relevant aspects of quantum mechanics; it then turns to the electromagnetic interactions involved in slowing and trapping atoms, in both magnetic and optical traps. The concluding chapters discuss a broad range of applications, including atomic clocks, studies of ultra-cold collision processes, diffraction and interference of atomic beams, optical lattices, and Bose-Einstein condensation. The book is intended for advanced undergraduates and beginning graduate students who have some basic knowledge of optics and quantum mechanics. An extensive bibliography provides access to the current research literature.

FROM THE REVIEWS

THE PHYSICIST "A strong recommendation for any book in one's own field is to see it written the way you would have written it. This is certainly the case here. If you are a researcher or a teacher in laser cooling and trapping or a related field of atomic, molecular, and optical physics, then this is a "must buy" text for your bookshelf. Any buy one for your students too, because your copy will inevitably disappear."

PHYSICS TODAY "...for its intended use, which is to guide newcomers into the field of laser cooling and trapping, the book does a superb job...The book is will placed to evolve with the filed for many years to come."

Atoms, Electrons, and Change: A Scientific American Library Book (Scientific American Library)

P. W. Atkins

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A century and a half ago the pioneering physicist and chemist Michael Faraday delivered a celebrated series of lectures that attempted to explain the inner workings of matter through the chemical history of a candle. "There is no better, there is no more open door by which you can enter into the study of natural philosophy", Faraday told his audience. Now the distinguished chemist P.W. Atkins follows in Faraday's footsteps, using his predecessor's deceptively simple theme to show how far we have come in understanding the remarkable chemical reactions that govern everything from how candles burn to how life functions. While Faraday could say little more than that a chemical reaction changes a substance's appearance and properties, chemists today understand reactions in terms of the rearrangement of atoms and electrons. Atkins - tracing the course of a carbon atom released by a flaming candle - explores the complex forces that operate at the atomic and sub atomic levels to drive these rearrangements.