+1 credit
| Version | Summary | Created by | Modification | Content Size | Created at | Operation |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vivi Li | -- | 1370 | 2022-11-02 01:44:24 |
Video Upload Options
Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist is an historical novel by historian of science Russell McCormmach, published in 1982 by Harvard University Press. Set in 1918, the book explores the world of physics in the early 20th century—including the advent of modern physics and the role of physicists in World War I—through the recollections of the fictional Viktor Jakob. Jakob is an old German physicist who spent most of his career during the period of classical physics, a paradigm being confronted by the rapid and radical developments of relativistic physics in 1900s and 1910s. This conflict allows for extensive examination of the various tensions placed on Jakob by the academic environment, the German academic system, and the changing academic culture of the early 20th century. The character of Jakob, a professor at a minor German university, is an amalgam of German physicists based on archival research by McCormmach. In the novel, he recalls interactions and events, documented in extensive footnotes to genuine publications and archival sources, involving many of the well-known physicists of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Night Thoughts, pointedly criticized for its lack of literary merit by some reviewers, was generally praised for its attempt at forging a new approach to history and historical fiction by incorporating extensive research into the text.
References
- Steiner, George (Sep 1982). "Review:Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist". Isis 73 (3): 427–429. doi:10.1086/353047. https://dx.doi.org/10.1086%2F353047
- Mirowski, Philip (1983). "Review of Night thoughts of a classical physicist". History of Political Economy 15 (1). doi:10.1215/00182702-15-1-145. http://hope.dukejournals.org/cgi/reprint/15/1/145.pdf.
- Weisskopf, Victor (Nov 1982). "Review: Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist". American Journal of Physics 50 (11): 1053–1054. doi:10.1119/1.12948. Bibcode: 1982AmJPh..50.1053M. http://scitation.aip.org/getpdf/servlet/GetPDFServlet?filetype=pdf&id=AJPIAS000050000011001053000002&idtype=cvips&doi=10.1119/1.12948&prog=normal.
- Nye, Mary Jo (2006-06-01). "Scientific Biography: History of Science by Another Means?". Isis 97 (2): 322–329. doi:10.1086/504738. http://ir.library.oregonstate.edu/xmlui/bitstream/1957/22155/1/NyeMaryJo.History.ScientificBiography.pdf.
- Lawson, Lewis A. (1984). "An Academic Novel and its Impact: Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist". The Journal of General Education 36 (3): 197–205. ISSN 0021-3667. http://www.worldcat.org/issn/0021-3667
- Brown, Laurie M. (May 21, 1982). "Review: A Portrait". Science. New Series 216 (4548): 880–881. doi:10.1126/science.216.4548.880. Bibcode: 1982Sci...216..880M. https://dx.doi.org/10.1126%2Fscience.216.4548.880
- MacLeod, Roy (1982). "Review of Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist". The Wilson Quarterly (1976–) 6 (5): 140–141. ISSN 0363-3276. http://www.worldcat.org/issn/0363-3276
- McKenna, Caitlin (Fall 2007). "First & Second Looks: Night Thoughts of a Classical Physicist". Narrative Magazine. http://www.narrativemagazine.com/issues/fall-2007/night-thoughts-classical-physicist.
- Weinburg, Steven (Dec 1995). "Night Thoughts of a Quantum Physicist". Bulletin of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences 49 (3): 51–64.
