Inward bound : of matter and forces in the physical world / Abraham Pais. Of Matter and Forces in the Physical World

Oxford : Clarendon, 1986. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine cloth copy in a very good, slightly edge-nicked and dust-dulled dust-wrapper, now mylar-sleeved. Remains particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and strong. Physical description: 666p ; 24cm. Notes: Includes bibliography and index.Contents: Purpose and plan -- pt. 1. 1895-1945 : a history: New kinds of rays ; From uranic rays to radioactivity ; The first particle ; Interlude : earliest physiological discoveries ; Radioactivity's three early puzzles ; Pitfalls of simplicity ; [Beta]-spectra, 1907-1914 ; ""It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity"" ; Nuclear physics' tender age ; Quantum mechanics, an essay ; First encounters with symmetry and invariance ; Nuclear physics : the age of paradox ; Quantum fields, or how particles are made and how they disappear ; Battling the infinite ; In which the nucleus acquires a new constituent, loses an old one, reveals new forces with new symmetries, and is explored by new experimental methods -- pt. 2. The postwar years : a memoir: Of quantum eletrodynamics' triumphs and limitations and of a new particle's sobering impact ; In which particle physics enters the era of big machines and big detectors and pion physics goes through ups and downs ; Onset of an era : new forms of matter appear, old symmetries crumble ; Essay on modern times : 1960-83 ; Being a conclusion that starts as epilog and ends as prolog.Subjects: 1900-199920th century. Physics History 20th century.Physics History 20th century. Physics History 20th century. Physics.Physics history. Physique.Physique Histoire.Physique Histoire 20e si�cle. physics. Physics.Natuurkunde. Wetenschapsbeoefening.Mati�re. Matter Constitution.Physics history. Physics History 20th century.Matter. Force and Energy.Physics History of science 1900-2000. Atomic physics; 20th century; history of.Physics Philosophy.