NIGHT THOUGHTS OF A CLASSICAL PHYSICIST

by Russell McCormmach ‧ RELEASE DATE: Jan. 1, 1981

An era in the history of science--as a novella. It is September 1918 in a Prussian university town. Victor Jacob, a theoretical physicist of 69, muses on the present and past of Germany, and the passing of the era of classical physics. Jacob's heart is clearly with Helmholtz, Hertz, and Maxwell. His modest research has concerned the ""world-other""--a meaningless concept in the wake of Einstein. Yet Jacob is not bitter. He looks back with a certain pleasure at the days of solid cause-and-effect physics, and his conscientious efforts to lecture and demonstrate experiments before once-crowded classes. He admires Planck and Einstein; knows that physics will never be the same again. The war has been devastating, not only in its death and destruction, but in dividing the should-be-international world of science. Into these musings, McCormmach weaves figments of historical figures--Helmholtz, Warburg, Geiger, Sommerfeld, Planck, Einstein--and also the officious Friedrich Althoff, the power-broker of German university appointments. Thus, he brings off a muted CÖtterdÄmmerung--a sense of time and a cast of mind characteristic of WW I Germany, and of thinking in physics before Uncertainty and Duality took over. If the technique can be faulted, it is that McCormmach's theme too often strikes a single note: the pure classicism that unifies his hero's taste in art, letters, and life. Still, this is an innovative, surprisingly effective approach to the culture of science: a small tour de force. (The source notes at the end should not be skipped, either.)

Pub Date: Jan. 1, 1981

ISBN: 0674624610

Page Count: -

Publisher: Harvard Univ. Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 1, 1981

Categories: NONFICTION