The historical development of physics concepts: who did what and when.
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Historical aspect of wave theory of light
Huygens thought light as a wave. Wave is a propagation of physical disturbance. We now know that light is electromagnetic field. Electric and magnetic field fluctuates here. What Huygens really ...
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2answers
120 views
Why metric system uses kilogram as a basic SI unit?
SI system uses all (that I know) measurement basic units as 1 (single) instance: meter, second, ampere, etc, except the KILOgram. It already defined with 1000 multiplier (kilo).
It prevents from ...
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1answer
76 views
Maxwell's Equations-Relativity
How did Maxwell develop the magnetic field without relativity? Was it purely experimental? I don't see how else he would have developed any understanding for the magnetic field.
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76 views
Topological band theory [closed]
Why topological insulators were discovered so late? While the band theory was known long time ago! I mean why the topological properties of electronic bands were not noticed in the past?
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1answer
42 views
recommendation for a physics history/non-fiction book [closed]
I know that there are a lot theses being published on lives of physicists. Is there a history/non-fiction book that tracks the development of a problem chronologically? Like pieces of a puzzle.
I ...
3
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1answer
106 views
Michelson–Morley @ Home
The Michelson-Morley experiment seems to have taken many years, resources and a nervous breakdown to complete.
Is it possible to recreate a variation of this experiment at home for say, under $1000, ...
4
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1answer
94 views
Earliest example of naturalness/fine-tuning arguments
The notion of naturalness is important in particle physics, especially supersymmetry. I was a little surprised, then, that the idea, or at least the name, is apparently only ~30 years old (t'Hooft, ...
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1answer
83 views
How did Newton find out force has something to do with acceleration?
Its about Newton's second law of motion,
$$F=ma.$$
It says the acceleration of an object is directly proportional to the net force and is inversely proportional to the object's mass. Yes I can ...
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2answers
265 views
English translation of Helmholtz' paper: “On the Physical Significance of the Principle of Least Action”
I am asking about an English translation of a Helmholtz paper:
Ueber die physikalische Bedeutung des Princips der kleinsten Wirkung. Journal für die reine und angewandte Mathematik (Crelle's ...
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4answers
577 views
Why there is no “Edison” unit in physics? [closed]
In the popular culture the XIX-XX century competition between Thomas Edison and Nikola Tesla is well-known. The example could be the Prestige movie, where there are some "Edison's agents" who sabotage ...
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1answer
41 views
Why did Otto Hahn use neutrons to generate transuranium?
In physics textbooks with chapters about nuclear fission there is often a historical introduction about Otto Hahn. That he tried to generate transuranium but discovered the nuclear fission.
If you ...
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4answers
206 views
Why a day is divided by 12/24 hours? Why the number 12?
Why a day is divided by 12/24 hours? Why the number 12? Why not using 10 or 6 or 14, 16? Who invented this? Any physical reasons behind this?
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1answer
63 views
Difference between nautical and terrestrial miles
Does someone know the historical reason behind the difference in physical units between nautical and terrestrial miles?
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2answers
211 views
Electric field of a negative charge
How was it discovered that the electric field of a negative charge points towards the charge itself? Is it true?
(Courtesy of wikipedia)
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3answers
271 views
Results of Statistical Mechanics first obtained by formal mathematical methods
I have a question that seems natural in Physics and Mathematics mainly in Statistical Mechanics of Equilibrium.
Results that are proven by formal mathematical methods that were already seem intuitive ...
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2answers
635 views
Did Hilbert publish general relativity field equation before Einstein?
Did Hilbert publish general relativity field equation before Einstein?
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1answer
49 views
What was the first ionization radiation?
While trying to make somewhat of a timeline of the history of ionizatig radiation, i am wondering about the following questions:
The first photoelectrical effect was found 1839 by Alexandre ...
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1answer
91 views
A Book about the Bohr-Einstein debate?
A book about the Bohr-Einstein debate?
Is there any book that details the correspondence between the two? The only books I could find are popular science books, I wonder if there is a book that lists ...
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26 views
How did scientists come up with Work? What was it fundamentally defined as? [duplicate]
Now before I get into the questions I want to make a couple of things clear, I know that there were similar questions like this and I've been through (what i think is) all of them and none of the ...
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3answers
305 views
What made us think that Earth moves around the Sun?
Trying to observe the night sky for a few weeks, the motion of the Sun and the stars pretty much fits into the Geocentric Theory i.e. All of them move around the Earth.
What then, which particular ...
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1answer
61 views
The fractional model of Quarks electric charge was found before discovery of the $\Delta^{++}$, or after it?
From Wikipedia:
Existence of the $\Delta^{++}$ , with its unusual +2 electric charge, was a crucial clue in the development of the quark model.
the fractional model of Quarks electric charge was ...
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1answer
243 views
Historic derivation of Wien's law
Every book I've read, including a lot of websites, Wikipedia, etc, say that Wien derived this:
$$\rho_\nu(T)=\rho(\nu,T)=\nu^3f\left(\frac{\nu}{T}\right)$$
Being $\rho_v(T)$ the spectral enegy ...
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2answers
314 views
When and how did the idea of the tensor product originate in the history quantum mechanics?
At some point in the history of quantum mechanics, it was accepted that a single particle is described by a wavefunction which is a function of the position of the particle $\mathbf{r}$, denoted:
...
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0answers
21 views
Phase functions non-existent in original (J. Strutt) Lord Rayleigh's work?
This is related to my previous Phys.SE question on the derivation of the phase function - upon sifting and scanning through 600 pages of John Strutt's collected work, there is absolutely no mention of ...
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1answer
71 views
Who first provided a string realization of dual resonance models?
After the $N$-particle generalization of the Veneziano amplitude was written down and studied, who was the first (or who were among the first) to realize that the amplitudes could be understood in ...
3
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1answer
122 views
Was the choice of red/green colors for traffic lights a happy coincidence?
All of us have learned since secondary school that the reason we use red in the traffic lights for "Stop" is because it travels the furthest without dispersion. According to wikipedia which cites ...
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4answers
122 views
How come vibrations?
We all know that sound sensation is produced only when sound waves reach upto us. We all know that sound waves are disturbances propagating in air, Vibration is necessary for the generation of sound, ...
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2answers
297 views
First experiment which was used to prove existence of Electromagnetic waves
When I was in high school I heard from my physics teacher in the last year of high school when he was starting the chapter of electromagnetic waves that the first person who proved existence of ...
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72 views
Origin of Laue equations?
The Bragg condition (by Bragg in 1913) can be derived by the Laue equations that is making use of the Miller indices and all the latice/crystal stuff (so basically it's bringing Bragg's law to more ...
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1answer
105 views
Do stars appear to move with uniform motion?
The Ancient Greek astronomers had quite an obsession over uniform circular motion; I was wondering if there was a logical reason for this. Did it develop through actual observations of the stars? Do ...
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0answers
87 views
Nicholas Kollerstrom article on the history of Calculus
Today, Newton´s birthday, I read an article posted in the arXiv by Nicholas Kollerstrom
http://www.arxiv.org/abs/1212.2666
That basically claims that Newton did not invent Calculus. The article does ...
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2answers
251 views
Was uncertainty principle inferred by Fourier analysis?
I would like to know: did Heisenberg chance upon his Uncertainty Principle by performing Fourier analysis of wavepackets, after assuming that electrons can be treated as wavepackets?
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0answers
96 views
Who used the concept of symmetries first?
Who "invented" the concept of symmetries? This article is quite extensive, but it blurs the history with the modern understanding.
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/symmetry-breaking/
Some of the ...
3
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1answer
159 views
How did pre-Copernican astronomers accurately predict planetary position?
Copernican elements (circular orbital elements) are not very accurate. But Copernicus simplified our understanding a great deal by placing the Sun at the center of the system. Im astonished by the ...
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178 views
How accurate are Mayan astronomical “ephemerides”?
Because of the hype surrounding the "end" of the Mayan calendar (along with the usual cultural relativism and Western guilt) it is nearly impossible to find an objective quantitative assessment of the ...
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1answer
75 views
The Fraunhofer Measure
In a well known Maxwell paper he uses the units of wavelength which he calls the Fraunhofer Measure. He states it for the Fraunhofer D and F bands as
$$\lambda_D = 2175 \text{ crazy units} = 589nm$$
...
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1answer
129 views
Where did Karl Schwarzschild derived his solution?
Does anyone know more about circumstances of Karl Schwarzschild at the Russian front in 1915 where he allegedly derived his famous solution of the Einstein equations (describing a black hole)? Sources ...
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1answer
119 views
The notion called aether
I am trying to learn relativity theory and going through an introductory text on special relativity. I stumbled on the Michelson-Morley experiment. The book claims (accounts) that the result of this ...
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1answer
642 views
What came first, Rice Crispy or “Snap,” “Crackle,” and “Pop”? [closed]
The fourth, fifth, and sixth derivatives of position are called "Snap" "Crackle" and "Pop". What came first, the rice crispy characters, or the physics units?
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164 views
Integrals given by Landau [closed]
Discussion about Landau's "Theoretical Minimum" has already been posted here. Unfortunately I couldn't find much about some examples of questions he gave to students. There are three questions in the ...
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44 views
Terminology Fractional Physics [closed]
I recently read an article about the use of physics in computer graphics. Moreover, the method of "fractional Physics" used to provide the awesome three dimensional effects we've come to enjoy. My ...
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1answer
91 views
Is “Egyptian Year” the same as a modern sidereal year?
Copernicus uses the term "Egyptian Year" throughout his discussions of the movements of the Earth, and of his and other models of the movements of the planets; but is unclear from his text, or from ...
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3answers
591 views
How did Einstein derive general relativity?
How did Einstein derive general relativity (GR)?
Did he use: the equivalence principle? The principle of least action? Anything else?
Note, I'm not looking for a full mathematical derivation of GR! ...
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1answer
112 views
What are “cycles of anomaly” and “cycles of longitude”?
In several early (pre-1600) astronomical texts I read about "cycles of anomaly" and "cycles of longitude", but it us unclear to me what these terms mean. They were clearly familiar to authors at the ...
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0answers
116 views
What is the angular distance between Ptolemaic perigees of Mercury?
In his excellent treatment of the history of the science of astronomical distances and sizes, Albert van Helden says (p.29) that
The complicated [Ptolemaic] model of Mercury has the curious ...
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1answer
343 views
Why is the partition function called ''partition function''?
The partition function plays a central role in statistical mechanics.
But why is it called ''partition function''?
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1answer
230 views
How did Copernicus establish the relative distance to the superior planets?
I understand that the relative distances to the planets had been calculated using various methods since ancient times, and, in particular, that the assumptions of the Copernican model of the Solar ...
2
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1answer
194 views
Did Aristarchus take the radius of the Earth into account in calculating the distance to the Moon?
My text says that Aristarchus (310 BC – ~230 BC) measured the "angle subtended by the Earth-Moon distance at the Sun" ($\theta$ in the figure below) to establish the relative Earth-Moon and Earth-Sun ...
4
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2answers
157 views
How could Horrocks have measured the AU?
I have always understood that the great historical significance of the transits of Venus, and the reason for the expeditions mounted to observe it, were that, by observing it simultaneously from two ...
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1answer
233 views
When and how were relative distances to the planets first measured?
I understand that the absolute distance to a planet can be measured using earth-baseline (e.g., diurnal) parallax, and that the first reasonably accurate such measurement was made for Mars by Cassini ...
