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7:30 pm, Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Hennings Building, Room 201
How the Ether Spawned the Microworld
Jed Buchwald
Dept of History, Caltech
Throughout most of the 19th century the atom and the molecule were
not customary presences in the calculations and laboratories of many
physicists. Although most were convinced of atomic reality, many were
not, and in any case the vast bulk of work in physics had little to
do with the micro-world. All of this had changed dramatically by
1910, for microphysics was by then at the very foundation of
theoretical and experimental research. How did the micro-world
acquire this central role, one that it has played ever since? Was it
propelled to prominence by a series of stunning experimental
discoveries (the electron, X-rays, and radioactivity) that occurred
between 1895 and 1900? Or did it first emerge on paper, only
subsequently acquiring a new life in such laboratories as the
Cavendish? Why did the world of the atom displace the world of the
ether during the 1890s?
Find out more by visiting his
website.
Additional resources for this talk: video, slides.
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