Physics in Oxford 1839-1939 offers a challenging new interpretation of pre-war physics at the University of Oxford, which was far more dynamic than most historians and physicists have been prepared to believe. It explains, on the one hand, how attempts to develop the University's Clarendon Laboratory by Robert Clifton, Professor of Experimental Philosophy from 1865 to 1915, were thwarted by academic politics and funding problems, and latterly by Clifton's idiosyncratic concern with precision instrumentation. Conversely, by ...
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Physics in Oxford 1839-1939 offers a challenging new interpretation of pre-war physics at the University of Oxford, which was far more dynamic than most historians and physicists have been prepared to believe. It explains, on the one hand, how attempts to develop the University's Clarendon Laboratory by Robert Clifton, Professor of Experimental Philosophy from 1865 to 1915, were thwarted by academic politics and funding problems, and latterly by Clifton's idiosyncratic concern with precision instrumentation. Conversely, by examining in detail the work of college fellows and their laboratories, the book reconstructs the decentralized environment that allowed physics to enter on a period of conspicuous vigor in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, especially at the characteristically Oxonian intersections between physics, physical chemistry, mechanics, and mathematics. Whereas histories of Cambridge physics have tended to focus on the self-sustaining culture of the Cavendish Laboratory, it was Oxford's college-trained physicists who enabled the discipline to flourish in due course in university as well as college facilities, notably under the newly appointed professors, J. S. E. Townsend from 1900 and F. A. Lindemann from 1919. This broader perspective allows us to understand better the vitality with which physicists in Oxford responded to the demands of wartime research on radar and techniques relevant to atomic weapons and laid the foundations for the dramatic post-war expansion in teaching and research that has endowed Oxford with one of the largest and most dynamic schools of physics in the world.
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Seller's Description:
Very Good Condition. An excellent copy in great condition. Faint wear to cover. All pages clean, crisp and fresh. Publisher's note: This book shows that physics in pre-war Oxford has a colourful and dynamic history. Its examination of physics teaching and research in the university's constituent colleges reveals a unique world that helped to make Oxford physics in the 20th century, a force to rival that of the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge. Size: 25.4 x 18.4 x 2.5 cm. xix, 363 pp. Shipped Weight: Under 1 kilo. Category: History; England Oxford; Physics Study and teaching (Graduate); Physics Study and teaching (Graduate) England Oxford History; ISBN: 0198567928. ISBN/EAN: 9780198567929. Add. Inventory No: 240925ATY0186716.
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Seller's Description:
Like New. Size: 8x5x1; Hardcover and dust jacket. Good binding and cover. Minor shelf wear. Clean, unmarked pages. "This book shows that physics in pre-war Oxford has a colorful and dynamic history. Its examination of physics teaching and research in the University's constituent colleges reveals a unique world that helped to make Oxford physics in the twentieth century a force to rival that of the Cavendish Laboratory at Cambridge."
