Reading Physics in LA - Faust in Copenhagen!

Hello Physics Readers;

In our last meeting, Dr. Scerri brought along a book he had started reading, and that book looked really interesting - so lets read it for our next Meetup:

Faust in Copenhagen: A Struggle for the Soul of Physics

"From Publishers Weekly
Starred Review. Segrè (A Matter of Degrees) once again applies a human scale to important physics topics in a way that's as informative and accessible as it is appealing. Beginning in 1929, Niels Bohr hosted an annual gathering in Copenhagen for his fellow physicists, where they joked and argued about the new theory of quantum mechanics. Tradition demanded that the younger physicists entertain with a skit, and in 1932, the centenary of Goethe's death, the entertainment was Max Delbrück's parody of Faust, with the proponents of classical physics and the new quantum mechanics fighting for primacy. The discovery of the neutron and the positron had disturbed classical atomic theory, while quantum mechanics raised troubling issues, such as how one could find the true position of an electron and how the photon could be both a particle and a wave. Segrè brings the scientists and their ideas to vivid life, from convivial Bohr and iconoclastic Wolfgang Pauli (nicknamed "Scourge of God"), to emotionally guarded Werner Heisenberg, gracious Lise Meitner, reclusive Paul Dirac and others, as well as the consequences of their discoveries. For after 1932 came Hitler and WWII, and a new physics that could never be as intimate, or as innocent, as it had once been. (June 18)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved."

I'm moving the date to Friday, November 30th, as I'll be out of town during our usual week in November - but this will give those of us who are reading extra time to get further along. Read as much as you can!

As always, if you can't find the time to read the book, please still come to discuss - not having done the reading will not at all prevent you from joining in as ideas get tossed back and forth.

Another option, if you can't read this book, would be to browse around and read something about Bohr or Pauli or any of the other luminaries who are the focus of this book. I'll post some links to articles over the next week, and if any of you have interesting related links to add, please feel free.

We had a great time in October, I'm looking forward to digging into this one for next month!

Bill Cunningham
Organizer
Reading Physics in LA