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Kelvin's Baltimore Lectures and Modern Theoretical Physics: Historical and Philosophical Perspectives
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In 1884 Sir William Thomson (later Lord Kelvin) delivered a significant series of lectures on physics at the Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore. The lectures remain important because, through their explicit presentation of the theories and metaphysical assumptions of the Newtonian mechanistic tradition, they illuminate the roots of the revolution in physics that began around 1900.
This book presents the twenty lectures in their original form for the first time. (A greatly revised version of the lectures appeared in 1904.) In addition, it contains ten original essays in which well-known historians and philosophers of science discuss the physical issues raised in the Baltimore Lectures and developments in theoretical physics since they were delivered.
Several of the accompanying essays deal with differences between Kelvin's views of molecular dynamics and the wave theory of light and the ultimately more successful electromagnetic concepts of James Clerk Maxwell. Others consider G. F. FitzGerald's approach to the question of mechanical models and Ernest Rutherford's attitudes toward theoretical matters.
The philosophical context of the Baltimore Lectures is taken up, along with the subsequent development of theoretical physics. Several essays reflect upon issues important in the era of relativity and quantum theory - among them the quantum-measurement problem, space-time and action at a distance, parts and wholes, locality and nonlocality, and the transition from natural philosophy to the metaphilosophy of science.
Following an introduction by Robert W Kargon, the essayists who address theoretical physics in Kelvin's time and after are P. M. Harmon, Bruce J. Hunt, M. Norton Wise, Crosbie Smith, Howard Stein, Lawrence Badash, Abner Shimony, Paul Teller, John Earman, Arthur Fine, and Thomas Nickles.
The editors are affiliated with the Center for the History and Philosophy of Science at the Johns Hopkins University. This volume is the second in a series published by The MIT Press for the Center. The first volume, Observation, Experiment, and Hypothesis in Modern Physical Science , edited by Peter Achinstein and Owen Hannaway, was published in 1985. A Bradford Book.
This book presents the twenty lectures in their original form for the first time. (A greatly revised version of the lectures appeared in 1904.) In addition, it contains ten original essays in which well-known historians and philosophers of science discuss the physical issues raised in the Baltimore Lectures and developments in theoretical physics since they were delivered.
Several of the accompanying essays deal with differences between Kelvin's views of molecular dynamics and the wave theory of light and the ultimately more successful electromagnetic concepts of James Clerk Maxwell. Others consider G. F. FitzGerald's approach to the question of mechanical models and Ernest Rutherford's attitudes toward theoretical matters.
The philosophical context of the Baltimore Lectures is taken up, along with the subsequent development of theoretical physics. Several essays reflect upon issues important in the era of relativity and quantum theory - among them the quantum-measurement problem, space-time and action at a distance, parts and wholes, locality and nonlocality, and the transition from natural philosophy to the metaphilosophy of science.
Following an introduction by Robert W Kargon, the essayists who address theoretical physics in Kelvin's time and after are P. M. Harmon, Bruce J. Hunt, M. Norton Wise, Crosbie Smith, Howard Stein, Lawrence Badash, Abner Shimony, Paul Teller, John Earman, Arthur Fine, and Thomas Nickles.
The editors are affiliated with the Center for the History and Philosophy of Science at the Johns Hopkins University. This volume is the second in a series published by The MIT Press for the Center. The first volume, Observation, Experiment, and Hypothesis in Modern Physical Science , edited by Peter Achinstein and Owen Hannaway, was published in 1985. A Bradford Book.
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Genres
559 pages, Hardcover
First published September 22,1987
This edition
- Format
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559 pages, Hardcover
- Published
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January 1, 1987 by Bradford Books
- ISBN
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9780262111171
- ASIN
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0262111179
- Language
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English
About the author
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William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin OM, GCVO, PC, PRS, PRSE (/ˈkɛlvɪn/; 26 June 1824 – 17 December 1907), was an Irish and British mathematical physicist and engineer who was born in Belfast in 1824. At the University of Glasgow he did important work in the mathematical analysis of electricity and formulation of the first and second laws of thermodynamics, and did much to unify the emerging discipline of physics in its modern form. He worked closely with mathematics professor Hugh Blackburn in his work. He also had a career as an electric telegraph engineer and inventor, which propelled him into the public eye and ensured his wealth, fame and honour. For his work on the transatlantic telegraph project he was knighted by Queen Victoria, becoming Sir William Thomson. He had extensive maritime interests and was most noted for his work on the mariner's compass, which had previously been limited in reliability.
Lord Kelvin is widely known for determining the correct value of absolute zero as approximately −273.15 Celsius. The existence of a lower limit to temperature was known prior to Lord Kelvin, as shown in "Reflections on the Motive Power of Heat", published by Sadi Carnot in French in 1824, the year of Lord Kelvin's birth. "Reflections" used −267 as an estimate of the absolute zero temperature. Absolute temperatures are stated in units of kelvin in his honour.
On his ennoblement in 1892 in honour of his achievements in thermodynamics, and of his opposition to Irish Home Rule, he adopted the title Baron Kelvin, of Largs in the County of Ayr and is therefore often described as Lord Kelvin. He was the first UK scientist to be elevated to the House of Lords. The title refers to the River Kelvin, which flows close by his laboratory at the University of Glasgow. His home was the imposing red sandstone mansion Netherhall, in Largs on the Firth of Clyde. Despite offers of elevated posts from several world renowned universities Lord Kelvin refused to leave Glasgow, remaining Professor of Natural Philosophy for over 50 years, until his eventual retirement from that post. The Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow has a permanent exhibition on the work of Lord Kelvin including many of his original papers, instruments and other artefacts such as his smoking pipe.
Always active in industrial research and development, he was recruited around 1899 by George Eastman to serve as vice-chairman of the board of the British company Kodak Limited, affiliated with Eastman Kodak.
Lord Kelvin is widely known for determining the correct value of absolute zero as approximately −273.15 Celsius. The existence of a lower limit to temperature was known prior to Lord Kelvin, as shown in "Reflections on the Motive Power of Heat", published by Sadi Carnot in French in 1824, the year of Lord Kelvin's birth. "Reflections" used −267 as an estimate of the absolute zero temperature. Absolute temperatures are stated in units of kelvin in his honour.
On his ennoblement in 1892 in honour of his achievements in thermodynamics, and of his opposition to Irish Home Rule, he adopted the title Baron Kelvin, of Largs in the County of Ayr and is therefore often described as Lord Kelvin. He was the first UK scientist to be elevated to the House of Lords. The title refers to the River Kelvin, which flows close by his laboratory at the University of Glasgow. His home was the imposing red sandstone mansion Netherhall, in Largs on the Firth of Clyde. Despite offers of elevated posts from several world renowned universities Lord Kelvin refused to leave Glasgow, remaining Professor of Natural Philosophy for over 50 years, until his eventual retirement from that post. The Hunterian Museum at the University of Glasgow has a permanent exhibition on the work of Lord Kelvin including many of his original papers, instruments and other artefacts such as his smoking pipe.
Always active in industrial research and development, he was recruited around 1899 by George Eastman to serve as vice-chairman of the board of the British company Kodak Limited, affiliated with Eastman Kodak.
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