Black Bodies and Quantum Cats · Tales From the Annals of Physics

Physics, once known as "natural philosophy," is the most basic science, explaining the world we live in, from the largest scale down to the very very very smallest scale. "Black Bodies and Quantum Cats" is a delightfully readable history of physics, inspired by the APS News Column "This Month in Physics History" that author Jennifer Ouellette writes. Arranged chronologically by momentous moment in physics history--the invention of the microscope, publication of Newton's Principia, Babbage's analytical engine, Tesla's demonstration of the wireless radio, the appearance of Reddi-Wip on the market, Feynman's CalTech lecture, the discovery of the top quark, and more--it explores fundamental physics concepts and our understanding of them through the centuries. Filled with great stories and human drama and sprinkled with references to popular and consumer culture, it shows physics to be not an arcane field of study but the fundamental part of our everyday world that it is.