God and the Atom by Stenger, Victor J. -- Read -- Imperial Library of Trantor

Index

Cover Title Page Copyright Page Contents Preface Acknowledgments 1. Ancient Atomism

Defining Atomism Leucippus and Democritus Atoms and Gods Atoms and the Senses Late Night with Lederman Atomism in Ancient India Epicurus Differences with Democritus Post-Epicurean Atomism Lucretius The Antiatomists

2. Atoms Lost and Found

Atomism in Early Christianity Atomism in the Middle Ages Poggio and Lucretius Gassendi

3. Atomism and the Scientific Revolution

The New World of Science Galilean Relativity The Principia Particle Mechanics Mechanical Philosophy Primary and Secondary Qualities Other Atomists More Antiatomists

4. The Chemical Atom

From Alchemy to Chemistry The Elements The Chemical Atoms The Chemical Opposition The Philosophical Opposition

5. Atoms Revealed

Heat and Motion The Heat Engine Conservation of Energy and the First Law The Mechanical Nature of Heat Absolute Zero The Second Law of Thermodynamics Kinetic Theory How Big Are Atoms? Statistical Mechanics The Arrow of Time The Energetic Opposition The Positivist Opposition Evidence

6. Light and the Aether

The Nature of Light The Aether Fields Electromagnetic Waves The Demise of the Aether Time and Space in Special Relativity Defining Time and Space Matter and Energy in Special Relativity Invariance Symmetry The Source of Conservation Principles

7. Inside the Atom

Anomalies Light is Particles The Rutherford Atom The Bohr Atom and the Rise of Quantum Mechanics Are Electrons Waves? The New Quantum Mechanics Spin Dirac's Theory of the Electron What is the Wave Function? The Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle Building the Elements

8. Inside the Nucleus

Nuclei The Nuclear Forces “Atomic” Energy Nuclear Fusion Nuclear Fission Poisoning the Atmosphere Nuclear Power Liquid Fluoride Thorium Reactors

9. Quantum Fields

Physics in 1945 More Hydrogen Surprises QED Fields and Particles

10. The Rise of Particle Physics

Pion Exchange and the Strong Force The Fermi Theory of the Weak Force The Particle Explosion New Conservation Principles Broken Symmetries “Nuclear Democracy” and the Tao of Physics

11. The Dreams that Stuff is Made Of

The Quarks Particles of the Standard Model Gauge Symmetry Forces in the Standard Model The Higgs Boson Making and Detecting the Higgs Hunting the Higgs Higgs Confirmed! Mass Grand Unification Supersymmetry

12. Atoms and the Cosmos

After the Bang Inflation The Stuff of the Universe What is the Dark Matter? Dark Energy The Cosmological Constant Problem Before the Bang The Matter-Antimatter Puzzle The Eternal Multiverse Something about Nothing

13. Summary and Conclusions

They Had It (Mostly) Right Matter Materialism Deconstructed? Field-Particle Unity Wave-Particle Duality Reduction and Emergence The Role of Chance The Cosmos The Mind No Higher Power

Notes Bibliography About the Author Other Books by Victor J. Stenger Index Back Cover