Read For the Love of Physics Online
Authors: Walter Lewin
Tags: #Biography & Autobiography, #Science & Technology, #Science, #General, #Physics, #Astrophysics, #Essays
Lewin, Gustav,
11
Lewin, Huibertha,
2
Lewin, Jacob,
11
–12
Lewin, Jakob,
16
Lewin, Julia,
11
–12
Lewin, Walter, Sr.,
13
–16
Lewin, Walter H. G.:
art collaborations of,
263
,
264
–67
art collection of,
262
birth of,
11
career of,
xiii
–xiv
early education of,
1
–2
New York Times
piece on,
x
teaching style of,
xi
–xii,
xiv
,
xv
,
263
,
270
–71
university education of,
10
–11,
16
World War II experience of,
11
–16
Lewin Gottfeld, Emma,
11
Leyden jars,
155
LGM-1 (pulsar),
225
Lick Observatory,
196
–97
Lien,
265
Life Is Beautiful
(film),
12
light,
225
auroras and,
153
black holes and speed of,
232
in camera obscura,
78
–79
as electromagnetic wave,
166
in Newton’s prism experiment,
80
polarized,
91
–93
refraction of,
80
–82
scattering of,
3
–4,
93
of sparks,
139
speed of,
19
,
104
,
269
in split-beam experiment,
94
–95
as wave,
92
,
94
–96
wavelength of,
104
white,
80
,
82
,
85
X-rays and,
191
–92
lighthouse effect,
225
Light Line Experiment
,
263
blue jet form of,
148
distance of,
144
electric current in,
138
–39,
141
,
143
–44
electric fields and,
137
–38
electric shock of,
138
–39
energy released by,
144
–45
frequency of occurence of,
143
at high altitudes,
147
–48
lightning rods and,
147
maximum power of,
144
in mythology,
143
ozone and,
144
–45
red sprite form of,
148
sparks and,
138
–41
voltage and,
137
–38
light travel time distance,
35
linear polarizer,
92
liquids, pressure in,
see
hydrostatic pressure
Lockheed Missiles and Space Company,
212
lodestones,
150
“Looking at 20th-Century Art Through the Eyes of a Physicist,”
267
Los Alamos National Laboratory,
258
–59
luminosity:
brightness and,
32
–33
in Cepheid variables,
32
–34
of X-rays,
246
M-1,
see
Crab Nebula
M31,
see
Andromeda galaxy
McClintock, Jeff,
211
–12,
234
,
242
,
254
,
255
maglev trains,
162
–65
magnesium,
151
Magnete, Magneticisque Corporibus, et de
Magno Magnete Tellure, De
(
On the Magnet and Magnetic Bodies, and on That Great Magnet the Earth
) (Gilbert),
152
,
155
magnetic bremsstrahlung,
192
magnetic force,
39
magnetism, magnetic fields,
149
–67,
261
in ancient era,
150
in animals,
152
auroras and,
153
–54
compasses and,
151
–52,
157
diamagnetic materials and,
151
of Earth,
152
–53
electromagnetism and,
154
–57
iron and,
150
–51
liquid,
151
in maglev trains,
162
–65
Maxwell’s equations and,
165
in migrating birds,
152
monopoles and,
165
of neutron star,
224
paramagnetic materials and,
151
solar wind and,
153
–54
of Sun,
153
superconductors and,
163
in television sets,
149
–50
and theory of everything,
167
magnetite (iron oxide),
150
mammalian femurs,
25
–27,
26
,
277
–78
Maraschi, Laura,
251
–52
atmosphere of,
154
magnetic field of,
154
Mars Climate Orbiter,
22
Marshall, Herman,
255
Marshall Space Flight Center,
17
calculating,
281
–84
of Earth,
45
Planck,
230
of protons,
229
of Sun,
279
weight and,
41
–43,
45
Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),
ix
,
xiv
,
10
,
11
,
18
,
214
Matisse, Henri,
267
–68
in black holes,
225
–26
flow of, in binary systems,
244
–45
quarks and,
9
in space,
107
and vibrating strings,
116
X-ray heating of,
192
Maxwell, James Clerk,
156
,
165
–67,
261
Maxwell’s equations,
165
–67,
270
Mayall, Nicholas,
196
–97
measurements, measuring,
ix
,
21
–36
air pressure,
61
–63
astronomy and,
27
–28
and degree of accuracy,
8
,
23
–25
distance of lightning,
144
electrical current,
141
of interstellar space,
see
stellar distances, measurement of
of mammalian femur,
25
–27,
26
,
277
–78
static electricity,
155
uncertainty and,
ix
–x,
22
and universal law of gravitation,
49
–51
mechanical energy,
173
megaparsec,
35
Meitner, Lise,
32
n
Messier, Charles,
196
Messier catalog,
196
meteorites,
4
Michell, John,
228
micro black holes,
229
–31
microscopes,
130