Summary

A to Z of Physicists focuses not only on the lives and personalities of those profiled, but also on their research and contributions to the field. A fascinating and important element of this volume is the attention paid to the obstacles that minority physicists had to overcome to reach their personal and professional goals. Through incidents, quotations, and photographs, the entries portray something of the human face which is often lost in books on science and scientists.

A to Z of Physicists features 150 entries and 51 black-and-white photographs. Culturally inclusive and spanning the whole range of physicists from ancient times to the present day, this is an ideal resource for students and general readers interested in the history of physics or the significant aspects of the personal and professional lives of important physicists.

Entries include:

• Archimedes (ca. 285-212 BCE)
• Homi Jehangir Bhabha (1909-1966)
• Pavel Alekseyevich Cherenkov (1904-1990)
• Marie Curie (1867-1934)
• George Gamow (1904-1968)
• Tsung Dao Lee (1926-present)
• Lisa Meitner (1878-1968)
• Yuval Ne'eman (1925-present)
• Johannes Stark (1874-1957)
• Nikola Tesla (1856-1943)
• Alessandro Volta (1745-1827)
• Hideki Yukawa (1907-1981).

Specifications

Black-and-white photographs. Index. Appendixes. Bibliography. Cross-references. Chronology.

About the Author(s)

Darryl J. Leiter has a Ph.D. in physics from Brandeis University. He currently is a physicist/electronic engineer at the Foreign Science and Technology Center in Charlottesville, VA. He has published more than 50 research papers in a number of fields, including elementary particle theory, gravitational theory, quantum mechanics, and x-ray astronomy, in journals such as Annals of Physics, Physics Review, American Journal of Physics, and Nature.