From X-rays to Quarks: Modern Physicists and Their Discoveries

by Emilio Segrè

A leading figure in twentieth-century physics offers impressions and recollections of the field's development. Nobel Laureate Emilio Segrè (1905–89) knew and worked with many of modern physics' preeminent scientists. In this simple but elegant history, he offers compelling views not only of the milestones of scientific discovery but also the personalities involved—their attitudes and politics as well as their trials and triumphs. Highlights include a profile of Albert Einstein, from his unconventional youth to his role as science's elder statesman; the wonder year of 1932, which witnessed the discoveries of the neutron, positron, and deuterium; and the first steps in building particle accelerators.
A student and colleague of Enrico Fermi, Segrè made numerous important contributions to nuclear physics, including participation in the Manhattan Project. Segrè is further renowned for his narrative skills as a historian. This book is a companion to the author's From Falling Bodies to Radio Classical Physicists and Their Discoveries, also available from Dover Publications.

Genres: Physics, Science, History, Nonfiction

352 pages, Paperback

First published October 16, 1980

About the author

Emilio Gino Segrè physicist and Nobel laureate in physics. Won the Nobel Prize in Physics (1959) along with Owen Chamberlain for thier discovery of the antiproton.

Reviews

[Totochelamouche · Rating 3 out of 5]

It's unfortunate that the author is sexist ... in giving background information of female physicists he gives much information about their marital status and almost nothing else. Curious how we don't get to hear about the marital status of male physicists ...

[Levent Kurnaz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Dull history, my students were bored in reading the book, yet it is one of the best on the history of modern physics...

[Lulu]

History