E=mc2: Une formule qui change le monde

by Harald Fritzsch

Un beau jour d'été, un professeur de physique suisse, en visite à Cambridge, croise un inconnu qui ressemble en tous points à... Isaac Newton. La conversation s'engage entre eux. L'homme est curieux d'en savoir plus sur la physique moderne. Oui, c'est bien l'illustre auteur des Principia Mathematica. Les deux compères décident alors de se rendre à Berne,où notre professeur enseigne. Assis à son bureau, un petit homme aux cheveux en bataille les défie de son regard pétillant. Serait-ce Einstein lui-même ? Devant notre professeur ébahi, ils vont s'affronter dans un dialogue éblouissant qui les conduira à partir visiter l'accélérateur de particules de Genève. Qui triomphera ? Newton ou Einstein ? L'ancien ou le moderne ? Qui convaincra l'autre ? L'inventeur de la mécanique classique cédera-t-il devant la puissance de la relativité ? Tout cela n'était peut-être qu'un rêve. C'est en tout cas l'occasion d'une fascinante rencontre entre deux génies de la science et, pour le lecteur, la meilleure façon d'être initié aux arcanes de la physique par ceux-là mêmes qui l'ont révolutionnée. Professeur de physique à l'université de Munich, Harald Fritzsch est également professeur associé au CERN de Genève et au California Institute of Technology de Pasadena, en Californie.

Genres: Science, Physics, History, Nonfiction

285 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 1994

About the author

German theoretical physicist known for his contributions to the theory of quarks, the development of Quantum Chromodynamics and the great unification of the standard model of particle physics.
After completing his education in Zwickau 1961, he became Soldier of the Nationale Volksarmee of the GDR. He studied Physics in Leipzig from 1963 to 1968. After fleeing to West Germany, he continued his studies in Munich where he finished his Ph.D. under the supervision of Heinrich Mitter.

In 1970 Fritzsch visited the Aspen Center of Physics, where he met Murray Gell-Mann. They started a collaboration, first in Aspen, later at the California Institute of Technology. In 1971 they introduced the concept of the colour charge quantum number which allowed them in collaboration with William A. Bardeen to explain the decay rate of pions. In the fall of 1971 Fritzsch and Gell-Mann moved to Geneva in Switzerland, where they worked together at CERN. They proposed a gauge theory for the strong interaction, which now is called Quantumchromodynamics. In September 1972 they moved back to Caltech. In 1975 Fritzsch published a paper together with Peter Minkowski in which they proposed the symmetry group SO as the symmetry of the grand unified theory which has become a standard theory. In 1976 Fritzsch moved to CERN. After working for one year at the University of Wuppertal and the University of Bern, Fritzsch became professor at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich in 1980.

Fritzsch worked also on "composite models" of leptons and quarks, mass matrices of quarks and leptons, weak decays of heavy quarks, cosmology and the fundamental constants of physics. He retired in 2008.

Reviews

[Butterfly2507 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ich fand das Buch richtig gut! Hab viel gelernt und auch viel markiert :D (Vielleicht ein bisschen zu viel) :D Naja jedenfalls geht es um Einstein und Newton die sich miteinander unterhalten und sich gegenseitig Tipps und Erklärungen geben! Es ist nicht für Jedermann aber ich mochte es sehr :)

[Abhishek Nandi · Rating 4 out of 5]

Imagine a meeting involving Sir Issac Newton, Albert Einstein and a modern day physicist..
An out of the world experience indeed.
Did I understand the book completely? No way..
Did I enjoy it? Absolutely...

[Erin Flater · Rating 2 out of 5]

I chose this book for a college science course I am teaching because I thought the theme of dialog between great scientists was interesting. Unfortunately Newton and Einstein end up being one-dimensional caricatures of the real historical persons who describe the physics at hand in simplistic, sometimes inaccurate, and often ahistorical ways. I was hoping for a meaningful dialog between historical personalities, but instead found a cliched and oversimplified story with little connection to the depth of the developing thought on the nature of physical reality.

[Kelly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating discussion between a fictitious scientist named Haller, Albert Einstein, and Isaac Newton, all miraculously alive contemporaneously, explaining to the average reader the Theory of Relativity, among other things. Very engaging. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on fission and fusion as possible sources of energy over the next few decades.

[Jonathan Yu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book that teaches you about relativity. Who might be interested in the topic, however, that may be different.