Flash of the Cathode Rays: A History of J J Thomson's Electron

ISBN-13: 9780367401092 / Angielski / Miękka / 2019 / 544 str.

Per F. Dahl

Opis

This book presents the discovery of the electron and its role as the first subatomic particle in nature. It traces the evolution of the concept of electrical charge, from the earliest glow discharge studies to the final cathode ray and oil drop experiments of J.J. Thomson and Robert Millikan. The book also covers the history of modern physics, the continental and English race for the source of the cathode rays, Millikan's unambiguous isolation of the electron, the birth of Ernest Rutherford's nuclear atom, and the discovery of radioactivity in 1896. The author also focuses on numerous historical controversies.

Spis treści

List of illustrations. Preface. J J Thomson and his contemporaries. Electromagnetic phenomena unravelled. Cathode rays take center stage. The English get going. Meanwhile, back in Berlin. The English keep going. From Paris to the Scottish highlands. From Liverpool to Princeton. The race for e/m. The charge and the mass. Leiden, 1896. The photoelectric effect revisited. The Beta particle. Evanescent rays: A French cottage industry. Positive rays. The electronic charge revisited, and one more controversy. Dawning of the atomic age. Epilogue: The next twenty years. List of abbreviations. Notes. Bibliography. Name index. Subject index.

O autorze

Dahl, Per F