Wranglers and physicists : studies on Cambridge physics in the nineteenth century / edited by P.M. Harman.

Contributor(s): Harman, P. M. (Peter Michael), 1943-.

Material type: materialTypeLabel

BookPublisher: Manchester : Manchester University Press, 1985Description: viii, 261 p. ; 24 cm. + hbk.ISBN: 0719017564.Subject(s): Kelvin, William Thomson, Baron, 1824-1907

| Maxwell, James Clerk, 1831-1879

| Physics -- Cambridge (England) | Mathematics -- Cambridge (England)DDC classification: 530.0942659

Contents:

Introduction / P. M. Harman -- The educational matrix / David B. Wilson -- Geologists and mathematicians / Crosbie Smith -- Mathematics and mathematical physics from Cambridge, 1815-40 / I. Grattan-Guinness -- Integral theorems in Cambridge mathematical physics, 1830-55 / J.J. Cross -- Mathematics and physical reality in William Thomson's electromagnetic theory / Ole Knudsen -- Mechanical image and reality in Maxwell's electromagnetic theory / Daniel M. Siegel -- Edinburgh philosophy and Cambridge physics / P.M. Harman -- Modifying the continuum / Jed Z. Buchwald.

Holdings
Item type	Current library	Call number	Copy number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
General Lending	MTU Bishopstown Library Lending	530.0942659 (Browse shelf(Opens below))	1	Available		00056809

Total holds: 0

Cover title: wranglers and physicists : studies on Cambridge mathematical physics in the nineteenth century.

Essays based on papers presented at a conference held at the University of Cambridge.

Bibliography: (pages 242-256) and index.

Reviews provided by Syndetics

CHOICE Review

This volume contains eight articles based on papers from a 1984 conference on ``Cambridge Mathematical Physics in the 19th Century.'' These represent prominent historians at work, here trying to establish the interpretive value and limits of the notion of a characteristic ``Cambridge School'' of physics (specifically physico-mathematical heuristics) epitomized by Maxwell and Kelvin. The work on the formative backgrounds from the early 19th century (by Wilson, Smith, Grattan-Guinness, Cross) is somewhat specialized, although plumbable. The later articles on Kelvin and Maxwell and their successors (by Knudsen, Siegel, Harman, and Buchwald) will be more accessible to nonhistorians, particularly physicists who can recognize the tactical differences between earlier field theories and modern ones. Sturdy, authoritative, well indexed, and with a good bibliography, this understated volume belongs in serious collections supporting the history of science, and may appeal to undergraduate libraries providing historical background support to studies in intermediate physics (electromagnetic theory).-P.D. Skiff, Bard College