GREAT PHYSICISTS

This book tells about lives in science, specifically the lives of thirty from thepantheon of physics. Some of the names are familiar (Newton, Einstein, Curie,Heisenberg, Bohr), while others may not be (Clausius, Gibbs, Meitner, Dirac,Chandrasekhar). All were, or are, extraordinary human beings, at least as fascinatingas their subjects. The short biographies in the book tell the stories of boththe people and their physics.The chapters are varied in format and length, depending on the (sometimesskimpy) biographical material available. Some chapters are equipped with shortsections (entitled "Lessons") containingbackground information on topics inmathematics, physics, and chemistry for the uninformed reader.Conventional wisdom holds that general readers are frightened of mathematical equations. I have not taken that advice, and have included equations in someof the chapters. Mathematical equations express the language of physics: youcan't get the message without learning something about the language. Thatshould be possible if you have a rudimentary (high school) knowledge of algebra,and, if required, you pay attention to the "Lessons" sections.