A Brief Guide to the Great Equations (47 page)

Leibniz, Gottfried,
30
,
31
,
59
,
96

Leonardo da Vinci,
30
,
31
,
91

Leviathan
(Hobbes),
23

Levi-Cività, Tullio,
197

Leyner, Mark,
110

Lick observatory,
202–3

Life on the Mississippi
(Twain),
19

light,
76
,
126–27
,
143
,
215

black body radiation and,
122–25

as electromagnetic wave,
141–42

graininess of,
215
,
217

gravitational effects on,
190
,
193–95
,
196
,
198–99
,
200
,
201–8

intensity of,
73

magnetism’s effect on,
135
,
139

Newtonian value of,
194
,
199

Newton’s work on,
79

particle theory of,
217–18

light (
continued
)

photons of,
217
,
256
,
257

wave theory of,
218–19

light, speed of,
126
,
141

constancy of,
158–64
,
165–68

in Einstein’s special relativity theory,
33
,
156
,
157
,
158–64
,
165
,
168–71
,
189
,
290
n

in ether,
144–45
,
147–48
,
161
,
164

Lindberg, David C.,
71
,
282
n

linear equations,
274
n

Linklater, Kristin,
236

Lloyd, G.E.R.,
277
n,
278
n

local motion,
48
,
49–50
,
282
n

Lodge, Oliver,
146
,
202

logarithms,
96
,
100
,
103–4

Loomis, Elisha S.,
31
,
32
,
45
,
279
n

Lorentz, Hendrik,
126
,
148
,
163–64
,
166
,
187
,
198
,
199
,
204–5

Lorentz transformations,
163–64

Loschmidt, Josef,
121–22

Lyceum,
51
,
52

McEwan, Ian,
154

Mach, Ernst,
195

Madison, James,
86

Magendie, François,
84

magnetic vector potential
A,
138
,
143
,
147
,
149
,
150
,
151

magnetism,
134
,
135
,
136
,
139

Gilbert’s work on,
57
,
72

see also
electrodynamics, electromagnetism

mail qasr
ī,
54

Manhattan Project,
175–77

Maor, Eli,
33

Marburger, John H., III,
256
,
258
,
298
n

Marx, Karl,
87

mass,
47
,
50
,
59
,
60
,
63
,
82
,
128
,
217

in Einstein’s mass-energy concept,
46–47
,
156
,
168–77
,
178–79
,
185
,
194

Galileo and,
58

gravity and,
61
,
69
,
78
,
81
,
82
,
188

impetus and,
54
,
55

inertial,
168–69
,
170
,
172–73
,
188

Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
(Newton),
17

mathematics:

analysis,
95–96
,
98–99
,
104
,
105
,
136

Arab,
95

astrology and,
72–73

commutative law in,
242–43
,
244
,
251–52
,
297
n

of electrodynamics,
135
,
136
,
137–39
,
141

‘=’ sign in,
108

in Galileo’s
Assayer,
65
,
67

historically contingent development of,
105

as Kepler’s final cause,
57

magic of,
42–45

neighbourhoods of,
93–99

symbolic notation of,
15–16
,
34
,
61
,
96–97
,
98
,
244
,
273
n
–74
n,
281
n,
297
n

tensors in,
192
,
196–97

matrix mechanics,
220–21
,
223
,
225
,
226
,
230

in Heisenberg uncertainty principle,
130
,
242–54
,
257
,
258
,
259

Maxwell, James Clerk,
16
,
18
,
83
,
113,
120–21
,
123
,
126
,
132–51
,
134,
152
,
191
,
227

‘demon’ thought experiment of,
120–21
,
130

Encyclopaedia Britannica
edited by,
143
,
144

ether detection method proposed by,
144–45

mechanical models made by,
136–37
,
139–42
,
140,
238

statistical approach of,
120–21
,
221

Maxwell’s equations,
18
,
132–51
,
182–83
,
216
,
238

analogies in,
113
,
136–37
,
139–43
,
151

confirmation of,
146–47

Einstein’s special relativity theory and,
158–64
,
165–68
,
187
,
188

electromagnetic theory integrated by,
136–37

electrostatic potential ψ in,
143
,
147
,
149
,
150
,
151

Heaviside’s reformulation of,
132
,
149
–
51
,
267

magnetic vector potential
A
in,
138
,
143
,
147
,
149
,
150
,
151

in
Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism,
142–45
,
149

see also
electrodynamics, electromagnetism

Mayer, Robert,
113,
119

mean speed theorem,
282
n

Meitner, Lise,
174

Meno
(Plato),
35–41
,
90
,
168

Meno’s paradox,
35–39

Mercury, orbital precession of,
190–91
,
194
,
198
,
200
,
202
,
206

Michelangelo,
19–20
,
91

Michelson, Albert,
112
,
126
,
147–49
,
161–64

Middle Ages,
15
,
24
,
26
,
71
,
95

Minkowski, Hermann,
33
,
191–93
,
196

models, mechanical,
136–37
,
139–42
,
140,
238

moon test,
81
,
82

Morelli, Giovanni,
86–87

Morley, Edward,
126
,
147–49
,
161–64

motion,
15
,
46–64
,
201

absolute vs. relative,
60–61

Aristotle’s theories of,
48–58
,
70–71

bodies at rest vs.,
72

celestial,
see
celestial sphere

changes in nature as,
48–51
,
56

of earth,
66

of earth with respect to ether,
126
,
144–45

forced or violent,
48
,
49
,
53
,
54
,
55
,
63

Kepler’s laws of,
75
,
76
,
79
,
81

of light,
33

local,
48
,
49–50
,
282
n

natural,
48–49
,
52
,
53
,
54
,
55
,
58
,
63
,
70

projectile,
51–52
,
53–54
,
282
n

tidal,
70
,
71

see also
falling bodies; force; Newton’s second law of motion

Nahin, Paul J.,
91–92

natural logarithms,
96
,
100
,
103–4

natural motion,
48–49
,
52
,
53
,
54
,
55
,
58
,
63
,
70

Nautical Almanac Office,
145
,
147

navigation,
24

negative numbers,
96

Nernst, Walther,
215

Neugebauer, Otto,
278
n
–79
n

neutrons,
172
,
174

New Astronomy
(Kepler),
57

‘New Relationship Between the Radiation From a Black Body and the Second Law of Thermodynamics, A’ (Wien),
123

Newton, Isaac,
15
,
17
,
19–20
,
59–64
,
59,
69–87
,
88–90
,
101
,
116
,
186
,
206–7
,
221
,
265
,
268

abstract world-stage created by,
62–64
,
81

calculus as fluxion theory of,
96

at Cambridge,
77
,
78
,
79–81
,
88

distinction between mass and weight noted by,
78

God viewed as supreme lawgiver by,
84–85

Halley’s visit to,
77
,
79–80
,
81

Hooke’s relationship with,
76–77
,
78–79
,
81
,
82
,
89

light experiments of,
79

mechanical universe of,
85

personality of,
78
,
80
,
89–90

Newtonian mechanics,
120
,
124
,
133
,
135
,
183
,
201
,
291
n

Einstein’s special relativity theory and,
158–64
,
165–68
,
187
,
188

particles in,
217
,
227

quantum physics and,
216–17
,
219
,
238
,
239
,
240
,
247
,
250
,
258–59
,
263
,
264–65

‘Newtonian System of the World, the Best Model of Government, The’ (Desaguliers),
85

Newtonian value,
194
,
199

Newton’s law of universal gravitation,
69–87
,
186
,
194
,
199
,
267

Einstein’s general relativity theory vs.,
188
,
190–91
,
207–8

falling apple legend of,
69
,
70
,
88–90

inverse square law of,
69
,
73
,
73,
74
,
76–77
,
78
,
79
,
82
,
89
,
190
,
207

Mercury’s orbital precession and,
190–91

as paradigm of successful science,
83–85
,
90

political theorists influenced by,
85–87
,
268

Newton’s second law of motion,
19–20
,
46–64
,
86
,
114
,
122
,
264
,
267

acceleration in,
50
,
52
,
56
,
58
,
59
,
61–62
,
128
,
281
n,
282
n

formulation of,
47
,
59–64

invariance of,
61–62
,
158–64

mass in,
47
,
50
,
59
,
60
,
63
,
82
,
128

see also
force; motion Newton’s third law of motion,
15
,
61
,
62
,
80

New York Times,
148
,
176
,
210

Nicolson, Marjorie Hope,
285
n

Nietzsche, Friedrich,
184

1984
(Orwell),
87
,
107–8
,
109
‘Nineteenth Century Clouds over the Dynamic Theory of Heat and Light’ (Kelvin),
126–27
,
164
,
191
,
215

Nobel Prize,
20
,
91
,
112
,
113
,
149
,
153
,
215
,
261