Physics, Chemistry All books
Claude de Calan, Pierre Etaix
The Clown and the Wise Man
"One of us is an acrobat and a filmmaker who tries to provoke laughter; the other one tries to contribute to the progress of mathematical physics. Yet, we could endlessly throw our ideas back and forth. The surprising closeness of our approaches, the strange fraternity between our two disciplines, which are as far away from each other in their goals as in their techniques, gave us great joy. It is our feeling of wonder that wed like to share here," write Pierre Etaix and Claude de Calan. Sometimes known as the French Buster Keaton, Pierre Etaix is a master of burlesque and the inventor of unequalled visual gags. Claude de Calan is a scientist at the Centre of Theoretical Physics at the Ecole Polytechnique.
Pierre Bergé, Yves Pomeau, Monique Dubois-Gance
From Rhythm to Chaos
From the physics of particules to astronomy, from chemistry to biology, chaos is present in most scientific fields. Three specialists of this subject have undertaken, through many examples, to extract chaos from the scientific world in order to show how strong is its hold on our daily lives.
Bernard Diu
Do atoms really exist ?
Few scientific notions have aroused the speculative imagination like the thermodynamic entropy. All organised systems - societies, living creatures - are destined without exception to decline and eventual death. This book clearly exposes the historical and conceptual development of thermodynamics. Born from a desire to understand and master steam powered machines - the symbol of our industrialised societies - it became the science of the human body. However, it was suddenly passed over in favour of the theory of atoms. It was thus demolished by statistical mechanics which ceded to the imperatives dictated by the atomical structure of the body. After an epic struggle, sometimes quite ferocious, thermodynamics and statistical mechanics have been reconciled by adopting the base of the second with the techniques of the first. This book reads like a novel about contemporary physics. Bernard Diu, a graduate of the Ecole Normale Supérieur, is a professor at the University of Paris VII.
Alain Connes, Danye Chéreau, Jacques Dixmier
The Specter of Atacama A Trio for the End of Time
From a mysterious source there appeared a first message that had just been received by the Alma Observatory in Chili, and was saved from oblivion by the main character in the book by a mathematician obsessed with a conjecture.
Alain Connes, Danye Chéreau, Jacques Dixmier
The Quantic Theatre
A remarkable introduction to quantum mechanics
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji
Under the Sign of Light The Itinerary of a Physicist in a Quantum World
A valuable text on the history of physics in the Twentieth Century. “The man who stopped atoms with light.”
Georges Charpak, Henri Broch
Becoming a Magician is Becoming Wise
Would you like to know how to burn out a light bulb from afar? Would you like to know how to walk barefoot on burning coals without scorching your feet and as comfortably as if you were walking on the softest deep-pile rug? And would you like to understand why this is possible? Magic here has simply switched sides: it no longer belongs to the realm of the supernatural; it has become completely natural.The goal of this book is to make the reader understand that the supernatural does not exist and that it is essential in todays world to be scientifically literate. Georges Charpak, a physicist at CERN, is a winner of the Nobel Prize for Physics. Henri Broch heads the Laboratoire de Zététique at the University of Nice-Sophia Antipolis.
Georges Charpak, Richard L. Garwin
Power People and Nuclear Mushrooms
How can we control nuclear power ? This question has been preoccupying Georges Charpak and Richard Garwin for a long time. They here engage themselves in a thought-process concerning the stakes of nuclear power in civil society and the military. It is high time to see the issue clearly, and steering clear of sterile polemics, to denounce the true risks. This book describes in detail everything we need to know about the question : what is a chain reaction ? What exactly happened at Chernobyl ? What should be done with radioactive waste ? How are nuclear arms made and what would future war confrontations be like ? etc... Georges Charpak is a Nobel Prize winner in physics. Richard Garwin is a nuclear physicist.
Georges Charpak
Children, Researchers and Citizens
Georges Charpak has taken the initiative for a complete reform of our methods of science teaching. He proposes a teaching method based on creativity and problem-solving, instead of the old theoretical, book-based approach. This book recounts the experiences of two teams of French educators in a research institution created by Leon Lederman in Chicago, and the lessons which we can take from their experiences. Pollens shows that to learn is to discover, and that it is in discovering that one learns. Georges Charpak is a Nobel laureate in physics, and the author of La vie à fil tendu and Feux follets et champignons nucléaires, both published by Editions Odile Jacob.
Michel Cassé
The Genealogy of Matter
Atoms originate in the stars. There is no real separation between the Earth and the sky, and matter forms one great whole, based on a series of nuclear reactions. Written in a lyrical, poetic style, this is a concise, clearly illustrated account of the birth of matter, aimed at the general reader. Michel Cassé is an astrophysicist and researcher at the CEA and the Institut Astrophysique, in Paris. He is the author of Du Vide et de la Création and La Petite Etoile.
