Essay Review: On the Borderland of Physics and Psychic Phenomena

In an address presented on August 20, 1891 at the Sixty-First Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science the President of the Association’s Section of Mathematics and Physical Science discussed various scientific developments. The speaker started with brief mentions of Michael Faraday’s centenary, and the death of Wilhelm Weber, and then went on to detailed discussions of a binary system of stars, the discovery of ways to achieve color photography, and the importance of professional systematic physics research leaving behind amateur efforts. Then he changed directions and said he was going to discuss a “topic which is as yet beyond the pale of scientific orthodoxy” (p. 551). The topic, the study of psychic phenomena, was called by the speaker the “borderland of physics and psychology,” an area “bounded on the north by psychology, on the south by physics, on the east by physiology, and on the west by pathology and medicine” (p. 553). “I have spoken,” our speaker continued, “of the apparently direct action of mind on mind, and of a possible action of mind on matter. But the whole region is unexplored territory . . . I care not what the end may be. I do care that inquiry shall be conducted by us” (p. 555, my italics). The speaker was English physicist Oliver J. Lodge (1892; see Figure 1), who by that time was well known for his interest and work in psychical research.1 The “us” in the last quote above was a reference to the community of physicists. Such interest in the topic by some physicists, of which Lodge was a main player, is the subject of the book reviewed here.

History Of Great Discoveries In Physics

History of great discoveries in physics french scientist AA Beckerel, german physicist VK Rentgen, english physicist, founder of nuclear physics, polish scientists E. Rutherford, french physicists Maria and Pierre Curie, german scientist G. Schmut, Russian chemist D.I. Mendeleev, english physicist and chemist F. Simple, romanian chemist and physicist G.Heveshi, austrian radiochemist and chemist F.Panet, english physicist J.D.Cockroft, Irish physicist E.T.S. Walton, the english physicist-experimenter J. Chedwick, is directly and indirectly associated with the names of the italian scientist E. Fermi.

The imperceptible, but zealous genius. To 150 aniversary of Charls Vilson.

In the early part of the 20th century, the prominent English physicist and Nobel prize laureate Charles Wilson created a device that Ernest Rutherford, a prominent English physicist, described as the "most original and beautiful instrument in the history of science". This device, known as the Wilson camera, was instrumental in facilitating significant discoveries in nucleus, cosmic ray, and elementary particle physics. This article describes milestones in Charles Wilson’s life and describes his remarkable invention and its influence on the evolution of physical investigations in different countries, including the Soviet Union.

A Tale of Seven Elements

In 1913, English physicist Henry Moseley established an elegant method for "counting" the elements based on atomic number, ranging them from hydrogen (#1) to uranium (#92). It soon became clear, however, that seven elements were mysteriously missing from the lineup--seven elements unknown to science. In his well researched and engaging narrative, Eric Scerri presents the intriguing stories of these seven elements--protactinium, hafnium, rhenium, technetium, francium, astatine and promethium. The book follows the historical order of discovery, roughly spanning the two world wars, beginning with the isolation of protactinium in 1917 and ending with that of promethium in 1945. For each element, Scerri traces the research that preceded the discovery, the pivotal experiments, the personalities of the chemists involved, the chemical nature of the new element, and its applications in science and technology. We learn for instance that alloys of hafnium--whose name derives from the Latin name for Copenhagen (hafnia)--have some of the highest boiling points on record and are used for the nozzles in rocket thrusters such as the Apollo Lunar Modules. Scerri also tells the personal tales of researchers overcoming great obstacles. We see how Lise Meitner and Otto Hahn--the pair who later proposed the theory of atomic fission--were struggling to isolate element 91 when World War I intervened, Hahn was drafted into the German army's poison gas unit, and Meitner was forced to press on alone against daunting odds. The book concludes by examining how and where the twenty-five new elements have taken their places in the periodic table in the last half century. A Tale of Seven Elements paints a fascinating picture of chemical research--the wrong turns, missed opportunities, bitterly disputed claims, serendipitous findings, accusations of dishonesty--all leading finally to the thrill of discovery.

Tracing the Second Law

This article reviews the evolution in the field of thermodynamics. In the 19th century, James Joule, an English physicist, discovered the equivalence of heat and work, and the First Law of Thermodynamics was firmly established. The Second Law developed in phases over some 125 years. It is one of the most abstract laws of physical science and is the bane of students and others who try to understand its complexity. The first phase in the evolution of the Second Law is older than Joule's work and is due to Sadi Carnot. Carnot published his results in a book, Reflections on the Motive Power of Fire, in 1824. The second phase in the evolution of the Second Law took place in 1849, when William Thomson studied Carnot's work. The third phase of the evolution of the Second Law was carried out by a German professor of mathematical physics, Rudolf Clausius, who became aware of the work of Carnot, Joule, and Kelvin in 1850. A fourth phase in the development of the Second Law was carried out by Lars Onsager in 1931. The fifth phase in the evolution of the Second Law was developed by Ilya Prigogine in 1945. The Second Law is a statement that the entropy content of a system may be increased or decreased by entropy exchanges with the environment, but may only be increased as irreversibilities cause entropy creation.