{"title":"Guglielmo Marconi, Augusto Righi and the invention of wireless telegraphy","authors":"Matteo Leone, Nadia Robotti","doi":"10.1140/epjh/s13129-021-00021-w","DOIUrl":"10.1140/epjh/s13129-021-00021-w","url":null,"abstract":"<div><p>One of the major accomplishments of the late nineteenth-century applied physics was, as it is well known, the development of wireless telegraphy by Guglielmo Marconi, future Nobel laureate. In this paper, we will explore what scientific debt, if any, Marconi had toward another Italian physicist, internationally well known for his research on electromagnetic waves: Augusto Righi. This question will be pursued through a close analysis of Marconi’s first patent, of Righi’s scientific correspondence and of the specialized and popular press of the time. At the end of this analysis, which includes a brief survey of Marconi and Righi’s activity as senators of the Kingdom of Italy, we will better appreciate what Marconi took from contemporary scientists, what specific contributions he is responsible for and, ultimately, what Marconi and Righi thought of each other.</p></div>","PeriodicalId":791,"journal":{"name":"The European Physical Journal H","volume":"46 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.8,"publicationDate":"2021-07-28","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1140/epjh/s13129-021-00021-w.pdf","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"79064211","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The ADM version of GR at Sixty: a brief account for historians","authors":"S. Deser","doi":"10.1140/epjh/s13129-021-00019-4","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1140/epjh/s13129-021-00019-4","url":null,"abstract":"<p>I review the meaning of General Relativity, viewed as a dynamical field, rather than as geometry, as effected by the 1958-61“anti-geometrical” work of ADM. This very brief non-technical summary is intended for historians.</p>","PeriodicalId":791,"journal":{"name":"The European Physical Journal H","volume":"46 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4868852","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The breakthrough of a quantum chemist by classical dynamics: Martin Karplus and the birth of computer simulations of chemical reactions","authors":"Daniele Macuglia, Benoît Roux, Giovanni Ciccotti","doi":"10.1140/epjh/s13129-021-00013-w","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1140/epjh/s13129-021-00013-w","url":null,"abstract":"<p>1964–1965 was an early, crucial period in Martin Karplus’ research—a time when, rather unexpectedly, he approached the problem of reactive collisions using a quasiclassical approximation with the aid of computer technologies. This marked a substantial departure from the quantum-chemical studies of nuclear magnetic resonance that had, until then, dominated his work. The historical perspective outlined by George Schatz, as well Karplus’ own biography, partly frames the contours of this remarkable period in the history of theoretical chemistry. Yet, the available historical literature is not sufficiently complete to allow us to understand Karplus’ transition from nuclear magnetic resonance to reaction dynamics. In this article, we discuss the intellectual ground on which Karplus operated around 1964, further commenting on the relevance of his quantum and quasiclassical studies and pondering how Karplus’ approach eventually led to his interest in the simulation of complex biomolecules.\u0000</p>","PeriodicalId":791,"journal":{"name":"The European Physical Journal H","volume":"46 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-06-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4422165","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Moore–Penrose inverse: a hundred years on a frontline of physics research","authors":"Oskar Maria Baksalary, Götz Trenkler","doi":"10.1140/epjh/s13129-021-00011-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1140/epjh/s13129-021-00011-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p>The Moore–Penrose inverse celebrated its 100th birthday in 2020, as the notion standing behind the term was first defined by Eliakim Hastings Moore in 1920 (Bull Am Math Soc 26:394–395, 1920). Its rediscovery by Sir Roger Penrose in 1955 (Proc Camb Philos Soc 51:406–413, 1955) can be considered as a caesura, after which the inverse attracted the attention it deserves and has henceforth been exploited in various research branches of applied origin. The paper contemplates the role, which the Moore–Penrose inverse plays in research within physics and related areas at present. An overview of the up-to-date literature leads to the conclusion that the inverse “grows” along with the development of physics and permanently (maybe even more demonstrably now than ever before) serves as a powerful and versatile tool to cope with the current research problems.</p>","PeriodicalId":791,"journal":{"name":"The European Physical Journal H","volume":"46 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-21","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4808848","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Was physics ever deterministic? The historical basis of determinism and the image of classical physics","authors":"Marij van Strien","doi":"10.1140/epjh/s13129-021-00012-x","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1140/epjh/s13129-021-00012-x","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Determinism is generally regarded as one of the main characteristics of classical physics, that is, the physics of the eighteenth and nineteenth century. However, an inquiry into eighteenth and nineteenth century physics shows that the aim of accounting for all phenomena on the basis of deterministic equations of motion remained far out of reach. Famous statements of universal determinism, such as those of Laplace and Du Bois-Reymond, were made within a specific context and research program and did not represent a majority view. I argue that in this period, determinism was often an expectation rather than an established result, and that especially toward the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, it was often thought of as a presupposition of physics: physicists such as Mach, Poincaré and Boltzmann regarded determinism as a feature of scientific research, rather than as a claim about the world. It is only retrospectively that an image was created according to which classical physics was uniformly deterministic.</p>","PeriodicalId":791,"journal":{"name":"The European Physical Journal H","volume":"46 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4001306","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. P. Petrov, V. I. Afanasyev, F. V. Chernyshev, P. R. Goncharov, M. I. Mironov, S. Ya. Petrov
{"title":"60 Years of neutral particle analysis: from early tokamaks to ITER","authors":"M. P. Petrov, V. I. Afanasyev, F. V. Chernyshev, P. R. Goncharov, M. I. Mironov, S. Ya. Petrov","doi":"10.1140/epjh/s13129-021-00009-6","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1140/epjh/s13129-021-00009-6","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Academician A.?D.?Sakharov’s idea concerning the emission of atomic flux from hot plasma (1951) inspired scientists of A.?F.?Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute to create the first in the world instrument called Neutral Atom Analyzer in 1960 and then in 1961 to use it successfully on the Alpha device (USSR, 1958–1963). Now the analysis of fluxes of fast atoms referred to as Neutral Particle Analysis (NPA) is one of the main diagnostic methods for the ion component of plasma in tokamaks, stellarators, and other devices. NPA provides a unique opportunity for studying the ion distribution functions, ion temperatures and hydrogen isotope ratio in hot plasma. Neutral particle analyzers developed at the Ioffe Institute were widely used in the USSR until the late 1970s, and afterwards began to be employed worldwide. Since then, most of the information on the ion distribution functions and the behavior of fast ions in fusion plasma is obtained from NPA measurements on all leading magnetic confinement fusion systems worldwide. The specialized complex of atom analyzers currently being created at the Ioffe Institute is included in the primary list of ITER diagnostics. The integration of this complex on ITER is expected to begin in 2025.</p>","PeriodicalId":791,"journal":{"name":"The European Physical Journal H","volume":"46 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-19","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4759004","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"N.R. Sen: Father of Indian Applied mathematics","authors":"Saibal Ray, Utpal Mukhopadhyay, Rajinder Singh","doi":"10.1140/epjh/s13129-021-00003-y","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1140/epjh/s13129-021-00003-y","url":null,"abstract":"<p>Nikhilranjan Sen (1894–1963), popularly known as N.R. Sen, is known as the Father of Applied Mathematics and founder of the Calcutta School of Relativity Theory. He did Ph.D. in Berlin under the Nobel Laureate Max von Laue. In Berlin he came in contact with renowned physicists like Max Planck, Albert Einstein and their contemporaries. The present article, which is based on the primary sources, discusses the lesser known facts of his life, like the beginning of scientific career, background of his D.Sc. as well as Ph.D. theses, and detailed summary of his scientific works.</p>","PeriodicalId":791,"journal":{"name":"The European Physical Journal H","volume":"46 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-03-04","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4173636","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Everett’s theory of the universal wave function","authors":"Biao Wu","doi":"10.1140/epjh/s13129-021-00001-0","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1140/epjh/s13129-021-00001-0","url":null,"abstract":"<p>This is a tutorial for the many-worlds theory by Everett, which includes some of my personal views. It has two main parts. The first main part shows the emergence of many worlds in a universe consisting of only a Mach–Zehnder interferometer. The second main part is an abridgment of Everett’s long thesis, where his theory was originally elaborated in detail with clarity and rigor. Some minor comments are added in the abridgment in light of recent developments. Even if you do not agree to Everett’s view, you will still learn a great deal from his generalization of the uncertainty relation, his unique way of defining entanglement (or canonical correlation), his formulation of quantum measurement using Hamiltonian, and his relative state.</p>","PeriodicalId":791,"journal":{"name":"The European Physical Journal H","volume":"46 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2021-02-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4931240","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
William Smith, Martyn Guest, Ilian Todorov, Paul Durham
{"title":"Molecular simulation and the collaborative computational projects","authors":"William Smith, Martyn Guest, Ilian Todorov, Paul Durham","doi":"10.1140/epjh/e2020-10034-9","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1140/epjh/e2020-10034-9","url":null,"abstract":"<p>\u0000In the late 1970s, the embryonic UK research community in molecular simulation – physicists and physical chemists – organised itself around CCP5, one of a set of <b>C</b>ollaborative <b>C</b>omputational <b>P</b>rojects in different fields. CCP5 acted to develop and use the software required by an evolving and expanding scientific agenda, to exploit quickly and efficiently the revolution in computing hardware and to educate and nurture the careers of future generations of researchers in the field. This collaboration formally began in 1980, and is still fully active now, 40 years later. Today, molecular simulation techniques, many of them pioneered by CCP5, are now used very widely, including in several other CCPs in the UK’s current family of Collaborative Computational Projects. This article tells the story of molecular simulation in the UK, with CCP5 itself at centre stage, using the written records in the CCP archives. The authors were, or are, all personally involved in this story.\u0000</p>","PeriodicalId":791,"journal":{"name":"The European Physical Journal H","volume":"45 4-5","pages":"259 - 343"},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2020-12-14","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1140/epjh/e2020-10034-9","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"4566337","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"物理与天体物理","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}