The History of Physics

Author: H. Thomas Milhorn

ISBN 978-1-60264-202-7 (softcover)

362 pages

The history of physics ranges from antiquity to modern string theory. Since early times, human beings have sought to understand the workings of nature－ why unsupported objects drop to the ground, why different materials have different properties, and so forth.
The emergence of physics as a science, distinct from natural philosophy, began with the scientific revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries when the scientific method came into vogue. Speculation was no longer acceptable; research was required.
The beginning of the 20th century marks the start of a more modern physics. Physicists began to study the atom, with its electrons and its nucleus. Then they began to look at the fundamental question of the forces that hold the nucleus together and the particles that account for the natural forces.
This book approaches the history of physics from a biographical point of view, considering people to be more interesting than things, and the combination of the two more interesting than the sum of the individual parts. After a brief overview of classical and modern physics, 336 one-page biographies of individuals who have made significant contributions to the field of physics are presented.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

H. Thomas Milhorn graduated from Lincoln Memorial University in 1960 with a B.S. in mathematics and physics. He obtained his Ph.D. in physiology and biophysics from the University of Mississippi in 1964, and did a postdoctoral fellowship in biomathematics at North Carolina State University that same year. During his graduate work, he taught college physics at Belhaven College and Mississippi College. He subsequently received an M.D. from the University of Mississippi School of Medicine and did a family medicine residency. He then spent 28 years on the faculty of the University of Mississippi Medical Center. For a period of time his faculty responsibilities included being director of the state biomedical engineering program. He is the author of nine books, 12 chapters in books, and over 100 articles. He has received a number of writing honors, including being inducted into the Lincoln Memorial University Alumni Literary Hall of Fame in 2005.