Volume 34, Number 3 · February 26, 1987
When the Atom Broke Down
By Ian Hacking
Inward Bound: Of Matter and Forces in the Physical World
by Abraham Pais
Oxford University Press (Clarendon Press), 666 pp., $24.95
Inward Bound is a sweeping narrative of the history and present state of atomic physics. It is something of an official history, explaining what, in the opinion of the physics community, is known, and how it came to be known. Pais was a distinguished participant in a number of the events he describes, but he distances himself from them. His erudite chronology is written from a deep love of the subject, a desire to make it intelligible, and a zest for describing the actors in his story. You could use this book to learn physics in the order that the discoveries became established. According to one school of pedagogy, that is the best way to understand the problems and the prospects of the discipline.
Review, 4793 words
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