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The Structure of Physics
Fundamental Theories of Physics An International Book Series on The Fundamental Theories of Physics: Their Clarification, Development and Application
Editor: ALWYN VAN DER MERWE, University of Denver, U.S.A.
Editorial Advisory Board: GIANCARLO GHIRARDI, University of Trieste, Italy LAWRENCE P. HORWITZ, Tel-Aviv University, Israel BRIAN D. JOSEPHSON, University of Cambridge, U.K. CLIVE KILMISTER, University of London, U.K. PEKKA J. LAHTI, University of Turku, Finland FRANCO SELLERI, Università di Bara, Italy TONY SUDBERY, University of York, U.K. HANS-JÜRGEN TREDER, Zentralinstitut für Astrophysik der Akademie der Wissenschaften, Germany
Volume 154
The Structure of Physics by
Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker edited, revised and enlarged by
Thomas Görnitz University of Frankfurt, Germany
and
Holger Lyre University of Bonn, Germany
A C.I.P. Catalogue record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN-10 ISBN-13 ISBN-10 ISBN-13
1-4020-5234-0 (HB) 978-1-4020-5234-7 (HB) 1-4020-5235-9 (e-book) 978-1-4020-5235-4 (e-book)
Published by Springer, P.O. Box 17, 3300 AA Dordrecht, The Netherlands. www.springer.com
Printed on acid-free paper
Original version: Aufbau der Physik, Hanser Verlag, Munich, 1985. Translated into English by Helmut Biritz, Georgia Institute of Technology, School of Physics, Atlanta, USA. Figures 6.7, 6.8, 6.9 and 6.10 (pp. 165 –166) from Tonry, J.L. et al., Astrophysical Journal 594 (2003), 1-24, have been used with the kind permission of Dr. B. Leibundgut and the Astrophysical Journal.
All Rights Reserved © 2006 Springer No part of this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work. Printed in the Netherlands.
Albert Einstein Niels Bohr Werner Heisenberg
Contents
Editors’ Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi Preface (1985) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xiii On Weizs¨ acker’s philosophy of physics (by H. Lyre) . . . . . . . . . . . . xix 1
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.1 The question . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1.2 Outline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
1 1 2
Part I The unity of physics 2
The system of theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Preliminary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 Classical point mechanics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 Mathematical forms of the laws of nature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4 Chemistry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5 Thermodynamics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6 Field theories . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.7 Non-Euclidean geometry and semantic consistency . . . . . . . . . . . 2.8 The relativity problem . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.9 Special theory of relativity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .