Revolutions in Twentieth-Century Physics

The conceptual changes brought by modern physics are important, radical and fascinating, yet they are only vaguely understood by people working outside the field. Exploring the four pillars of modern physics – relativity, quantum mechanics, elementary particles and cosmology – this clear and lively account will interest anyone who has wondered what Einstein, Bohr, Schrödinger and Heisenberg were really talking about. The book discusses quarks and leptons, antiparticles and Feynman diagrams, curved space-time, the Big Bang and the expanding Universe. Suitable for undergraduate students in non-science as well as science subjects, it uses problems and worked examples to help readers develop an understanding of what recent advances in physics actually mean.

1. Classical foundations; 2. Special relativity; 3. Quantum mechanics; 4. Elementary particles; 5. Cosmology.

A clear and lively account of the conceptual foundations of modern physics, this book explores relativity, quantum mechanics, elementary particles and cosmology. Suitable for undergraduate students in non-science subjects, it uses problems and worked examples to help readers develop an understanding of what recent advances in physics actually mean.

David J. Griffiths is an Emeritus Professor of Physics at Reed College. He is the author of three highly-regarded physics textbooks: Introduction to Electrodynamics (third edition, Pearson, 1999), Introduction to Quantum Mechanics (second edition, Pearson, 2004) and Introduction to Elementary Particles (second edition, Wiley-VCH, 2008).