Science of Light (eBook)

Odile Jacob Publishing to release The Science of Light, a captivating journey of scientific discovery by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Serge Haroche. The Science of Light will be available for purchase worldwide in digital formats starting on Thursday, March 24, 2022, at odilejacob. com and on all retail platforms. Serge Haroche is professor emeritus at the College de France, a member of the Academie des Sciences, a foreign member of the U. S. National Academy of Sciences, and winner of the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physics for discovering methods of manipulating and measuring individual quantum systems. He has taught at Paris VI University, the Ecole Polytechnique, the Ecole Normale Superieure, Harvard University, and Yale University. Serge HarocheNobel Prize in PhysicsThe Science of LightFrom Galileo's Telescope to Quantum Physics Light has fascinated mankind since the dawn of time. Elucidating its properties over the centuries has been an adventure intimately linked with the birth and development of modern science; it has led, after many surprising twists, to the theories of relativity and quantum physics which have profoundly changed our view of the world at the microscopic and cosmic scales alike. Placing his own career in a rich lineage of scientific discovery, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Serge Haroche offers a literally enlightening account of what we know about light today, how we learned it, and how that knowledge has led to countless inventions that have revolutionized daily life. From Galileo and Newton to Einstein and Feynman, from early measurements of the speed of light to cutting-edge work on quantum entanglement, Haroche takes a detailed and personal look at light's role in how we see and understand the universe. The Science of Light is at once a colorful history of scientific inquiry and a passionate defense of "e;blue sky research"e;-investigations conducted not in pursuit of a particular goal, but out of curiosity and faith that today's abstract discoveries may well power tomorrow's most incredible possibilities. A uniquely captivating book about the thrill of discovery. Contents FOREWORD 13 CHAPTER 1: The dawn of a vocation 21First passions: from mathematics to astronomy 23Introduction to modern physics 35Shut up and calculate! 47When atoms and photons are spinning tops: optical pumping 50To see the world as something rich and strange 65An apprenticeship in trust and freedom 77Promises of the laser 81Beginnings in research 85First trip to America and return to my first passion 90"e;Blue sky"e; research 93 CHAPTER 2: Reflections in the Observatory square 97Two instruments at the origins of the scientific revolution: the refracting telescope and the pendulum clock 100Measuring the speed of light to survey the universe 106The science of light becomes quantitative: Descartes and Dioptrics 113Nature works by the shortest and simplest ways: Fermat's principle 118Huygens and the wave theory of light 124Newton, light particles, and color 134Measuring the shape of the Earth 143A passion for precision 156Basic science, business, power, and technology 161 CHAPTER 3: Daydreams in Faraday's laboratory 165Young v. Newton 169Light is polarized 175Fresnel and the triumph of the waves 177Combining vectors and interfering waves 181A rotating vibration: circular polarization 187Light illuminated by mathematics 193Back to the speed of light 198From the salons of the Enlightenment to Faraday's laboratory 208Birth of the concept of field 218The confluence of light, electricity, and magnetism 223Some mysteries disappear but others remain 229 CHAPTER 4: The two clouds of Lord Kelvin 239Michelson and the puzzle of the aether 245Einstein comes on the scene: thought experiments 249A relativistic change of perspective 261Space mixes with time 266Mass and energy combine: E = mc2 272Einstein's "e;happiest"e; idea comes from Galileo again 283Gravitation and curvature of space-time 291Relativistic predictions