Haphazard Reality: Half a Century of Science

by H.B.G. Casimir

Hendrik Brugt Gerhard Casimir (1909-2000), a Dutch physicist best known for his research on the two-fluid model of superconductors and the Casimir effect, studied theoretical physics under Paul Ehrenfest at Leiden University, receiving his PhD in 1931. He also spent time in Copenhagen with Niels Bohr and at ETH Zürich as an assistant to Wolfgang Pauli. In 1938, Casimir became professor of physics at Leiden University; in 1942, he moved to the Philips Natuurkundig Laboratorium in Eindhoven where he remained an active scientist until becoming its co-director in 1946 and a member of Philips’s board of directors in 1956. Casimir retired from Philips in 1972.

“An outstanding scientific autobiography... I remain impressed by its thoughtfulness and charm.” — American Journal of Physics

“[A] rich autobiography and history-of-atomic-physics... A charming, idiosyncratic, and meaningful account of events and personalities that changed physics.” — Kirkus

“What makes this book fascinating reading is the account of people, [Casimir’s] teachers and colleagues... The portraits given here are very perceptive and lifelike... Casimir writes with admiration and gratitude of Ehrenfest’s inspiration and guidance... There is an excellent study of Niels Bohr... Casimir talks with great frankness about his attitude to industry.” — Rudolf Peierls, Nature

“I myself read [this book] with fascination, meeting old friends such as Gamow, Landau, Kramers, and learning much more about them... Also in the book are character sketches of those who made physics in the Netherlands such as Lorentz, Kamerlingh Onnes and Ehrenfest, the latter remembered with the greatest affection by the author.” — Sir Nevill Mott, Contemporary Physics

“ Haphazard Reality paints a vivid and insightful picture of the development of modern physics.” — Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society

Genres: Science, Physics, Biography, Nonfiction, History

372 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Porter · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very ok book. It gives an interesting first-hand look at what perceptions of some other notable physicists were. The historical references are also interesting from a sort of bird’s eye and mundane view of them. Casimir is not really detailed or very good at explaining concepts. Most of his writing kind of rambles on and focuses on what seem to me very trivial details. His appendices at the end aren’t very useful because they use a lot of specialized jargon but once you have looked those terms up don’t really tell you much else. The one overarching thing I did like about the book is it unintentionally gives you a view and perspective of how a truly experimental physicist views the contemporary physics of his day. It also was interesting to hear the nitty gritty of how experiments are done and to see that a lot of theory is based off guess and check experiments. Really makes me appreciate how limited the scope of the human mind is compared to how vast and complex the world we interact with but don’t truly understand is. Each time we just scratch a little more of understanding or just find out that something works and our theory was only good enough for a very limited scope.

[Guido De · Rating 3 out of 5]

Alleen hoofdstuk 10 gelezen vanwege interesse in De wetenschap-technologiespiraal.
Hiernaar wordt verwezen in het boek De Ontdekking van de Aarde geschreven door Peter Westbroek.

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