Overview
- A beautifully written and informative biography of a visionary physicist
- Authoritative account by Herbert Fröhlich's last PhD student
- Follows the course of Fröhlich's travels, ideas and interactions
- Includes so-far unpublished documents, letters and photos
- Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras
Part of the book series: Springer Biographies (SPRINGERBIOGS)
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Table of contents (8 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Back Matter
Keywords
About this book
This biography provides a stimulating and coherent blend of scientific and personal narratives describing the many achievements of the theoretical physicist Herbert Fröhlich. For more than half a century, Fröhlich was an internationally renowned and much respected figure who exerted a decisive influence, often as a ‘man ahead of his time’, in fields as diverse as meson theory and biology. Although best known for his contributions to the theory of dielectrics and superconductivity, he worked in many other fields, his most important legacy being the pioneering introduction quantum field-theoretical methods into condensed matter physics in 1952, which revolutionised the subsequent development of the subject. Gerard Hyland has written an absorbing and informative account, in which Herbert Fröhlich’s magnetic personality shines through.
Reviews
“It is a valuable technical exposition of Fröhlich’s oeuvre—not only his contributions to physics, but also his contributions to theoretical biology and his reflections on the relationship between mathematics and physics and between microscopic and macroscopic descriptions. Hyland must have invested a huge amount of work on his book; it is a labor of love.” (Silvan Schweber, Physics Today, Vol. 69 (5), May, 2016)
“The book is meticulously referenced and filled with photos and historical letters. Hyland has presented an inspiring account of a trailblazing physicist and outdoorsman who counted Schrödinger, Sommerfeld, and Feynman among his inner circle … .” (Ram Devanathan, MRS Bulletin, Vol. 41, February, 2016)
Authors and Affiliations
About the author
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Herbert Fröhlich
Book Subtitle: A Physicist Ahead of His Time
Authors: G. J. Hyland
Series Title: Springer Biographies
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-14851-9
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015
Hardcover ISBN: 978-3-319-14850-2Published: 02 June 2015
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-319-38524-2Published: 17 October 2016
eBook ISBN: 978-3-319-14851-9Published: 18 May 2015
Series ISSN: 2365-0613
Series E-ISSN: 2365-0621
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXI, 263
Number of Illustrations: 96 b/w illustrations
Topics: History and Philosophical Foundations of Physics, History of Science, Condensed Matter Physics, Theoretical, Mathematical and Computational Physics