HaloNoble6 Posted July 30, 2005 Report Share Posted July 30, 2005 Background info: the following quote is from a major physics paper published before the era of Quantum Mechanics. It was the first time the concept of "wave" was applied to the concept of "light." [We can scarceley avoid the conclusion that]light consists of the transverse undulations of the same medium which is the cause of electric and magnetic phenomena. The first to answer all or any combination or any one of the following earns points as described below: 1. The Author (10 points) 2. The title of the paper (15 points) 3. The year it was published (20 points) 4. Where it was originally published (25 points) I've changed my mind and made the time period for submitting answers open-ended. Guesses must be from memory, but you have as many tries as you wish. Honor system, no googling or otherwise searching the internet. Game on! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norwegian_Objectivist Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 And the rules were: 1. Only from memory 2. How many guesses (1)? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaloNoble6 Posted July 31, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Right, only from memory, but as many guesses as you want. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
norwegian_Objectivist Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 As author, Isaac Newton or Albert Einstein. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaloNoble6 Posted July 31, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Nope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaloNoble6 Posted July 31, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Let me add that it was the first time the concept of "waves" was applied to "light." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pytheus Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Let me add that it was the first time the concept of "waves" was applied to "light." Ok, was it an English scientist, Thompson or something like that? Around 1840 or so? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaloNoble6 Posted July 31, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Not Thompson, not 1840. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Is it Faraday? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaloNoble6 Posted July 31, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Nope. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pytheus Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Nope. OK, was it Galileo? Didn't he write a paper on the properties of water and refraction? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaloNoble6 Posted July 31, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Hm, good guess, but no. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hal Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Id guess Maxwell, although the quote says 'we' implying more than one author. I dont have a clue about the rest so I'll say the 'treastise on electricity and magneticism' which is the only work of his I know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 I was thinking Maxwell too, but I think that he would be too late of a time period to be the first to suggest wave properties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaloNoble6 Posted July 31, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 10 points to Hal for guessing the author. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pytheus Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 I was thinking Maxwell too, but I think that he would be too late of a time period to be the first to suggest wave properties. Long shot...G. Bruno? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaloNoble6 Posted July 31, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 I will be posting a breif writeup tomorrow afternoon with all the answers. In the meantime, points are still in play! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pytheus Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 I will be posting a breif writeup tomorrow afternoon with all the answers. Well of course, now that I feel like a school boy at lessons! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EC Posted July 31, 2005 Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Damn... should of went with my "gut feeling" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaloNoble6 Posted July 31, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Well of course, now that I feel like a school boy at lessons! Hah! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HaloNoble6 Posted July 31, 2005 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2005 Brief biographical notes James Clerk Maxwell was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1831. Until the age of eight, his formal education consisted of uninspired tutoring involving beatings when he objected to, for example, drills in Latin grammar. He later attended the Edinburgh Academy, living with his paternal aunt in Edinburgh, where, among other things, he was labeled "dafty" by the school kids due to his general wierdness of dress and personality and, at the age of fourteen, wrote a paper describing a novel method for constructing ovals. The paper landed him entrance into the University of Edinburgh, where he studied under the undying attention of, unlike the three friends at Patrick Henry in Atlas, a philosopher and a physicist who turn out to be sworn enemies. The next step for Maxwell was Cambridge, where he studied under the illustrious William Hopkins and perfected his mathematical skill set. Upon graduating, he took up a professorship of natural philosophy at Mischal College, Aberdeen, Scotland, where as is often the case with great scientists, he was not successful as a teacher. He later took up a professorship of natural philosophy at King's College in 1860, leaving the society of little great merit or demerit at Aberdeen for London life. After five incredibly creative years at London, he decided he had enough dealings with pupils, and found "the total oblivion of them for definite intervals [a] necessary condition of doing them justice...", so he retired to Glenlair, the name he gave to his childhood home in Edinburgh. On the paper Light as traveling electromagnetic waves: it was a simple idea, yet its implications for science and technology were still being realized a hundred years later. Maxwell, among other great insights, was the first to make this incredible connection when in On Physical Lines of Force, published in London in 1861, he wrote: "We can scarcely avoid the conclusion that light consists of the transverse undulations of the same medium which is the cause of electric and magnetic phenomena." [italics his] Sources 1. Great Physicists: the life and times of leading physicists from Galileo to Hawking, Cropper, William H., Oxford University Press, Inc., 2001. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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