Making waves in physics: three wave singularities from the miraculous 1830s
Article Abstract:
The stimulus for the paper published in 1838 by George Biddell Airy was the theory of the rainbow. This paper proved influential because refined techniques soon developed by George Gabriel Stokes to investigate the rainbow integral made divergent infinite series a significant tool in bridging gaps between physical theories. Furthermore, the rainbow integral was found to be the first in a hierarchy of diffraction catastrophes. William Whewell published two papers in 1833 and 1836 presenting his discovery of the phase singularities of the tide waves. In 1832, William Rowan Hamilton produced the first physical example of degeneracy between eigenvalues of a real symmetric matrix.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 2000
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The moment of truth for high-energy physics
Article Abstract:
It is likely prove a difficult process to gain US Congress approval for funding for US participation in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at the European Laboratory for Particle Physics (CERN). The Science Committee of the House of Representatives has decided to retain $35 million for the LHC until the US Department of Energy clarifies the situation. It is particularly seeking changes to the preliminary agreement reached by CERN and the Department of Energy in Feb 1997.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1997
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Parity and chivalry in nuclear physics
Article Abstract:
Theorists T.D. Lee and C.N. Yang proposed in 1957 that nuclear beta-decay does not respect symmetry between left and right. The National Bureau of Standards' team of nuclear physicists and cryophysicists and C.S. Wu conducted a parity violation experiment which confirmed the hypothesis of Lee and Yang. It should be stressed that the credit for this conclusion should be given, not only to Wu, but also to NBS scientists, Ambler, Hudson, Hayward and Hoppes.
Publication Name: Nature
Subject: Zoology and wildlife conservation
ISSN: 0028-0836
Year: 1997
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