natural theology > VII notes

Related sites

Revealing Vatican attempts to propagate its religion by international treaty

You may copy this material freely provided only that you quote fairly and provide a link (or reference) to your source.

Bell, John S, Speakable and Unspeakable in Quantum Mechanics, Cambridge University Press 1987 Jacket: JB ... is particularly famous for his discovery of a crucial difference between the predictions of conventional quantum mechanics and the implications of local causality ... This work has played a major role in the development of our current understanding of the profound nature of quantum concepts and of the fundamental limitations they impose on the applicability of classical ideas of space, time and locality.
Amazon back

Berekeley, George, and Douglas M Jesseph (editor), De Motu and the Analyst: A Modern Edition, With Introductions and Commentary (New Synthese Historical Library Texts and Studies in the History of Philosophy), Kluwer Academic Publishers 1992 Amazon Reader Review: '"De Motu" (On Motion) was originally written in Latin. Jesseph's first service is that he provides an English translation along with the Latin version. In this essay, Berkeley described and critiqued then-contemporary theories on the nature of motion. Jesseph does the reader a great service by introducing 17th century physics to the reader, explaining terms, and tracking down Berkeley's references. ... "The Analyst" set off a firestorm among mathemeticians. Berkeley's acid style led to angry responses, but the mathematical problems Berkeley had attacked were real, and the defenders of Newton offered very different (and incompatible) approaches to resolving the problems Berkeley had raised, and they soon began attacking each other. It was only in the nineteeth century that the problems surrounding the foundations of Calculus were finally settled.' Bowen Simmons
Amazon back

Berkeley, A New Theory of Vision and Other Writings, J M Dent and Sons/ E P Dutton and Co 1910-1934 back

Chaitin, Gregory J, Algorithmic Information Theory, Cambridge UP 1987 Foreword: 'The crucial fact here is that there exist symbolic objects (i.e., texts) which are "algorithmically inexplicable", i.e., cannot be specified by any text shorter than themselves. Since texts of this sort have the properties associated with random sequences of classical probability theory, the theory of describability developed . . . in the present work yields a very interesting new view of the notion of randomness.' J T Schwartz
Amazon back

Christie, Agatha, The Secret of Chimneys, 1992 Amazon Customer Review: 'This book is full of plot twists involving a foreign kingdom, lost jewelry, and a famous French jewel thief. I admit that I could not follow all of the various plot twists, but I could not put this book down. The book also has caricatures of the English Lord, The Government Minister, the Rich Widow, the Rich American, and the Faithful Servant. Underlying the plot is a sense of humor about society. The author mocks all of the characters. You will never be able to guess how this one ends.' Edward X Clinton
Amazon back

Christie, Agatha, A Carribean Mystery, Collins 1964 back

Emch, Gerard G, Mathematical and Conceptual Foundations of 20th-Century Physics, North Holland/Elsevier Science Publishers 1984 Preface: 'Aside from the primary aim of this book, which is to resent a unified mathematical account of the conceptual foundations of 20th-century Physics . . . it is hoped that . . . various parts of the book will be excerpted, and incorporated in separate courses pertaining to the Pure Mathematics curriculum, to provide illustrative examples, further motivations and testimony to the unity of the Mathematical Sciences.'
Amazon back

Euler, Leonhard, and H.-C. Im Hof (Editor), W. Habicht (Editor), T. Steiner (Editor), G.A. Tammann (Editor) , Commentationes Mechanicae Et Astronomicae Ad Physicam Cosmicam Pertinentes (Leonhard Euler: Opera Omnia, Series II) , Birkhauser Verlag AG3764314591 1996
Amazon back

Exodus, and Alexander Jones (editor), in The Jerusalem Bible, Darton Longman and Todd 1966 Introduction to the Pentateuch: 'Exodus is occupied with two primary themes: The Deliverance from Egypt ... and the Sinaitic Covenant. A secondry theme, the journey through the wilderness, connects the two. Moses leads the liberated Israelites to Sinai where God's incommunicable name, 'Yahweh', had been revealed to him. Against the background of a majestic theophany, God concludes an alliance with the people and proclaims his laws. ...'
Amazon back

Feynman, Richard P, and Robert B Leighton et al, The Feynman Lectures on Physics (volume 1) : Mainly Mechanics, Radiation and Heat, Addison Wesley 1963 Foreword: 'This book is based on a course of lectures in introductory physics given by Prof. R P Feynman at the California Institute of Technology during the academic year 1961-62. ... The lectures constitute a major part of a fundamental revision of the introductory course, carried out over a four year period. ... The need for a basic revision arose both from the rapid development of physics in recent decades and from the fact that entering freshmen have shown a stewady incrase in mathematical ability as a result of improvements in high school mathematical course content.'
Amazon back

Greene, Brian, The Elegant Universe: superstrings, hidden dimensions and the quest for the ultimate theory, W W Norton and Company 1999 Jacket: 'Brian Greene has come forth with a beautifully crafted account of string theory - a theory that appears to be a most promising way station to an ultimate theory of everything. His book gives a clear, simple, yet masterful account that makes a complex theory very accessible to nonscientists but is also a delightful read for the professional.' David M Lee
Amazon back

Jammer, Max, Concepts of Force: A Study in the Foundations of Dynamics, Dover 1999 Reprint of the classic Harvard University Press edition of 1957
Amazon back

Lagrange, Mecanique Analytique, Jacques Gabay back

Matthew, and Alexander Jones (editor), in The Jerusalem Bible, Darton Longman and Todd 1966 Introduction to the Synoptic Gospels: '[Matthew is] a dramatic account in seven acts of the coming of the kingdom of heaven. 1. The preparation of the kingdom in the person of the child-Messiah. ... 2. the formal proclamation of the charter of the Kingdom ... i.e. the Sermon on the Mount ... 3. The preaching of the kingdom by missionaries ... 4. The obstacles that the kingdom will meet from men ... 5. Its embryonic existence ... 6. The crisis ... which is to prepare the way for the definitive coming of the kingdom ... 7. The coming itself ... through the Passion and resurrection.' (12)
Amazon back

Newton, Isaac, and Albert Einstein (foreword), Edmund Whittaker (Introduction) Bernard Cohen (Preface), Opticks : Or a Treatise of the Reflections Inflections and Colours of Ligh, Dover 1952 Jacket: 'Here is one of the most readable of the great classics of physical science. First published in 1704, Newton's Opticks provides not only a survey of the 18th century knowledge about all aspects of light, but also a countless numnber of the author's unique scientific insights. It will impress the modern reader by its surprisingly contemporary viewpoint.'
Amazon back

Newton, Isaac, and Julia Budenz, I. Bernard Cohen, Anne Whitman (Translators), The Principia : Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy, University of California Press 1999 This completely new translation, the first in 270 years, is based on the third (1726) edition, the final revised version approved by Newton; it includes extracts from the earlier editions, corrects errors found in earlier versions, and replaces archaic English with contemporary prose and up-to-date mathematical forms. ... The illuminating Guide to the Principia by I. Bernard Cohen, along with his and Anne Whitman's translation, will make this preeminent work truly accessible for today's scientists, scholars, and students.
Amazon back

Ritchie, Arthur D, George Berkeley's Siris, British Academy0902732897 1954
Amazon back

Smolin, Lee, The Life of the Cosmos, Oxford University Pres 1997 Jacket: 'Smolin posits that a process of self-organisation like that of biological evolution shapes the Universe, as it developes and eventually reproduces through black holes, each of which may result in a big bang and a new Universe. Natural selection may guide the appearance of the laws of physics, favouring those Universes which best reproduce. ... Smolin is one of the leading cosmologists at work today, and he writes with an expertise and a force of argument that will command attention throughout the world of physics.'
Amazon back

Veltman, Martinus, Diagrammatica: The Path to the Feynman Rules, Cambridge University Press 1994 Jacket: 'This book provides an easily accessible introduction to quantum field theory via Feynman rules and calculations in particle physics. The aim is to make clear what the physical foundations of present-day field theory are, to clarify the physical content of Feynman rules, and to outline their domain of applicability. ... The book includes valuable appendices that review some essential mathematics, including complex spaces, matrices, the CBH equation, traces and dimensional regularization. ...'
Amazon back

Watts, Duncan J, Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age, W H Norton/Heinemann 2003 'Six Degrees primarily covers Watt's own work, so it is not a comprehensive overview of recent developments in the field. ... But it does provide a good introduction to the topic, including many interesting real-world examples of network dynamic. It also offers historical background and several new results relvant to the social sciences. If you haven't yet had time to learn about the latest intriguing reseach on networks, readin this book could help you see why people increasingly beieve that understanding networks is the key to such seemingly disparate problems as securing the internet, fighting epidemics, curbing terrorism and deciphering Genetics.' Lada Adamic, Nature 422:265 20 March 2003
Amazon back

Yourgrau, Wolfgang, and Stanley Mandelstam, Variational Principles in Dynamics and Quantum Theory, Dover 1979 Variational principles serve as filters for parititioning the set of dynamic possibilities of a system into a high probability and a low probability set. The method derives from De Maupertuis (1698-1759) who formulated the principle of least action, which states that physical laws include a rule of economy, the principle of least action. This principle states that in a mathematically described dynamic system will move so as to minimise action. Yourgrau and andelstam explains the application of this principle to a variety of physical systems.
Amazon back

Papers

Chaitin, Gregory J, "Randomness and Mathematical Proof", Scientific American, 232, 5, May 1975, page 47-52. 'Although randomness can be precisely defined and can even be measured, a given number cannot be proved random. This enigma establishes a limit in what is possible in mathematics'. back

Links

Aquinas 165 Summa I, 28, 1: Are there real relations in God? 'Reply to Objection 4. Relations which result from the mental operation alone in the objects understood are logical relations only, inasmuch as reason observes them as existing between two objects perceived by the mind. Those relations, however, which follow the operation of the intellect, and which exist between the word intellectually proceeding and the source whence it proceeds, are not logical relations only, but are real relations; inasmuch as the intellect and the reason are real things, and are really related to that which proceeds from them intelligibly; as a corporeal thing is related to that which proceeds from it corporeally. Thus paternity and filiation are real relations in God.' back

J P Leahy Einstein's greatest blunder 'The Cosmological Constant Much later, when I was discussing cosmological problems with Einstein, he remarked that the introduction of the cosmological term was the biggest blunder of his life. -- George Gamow, My World Line, 1970 Einstein's remark has become part of the folklore of physics, but was he right? ... ' back

J P Leahy Bad Cosmology 'The aim of this page is to highlight some common misconceptions in cosmology; either mistakes commonly made by students or subtly wrong ideas that sometimes find their way into textbooks. I have no ambitions to discuss "alternative cosmologies" which reject significant amounts of what is supposed by most cosmologists to be well known. There is an excellent web site by Ned Wright which discusses some of these fads and fallacies in cosmology.' back

The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois The Einstein Equations 'This elegant symbolic formulation of Einstein's general theory of relativity cannot be used for actual calculations, but it clearly shows the principle that "matter tells spacetime how to curve, and curved space tells matter how to move" (John Wheeler, Princeton University and the University of Texas at Austin) The left side of the equation contains all the information about how space is curved, and the right side contains all the information about the location and motion of the matter. General relativity is beautiful and simple (to a physicist), but mathematically it's very complicated and subtle.' back

The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois Spacetime Wrinkles 'In 1905, Albert Einstein published his famous Special Theory of Relativity and overthrew commonsense assumptions about space and time. Relative to the observer, both are altered near the speed of light: distances appear to stretch; clocks tick more slowly. A decade and a year later, Einstein further challenged conventional wisdom by describing gravity as the warping of spacetime, not a force acting at a distance. Since then, Einstein's revolutionary insights have largely stood the test of time. One by one, his predictions have been borne out by experiment and observation. But it wasn't until much later that scientists accepted one of the most dramatic ramifications of Einstein's theory of gravitation: the existence of black holes from whose extreme gravity nothing, not even light, can escape. Major advances in computation are only now enabling scientists to simulate how black holes form, evolve, and interact. They're betting on powerful instruments now under construction to confirm that these exotic objects actually exist.' back

Notes

Sunday 30 March 2008

Monday 31 March 2008

Tuesday 1 April 2008

Wednesday 2 April 2008

Thursday 3 April 2008

Friday 4 April 2008

Saturday 5 April 2008

Further reading

Books

Papers

Links