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| Preface | |
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| Acknowledgments | |
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| Philosophical Introduction: Philosophy of Science and Physical Theory | |
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| The Heliocentric Theory | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Aristotle: The Physical Foundation for the Geocentric Universe | |
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| Aristarchus: An Early Version of Heliocentrism | |
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| Claudius Ptolemy: The Case for Geocentrism | |
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| Nicholaus Copernicus: First Thoughts on Heliocentrism | |
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| Nicholaus Copernicus: The Heliocentric Theory | |
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| Tycho Brahe: The Supernova of 1572 | |
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| Tycho Brahe: Observational Evidence against the Aristotelian Cosmology | |
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| Johannes Kepler: The Sun as the Source of Planetary Motions | |
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| Galileo Galilei: Telescopic Observations in Support of Copernicus | |
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| Johannes Kepler: The Superiority of the Copernican System | |
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| Galileo Galilei: The Coherence of the Copernican Theory | |
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| Isaac Newton: The Physical Foundations of Heliocentrism | |
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| John Herschel: The Discovery of Stellar Parallax | |
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| Selected Bibliography | |
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| Electromagnetic Field Theory | |
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| Introduction | |
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| William Gilbert: The Properties of Magnets | |
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| Charles Coulomb: The Law of Electric Force | |
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| Hans Christian Oersted: The Effect of a Current of Electricity on a Magnetic Needle | |
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| Andre Marie Ampere: A Positivist Approach to Electromagnetism | |
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| Isaac Newton: The Particle Theory of Light | |
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| Christiaan Huygens: The Wave Theory of Light | |
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| Thomas Young: The Vindication of the Wave Theory of Light | |
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| Augustin Fresnel and Dominique Arago: The Transverse Nature of Light Waves | |
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| Michael Faraday: Electromagnetic Induction | |
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| Michael Faraday: The Concept of an Electromagnetic Field | |
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| James Clerk Maxwell: The Theory of the Electromagnetic Field | |
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| James Clerk Maxwell: The Electromagnetic Theory of Light | |
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| James Clerk Maxwell: The Medium for Electromagnetic Action | |
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| Heinrich Hertz: The Production of Electromagnetic Waves | |
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| Selected Bibliography | |
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| The Theory of Relativity | |
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| Introduction | |
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| James Clerk Maxwell: The Ether | |
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| Albert Michelson: The Ether and Optical Experiments | |
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| George F. Fitzgerald: The Contraction Hypothesis | |
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| Hendrik A. Lorentz: The Contraction Hypothesis | |
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| Henri Poincare: A Prelude to Relativity | |
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| Albert Einstein: The Postulates of the Special Theory of Relativity | |
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| Herman Minkowski: The Space-Time Continuum | |
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| Albert Einstein: The Foundation of the General Theory of Relativity | |
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| Albert Einstein: The Ramifications of the Special and General Theories of Relativity | |
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| Arthur Eddington: The Bending of Light Rays | |
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| Albert Einstein: Ether and Relativity | |
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| Albert Einstein: Later Comments on General Relativity | |
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| Albert Einstein: E = MC[superscript 2] | |
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| Selected Bibliography | |
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| Quantum Theory | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Historical and Conceptual Development | |
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| Max Planck: The Quantum Hypothesis | |
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| Albert Einstein: The Photon | |
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| Niels Bohr: The Quantum Character of the Atom | |
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| Louis de Broglie: The Wave Nature of the Electron | |
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| Niels Bohr: Complementarity and the New Quantum Theory | |
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| Niels Bohr: The Debate with Einstein | |
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| Albert Einstein: Response to Bohr | |
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| Werner Heisenberg: A Brief History of Quantum Theory | |
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| Werner Heisenberg: The Copenhagen Interpretation | |
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| Erwin Schrodinger: The Fundamental Idea of Wave Mechanics | |
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| Erwin Schrodinger: Are There Quantum Jumps? | |
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| P.A.M. Dirac: The Conceptual Difficulties of Quantum Theory | |
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| John A. Wheeler: Observer-Created Reality | |
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| The Completeness Debate | |
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| Albert Einstein, Boris Podolsky, and Nathan Rosen: The EPR Paradox | |
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| Albert Einstein: The Argument for Incompleteness | |
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| Niels Bohr: Response to EPR | |
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| David Bohm: The Hidden Variables Hypothesis | |
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| J. Stewart Bell: Comment on the Hidden Variables Hypothesis | |
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| J. Stewart Bell: A conceptual Analysis of the EPR Thought Experiment of David Bohm | |
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| Abner Shimony: Philosophical Reflections on the Completeness Debate | |
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| Selected Bibliography | |
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| Big Bang Cosmological Theory | |
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| Introduction | |
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| Henrietta Leavitt: Variables in the Magellanic Clouds | |
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| Henrietta Leavitt: The Variability-Luminosity Relationship | |
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| Vesto Slipher: The Radial Velocity of the Andromeda Nebula | |
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| Vesto Slipher: The Discovery of the Red Shift of Nebulae | |
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| Harlow Shapley: The Measurement of Great Distances | |
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| Willem de Sitter: Relativity and Cosmology | |
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| Edwin Hubble: The Structure of the Universe | |
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| Edwin Hubble: The Velocity-Distance Relation | |
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| Arthur Eddington: The Expanding Universe | |
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| Georges Lemaitre: The Beginning of Big Bang Cosmology | |
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| Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson: The Discovery of Background Radiation | |
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| R. H. Dicke, P.J.E. Peebles, P. G. Roll, D. T. Wilkinson: An Explanation of the Penzias and Wilson Discovery | |
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| Steven Weinberg: The Cosmic Microwave Radiation Background | |
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| Alan Guth and Paul Steinhardt: The Inflationary Universe | |
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| George Smoot and Keay Davidson: Wrinkles in Time | |
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| Stephen Hawking: The Edge of Spacetime | |
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| Selected Bibliography | |
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| Epilogue | |
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| Helge Kragh: Physical Theory: Present and Future | |
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| Sources of the Readings | |
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| Index of Names | |
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| Index of Concepts | |
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| Permissions Acknowledgments | |