HANS BETHE AND HIS PHYSICS
edited by Gerald E Brown (State University of New York, Stony Brook, USA) & Chang-Hwan Lee (Pusan National University, Korea)
When Hans Bethe, at the age of 97, asked his long-term collaborator, Gerry Brown, to explain his scientific work to the world, the latter knew that this was a steep task. As the late John Bahcall famously remarked: If you know his (Bethe's) work, you might be inclined to think he is really several people, all of whom are engaged in a conspiracy to sign their work with the same name. Almost eight decades of original research, hundreds of scientific papers, numerous books, countless reports spanning the key areas of 20th century physics are the impressive record of Hans Bethes academic work.
In answering Bethe's request, the editors enlisted the help of experts in the different research fields, collaborators and friends of this last giant of 20th century physics. Hans Bethe and His Physics is the result. It contains discussions of Hans Bethe's work in solid state physics, nuclear physics and astrophysics; it explains his contributions as a science advisor and his stance on energy and nuclear weapons; and it demonstrates his impact as a teacher and mentor to generations of young scientists. While the book's primary aim is to explain the science behind the man, the different articles also allow the reader to take a glimpse at the man behind the science.
Contents:
- Hans Bethe and His Physics (G E Brown)
- My Life in Astrophysics (H A Bethe)
- Three Weeks with Hans Bethe (C Adami)
- Hans Bethe at The New Yorker (J Bernstein)
- My Sixty Years with Hans Bethe (E E Salpeter)
- Hans Bethe (K Gottfried)
- "The Happy Thirties" (S S Schweber)
- Steller Energy Generation and Solar Neutrinos (J N Bahcall & E E Salpeter)
- Hans Bethe and Quantum Electrodynamics (F Dyson)
- Hans Bethe and the Theory of Nuclear Matter (J W Negele)
- Hans Bethe and Astrophysical Theory (G E Brown)
- Bethe's Hypothesis (C N Yang & M-L Ge)
- Hans Bethe's Contributions to Solid-State Physics (N D Mermin & N W Ashcroft)
- Hans Bethe and the Nuclear Many-Body Problem (J Holt & G E Brown)
- And Don't Forget the Black Holes (with Commentary) (H A Bethe et al.)
- Shaping Public Policy (S Drell)
- Hans Bethe and the Global Energy Problems (B Ioffe)
- In Memoriam: Hans Bethe (R L Garwin & F von Hippel)
- Obituary: Hans A Bethe (K Gottfried)
- List of Publications of Hans A Bethe
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Readership: Students, physicists and historians of science.
"There is much new material on Bethe the man, as in Christoph Adami's detailed diary of three weeks with him ... I'm amazed at Bethe's prescience as far back as 1977 on global energy problems as they are emerging at the present time. Read about it in a revealing essay by Boris Ioffe ... I highly recommend this handsome volume."
"I would especially recommend the book to anyone who has been involved in any way with the events described, as it brings alive many of the physicists that some of us knew only slightly, or by reputation alone."
"This book does an admirable task in drawing a portrait of a great scientist and a great man. Bethe's power, in my experience, was that he could always readily get to the heart of a problem in any field and solve it in the most economical way, and this comes through clearly. The book is a 'must read' for every researcher and teacher of science."
