Foundations of Modern Physics

Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg explains the foundations of modern physics in historical context for undergraduates and beyond.

Steven Weinberg (1933-2021) was a member of the Physics and Astronomy Departments at the University of Texas at Austin. He was honored with numerous awards, including the Nobel Prize in Physics, the National Medal of Science, the Heinemann Prize in Mathematical Physics, and most recently a Special Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics. He was a member of the US National Academy of Sciences, the UK's Royal Society, and other academies in the US and internationally. The American Philosophical Society awarded him the Benjamin Franklin medal in 2004, with a citation that said he was 'considered by many to be the preeminent theoretical physicist alive in the world today'. He wrote several highly regarded books, including Gravitation and Cosmology, the three-volume work The Quantum Theory of Fields, Cosmology, and Lectures on Quantum Mechanics, and Lectures on Astrophysics.

Preface; 1. Early atomic theory; 2. Thermodynamics and kinetic theory; 3. Early quantum theory; 4. Relativity; 5. Quantum mechanics; 6. Nuclear physics; 7. Quantum field theory: assorted problems; Bibliography; Author index; Subject index.