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Hydrogen: The Essential Element, by John S. Rigden
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Seduced by simplicity, physicists find themselves endlessly fascinated by hydrogen, the simplest of atoms. Hydrogen has shocked, it has surprised, it has embarrassed, it has humbled--and again and again it has guided physicists to the edge of new vistas where the promise of basic understanding and momentous insights beckoned. The allure of hydrogen, crucial to life and critical to scientific discovery, is at the center of this book, which tells a story that begins with the big bang and continues to unfold today.
In this biography of hydrogen, John Rigden shows how this singular atom, the most abundant in the universe, has helped unify our understanding of the material world from the smallest scale, the elementary particles, to the largest, the universe itself. It is a tale of startling discoveries and dazzling practical benefits spanning more than one hundred years--from the first attempt to identify the basic building block of atoms in the mid-nineteenth century to the discovery of the Bose-Einstein condensate only a few years ago. With Rigden as an expert and engaging guide, we see how hydrogen captured the imagination of many great scientists--such as Heisenberg, Pauli, Schrödinger, Dirac, and Rabi--and how their theories and experiments with this simple atom led to such complex technical innovations as magnetic resonance imaging, the maser clock, and global positioning systems. Along the way, we witness the transformation of science from an endeavor of inspired individuals to a monumental enterprise often requiring the cooperation of hundreds of scientists around the world.
Still, any biography of hydrogen has to end with a question: What new surprises await us?
- Sales Rank: #392788 in Books
- Brand: Brand: Harvard University Press
- Published on: 2002-05-31
- Original language: English
- Number of items: 1
- Dimensions: 1.09" h x 5.70" w x 8.48" l, 1.10 pounds
- Binding: Hardcover
- 288 pages
- Used Book in Good Condition
From Booklist
Justly acclaimed for his lucid biography of physicist I. I. Rabi, Rigden here shifts his focus from person to problem, chronicling how one enduring conundrum--that of explaining the element hydrogen--has challenged two centuries of brilliant scientists. Beginning with the British chemist William Prout's pioneering hypothesis defining hydrogen as nature's fundamental building block, Rigden recounts episode after episode in which the mysteries of the simplest element--a bare proton and electron--have yielded their secrets to intellectually daring and resourceful researchers. In the process, he clarifies for general readers the nature of the scientific enterprise, in which elegant theories must meet the test of empirical verification. Nor does Rigden neglect the often-quirky personalities of the humans who frame the theories and conduct the experiments: we share, for example, in the frivolous musical ditties composed by Bloch and in the irreverent jokes circulated about Dirac. Readers will marvel that in its very first square, the periodic table holds so much science, so much history, so much humanity. Bryce Christensen
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
Review
Justly acclaimed for his lucid biography of physicist I. I. Rabi, Rigden here shifts his focus from person to problem, chronicling how one enduring conundrum--that of explaining the element hydrogen--has challenged two centuries of brilliant scientists...Readers will marvel that in its very first square, the periodic table holds so much science, so much history, so much humanity. (Bryce Christensen Booklist 2002-03-15)
There can be no understanding of either the microscopic world or the cosmos at large without an understanding of hydrogen. Rigden's book is, on one level, a history of this most basic element, from its discovery in the 18th century to today's cutting-edge experiments...But Rigden is also telling us the story of modern physics...If you love physics, you'll enjoy this book. It is thoughtful, clever and rich in detail. (Dan Falk National Post 2002-04-13)
There is almost magic eloquence in the practice and insights of science at its highest orders--which when transformed into the written word can produce splendid literature. A recent effort to do just that is Hydrogen...For many reasons, this book grabbed me from the start and held my attention to its finish...For its literary quality, its memorable parade of scientific superheroes and the richness of its material, this is a book I heartily recommend. (Michael Pakenham Baltimore Sun 2002-05-11)
Rigden's easy narrative style provides one of the most accessible descriptions of the importance of laboratory experimentation in developing our current understanding of fundamental physics that I know of. Also, he demonstrates how theorists have at times led the way, sometimes with jumps of intuition, sometimes with reliance on fundamental notions like symmetry and sometimes with sheer stubborn persistence. Finally, readers will particularly benefit from seeing extremely important practical technologies that the original experimenters may never have dreamed of. For a picture of how physics really progresses--with gritty details filled in, along with ingenious experiments and glimpses of physicists who push the forefronts of knowledge--Rigden's brief ode to hydrogen is a refreshing alternative to some of the speculative musings dominating the physics sections of bookstores. (Lawrence M. Krauss New York Times Book Review 2002-07-14)
Rigden is deeply enamored of physics, physicists and the historical anecdotes that bind them together. These passions are reflected in Hydrogen's format--short essays about different aspects of the hydrogen story, focusing on its physicist-heroes...Great stories, beautifully told...Rigden has done physicists a service with his touching love letters to their favorite atomic quarry. (Graham Farmelo New Scientist 2002-09-07)
John S. Rigden...has taken on the challenge and produced an accessible, congenial book for the general reader...His book deserves praise for introducing a wider audience to the rich story of hydrogen. (Peter Pesic American Scientist 2002-11-01)
Rigden writes well and admiringly of the characters involved and emphasises the benefits of pure research. (Steven Poole The Guardian 2004-01-24)
What this slim biography of 280 pages lacks in size, it more than makes up for in scientific revelations. Its subject, hydrogen, beneath a mask of simplicity, is clearly an element on the move. Such is the importance of this primordial element, that its biography mirrors that of the universe. As science--at least the modern physics part of it--is such an international enterprise, and is not carried out in a social vacuum, the book subtly provides a brief history of the world...If you are an admirer of progress in science, this book is for you. (Dozie Azubike Materials World 2005-01-01)
These chapters clearly demonstrate that hydrogen is an effective vehicle for presenting a good deal of modern physics…This book is part history of science and part primer on fundamental physical concepts. Moreover it includes interesting vignettes about the scientists involved in these various discoveries, especially I. I. Rabi, the subject of an earlier biography by the same author…The book is well written with clear explanations and good references. It should be accessible to an educated lay audience and of particular interest to chemists. (A. Truman Schwartz Journal of Chemical Education 2004-01-01)
Review
A prominent physicist once said, "to understand hydrogen is to understand all of physics." That is perhaps a bit of an overstatement; but it is no exaggeration to say that John Rigden's eminently readable book is a unique guide to the overwhelming role in science and technology of that simplest of all elements--from the origin of the universe itself to the most recently created lab sensation, the Bose-Einstein condensate. A book to be treasured by laypersons and experts alike. (Gerald Holton, author of Einstein, History, and Other Passions)
Most helpful customer reviews
26 of 30 people found the following review helpful.
Simplicity to Demonstrate Complexity
By Rob Hardy
It makes sense, if you are going to try to understand something, to go to the simplest instance of it and get all the information you can from the subject unimpeded by complications. Hydrogen is the simplest of all atoms. It is all around us; though hydrogen gas floats out of our atmosphere to join the hydrogen atoms that are in the "vacuum" of space, hydrogen makes up a large proportion of stars, water, and ourselves. John S. Rigden has written an admiring tribute to the simplest atom, _Hydrogen: The Essential Element_ (Harvard University Press). It turns out that hydrogen has played an enormous role in our understanding of matter and energy, and that the simplest of atoms is so complicated and surprising that Rigden's book is a continual source of elemental wonder.
Hydrogen is element number one, only a single electron orbiting a single proton. Repeatedly Rigden shows that this simplicity has been a boon to research. The lessons learned from this basic atom, in Rigden's story, form a history of physics in the twentieth century. The refinements to theory have largely been to explain the dark bands in the spectrum produce when hydrogen is made to glow. Niels Bohr produced the first modern picture of the atom, incorporating the experimental data from Rutherford and the hydrogen spectrum, but recklessly disregarding the historic laws of physics which he felt could not apply within the atom. He thus began the amazingly successful and fabulously strange quantum explanation for the behavior of matter. Rigden has not just included experimenters and theorizers, but also appealing stories about them, such as I. I. Rabi developing magnetic resonance in the 1930s to measure the nucleus, but then in 1988 being wheeled into a Magnetic Resonance Imaging machine. He said, "It was eerie... I would never have dreamed that my work would come to this." _Hydrogen_ is not just about understanding the inner workings of the atom, but also about hydrogen as the ticker of a clock, as anti-matter, and as a confirmer of big bang cosmology.
There are plenty of challenging chapters here, meant for the non-scientist but not necessarily easy reading. Although the mathematics is not detailed, there are some equations shown that could be intimidating; Dirac's equation, predicting antiparticles and electron spin, Rigden assures us is a "little equation" that can be "written in one line," and while this is true, the line has twenty algebraic symbols in it. Also, surprisingly, there is little about the hydrogen bomb. Rigden decided that the bomb did not fit into the theme of how the hydrogen atom has led and will continue to lead to improved scientific knowledge. His charming and informative book shows how some mysteries have been solved but that we should never come to the conclusion that we are close to knowing all: "After all, H stands not only for hydrogen, but also for humility."
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
One of my favorite physics books.
By Bruce Oksol
Written for the layman, the author takes you through the history of modern physics through a series of essays on the historical quest to understand the simplest atom.
John Rigden was very clever in the layout. It was not until the third chapter or so that I realized he was doing this by writing short 7 - 10 page vignettes on those physicists most important in developing a model of hydrogen that explains its observed properties. Obviously, one could see that by looking at the chapter headings but for some reason I missed that the first time I read the book.
By focusing on the one physicist at a time, and the specific question that physicist was trying to answer at a particular time, Rigden is able to walk you down a path that actually suggests you might understand quantum mechanics (QM) and the wave function, which united QM with Einstein's theory of relativity. Rigden uses almost no formulas in the book; the few that he does is simply to give the reader an example of how simple some of the concepts can be when placed in mathematical formulas. You won't understand the symbology, but you will be amazed at the elegance of the formulas. None is as good as Einstein's E = mc^2 but they come close.
It is very, very good. Along the way you will meet some very interesting physicists, most who had very humble beginnings. As interesting as the physicists themselves are, the implications of their discoveries and the strangeness of the simplest atom will have you re-reading the book.
This is a relatively compact book -- I have the hardback, which I see is now going for $60 and more through resellers on Amazon -- perfect for your carry-on. The short essays allow for easy reading during even the shortest of flights.
I highly recommend this for summer reading for the advanced high school student planning to major in physics, chemistry or biology, and to read it between the junior and senior year of high school, or the summer before going to college. I would assume this book is already considered a classic and is being recommended by college science professors for "recreational" reading.
If you have any doubt about whether you want to read this book, read the 2 1/2 page epilogue while visiting your favorite bookstore and you will be hooked.
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful.
Hydrogen, a great book
By Gary Gechlik
I found the book was excellent. Hydrogen is an historical book that begins with the Balmer series. The book is very expert in the area of theoretical physics and the developments of the 20th century. The book does touch upon areas of chemistry and astronomy where hydrogen plays a role, but not overly so.
I found the book to be highly readible and technical. I have worked through the various equations and have had many discussions on the subject. My brother who majored in Chemistry and has done material science research prior to becoming a doctor was unaware of many of the historical developments.
I enjoyed reading about Balmber, Lamb, and the developments of QED. The very last part of the book is not as tight as the first part. This is because the book is primarily descriptive. It is hard to know which developments in condensed physics will be primary in a hundred years.
Overall, the best book on the subject I have read. The terminology is very precise. He makes use of terms with such great specificity that the book is an excellent primer to Astronomy Methods by Bradt.
Gary
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