Nobel Centennial Chronicle Pursuing the Laws of Nature

Author: Li Xinzhou
Publisher:
Publication Date: 2001-07-01
Features: Nobel Prize Centennial is an original popular science book compiled to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Nobel Prize. It consists of 29 volumes and 2.7 million words, written by 40 experts and professors from renowned domestic universities and research institutions, including Academician Hong Tao of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. The book presents a panoramic depiction of the hundred-year journey of the Nobel Science Prizes within the broader context of 20th-century scientific development, focusing on highlighting the essence of the Nobel Prize—the spirit of technological innovation. In addition to three volumes of reviews that comprehensively review the century-long transformations in modern physics, chemistry, and life sciences, the book also categorizes all Nobel Science Prize-winning projects from the past century into 26 fields based on their intrinsic connections and developmental threads, with each field assigned its own volume. Each volume follows the continuity of scientific development in its field and highlights relevant Nobel Prize-winning projects, offering both accessible introductions to scientific knowledge, methods, and ideas, and promoting the spirit of seeking truth and innovation in science. The entire book is concise, easy to understand, and rich in humanistic color, combining both documentary value and collectible value.
The 20th century was the most accomplished era in the history of physics, during which physics rapidly developed on the foundation of classical physics, achieving numerous magnificent results that profoundly impacted human society. Before the 20th century, physicists' understanding of the structure of matter was still conceptual. In 1897, just before the turn of the century, humanity discovered the first fundamental particle—the electron, and physicists truly began their exploration of the microscopic world. In 1900, Planck proposed the quantum hypothesis, giving birth to quantum theory. Subsequently, Einstein explained the photoelectric effect using the theory of light quanta. In 1913, Bohr proposed the atomic spectral theory and established the modern atomic model. In the 1920s, matrix mechanics, Schr?dinger's equation, the Pauli exclusion principle, the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, and the Dirac electron equation were successively introduced, laying the foundation for quantum mechanics. This was a genuine revolution in the history of 20th-century physics. Almost simultaneously with the quantum revolution, Einstein launched another revolution in 20th-century physics. In 1905, he proposed the theory of special relativity, driving the deeply entrenched Newtonian concept of absolute space and time out of physics. In 1915, he further proposed the theory of general relativity, establishing a scientific theory of gravity. Together with quantum theory, relativity became one of the two cornerstones of 20th-century physics.
In the 1940s, quantum electrodynamics emerged, providing an extremely profound explanation of electromagnetism using relativity and quantum theory. In the 1950s, the violation of parity in weak interactions was discovered. In the 1960s, the quark model was successfully established. From the late 1960s to the early 1970s, the electroweak unified theory and quantum chromodynamics were successively proposed, and the Standard Model was formally formed. The Standard Model is a critical turning point in humanity's understanding of the microscopic world and can be considered another revolution in 20th-century physics. However, the Standard Model does not mean that humanity has stopped exploring nature. On one hand, unifying gravity with electromagnetism, weak, and strong forces into a complete grand unified theory remains an unshakable dream for physicists. On the other hand, experimental and observational data have raised many new questions. Since the 1980s, the rapid development of string theory may also bring another revolution of great impact on physics.
The above is the journey of physics revolution described in The 20th Century Physics Revolution. This book is part of the Nobel Prize Centennial series published by Shanghai Science and Technology Education Press. The series categorizes all Nobel Prizes in 20th-century physics, chemistry, and life sciences into 26 fields based on their specific award content, with each field written as a small book of about 80,000 words. The content of each book follows the progress of its field and highlights relevant Nobel Prize-winning projects. As a result, readers not only gain insights into the scientific content of these Nobel Prize achievements but also learn about the development of these fields.