Science Reads - Mr Tompkins in Wonder/land
Science Reads Mr Tompkins in Wonder/land
Jesse Schelfhout fell asleep in a physics lecture but lacked the imagination to dream of Wonder/land Image cover art by John Hookham, published by Cambridge University Press. Alice is not the only one to have had adventures in Wonder/land. In a 1965 sequence of short stories written by theoretical physicist and cosmologist George Gamow, Mr Tompkins in Wonderland and Mr Tompkins Explores the Atom a bank clerk by the name of Mr C. G. H. Tompkins finds himself in strange places where the laws of physics are quite different to what we are familiar with. Much like Alice, Mr Tompkins finds himself stumbling through an enigmatic world where he, along with the reader, is introduced to some of the most bizarre predictions and observations from modern physics.
Don’t be scared off by the fact that this is a story about physics, as this book is geared towards those with only a casual interest in the subject. Gamow was a brilliant physicist, and his writing is charming, witty, and illuminating, as he explores the weird and wonderful world of modern physics and all its complexities through the eyes of a very ordinary character. The first part of the omnibus explores the strange consequences of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity on time, space, and movement, while the second part explores quantum mechanics, the structure of atoms, and particle physics. Through alternating scenes
The Vice-Chancellor hahahaha
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