Physique

1980 · réf. 049297 — Farrar Straus Giroux 1979 1980. 1st Edition 1st Printing. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. X 406 Pp. Blue Cloth Lettered In Silver. First Printing 1980 Stated. Fine In Fine Dust Jacket Priced $20.00. Advance Copy With The Publisher's Transmittal Letter To A Book Salesman Dated Nov. 30 1979. Carl Friedrich Freiherr Von WeizsäckerA 1912 - 2007 Was A German Physicist And Philosopher. A Member Of The Prominent Weizsäcker Family He Was Son Of The Diplomat Ernst Von Weizsäcker Elder Brother Of The Former German President Richard Von Weizsäcker Father Of The Physicist And Environmental Researcher Ernst Ulrich Von Weizsäcker And Father-In-Law Of The Former General Secretary Of The World Council Of Churches Konrad Raiser. Weizsäcker Made Important Theoretical Discoveries Regarding Energy Production In Stars From Nuclear Fusion Processes. He Also Did Influential Theoretical Work On Planetary Formation In The Early Solar System. In 1938 Weizsäcker Developed A Theory On The Formation Of The Solar System Based On Considerations Regarding The Unequal Share Of Lighter And Heavier Elements In The Sun And The Solar System's Terrestrial Planets. His Views Were Later Generally Acknowledged And Refined By A Large Number Of Other Physicists And Astronomers. According To The Theory The Sun And Its Planets Evolved From A Gas Cloud Made Up Of 99% Hydrogen And Helium And 1% Of Heavier Elements. Some 10% Of The Cloud Remained Around The Sun As An Extensive Atmosphere During An Initial Phase And The 1% Of Heavier Elements Within This 10% Of The Total Mass Of The Cloud Would Tally With The Fraction Of Roughly 1% That The Planets Contribute To The Mass Of The Solar System Today. The Theory Also Helped To Explain The Empirically Observed Regular Pattern Of Increase In The Diameters Of The Orbits Of The Planets Of The Solar System From Inward To Outward. This Result Was A Natural Outcome Of The Increasing Size Of "Planetary Eddies" Of Gas And Dust Farther From The Centre Of The Early Solar System. A Further Implication Of His Theory Was That Many Stars Out In The Universe With Characteristics Similar To The Sun Would Have To Be Expected To Possess Planetary Systems Similar To Our Own. Shortly After The End Of The Second World War In Europe The Russian Émigré American Physicist George Gamow Co-Authored An Influential Paper Supporting Weizsäcker's Work On Planetary Formation In The Early Solar System. In His Late Career He Focused More On Philosophical Ethical And Historical Issues And Was Awarded Several International Honours For His Work In Those Areas. During The Second World War Weizsäcker Joined The German Nuclear Weapons Program Participating In Efforts To Construct An Atomic Bomb While Based At The Kaiser Wilhelm Institute In Berlin. As Early As August 1939 Albert Einstein Warned U.S. President Franklin D. Roosevelt About This Research And Highlighted That "The Son Of The German Under-Secretary Of State Von Weizsäcker Is Attached To The Kaiser-Wilhelm-Institut In Berlin Where Some Of The American Work On Uranium Is Now Being Repeated." As A Protégé Of Werner Heisenberg Weizsäcker Was Present At A Crucial Meeting At The Army Ordnance Headquarters In Berlin On 17 September 1939 At Which The German Atomic Weapons Program Was Launched. Early In The War - Possibly Until 1942 - He Hoped A Successful Nuclear Weapons Project Would Earn Him Political Influence. In July 1940 He Was Co-Author Of A Report To The Army On The Possibility Of "Energy Production" From Refined Uranium. The Report Also Predicted The Possibility Of Using Plutonium For The Same Purpose Including The Production Of A New Type Of Explosives. During Summer 1942 Weizsäcker Filed A Patent On A Transportable "Process To Generate Energy And Neutrons By An Explosion. E.G. A Bomb". The Patent Application Was Found In The 1990S In Moscow. Farrar Straus Giroux 1979 hardcover