The New World of Mr Tompkins: George Gamow's Classic Mr Tompkins (Repost)
The New World of Mr Tompkins: George Gamow's Classic Mr Tompkins By George Gamow, Russell Stannard, Michael Edwards
1999 | 272 Pages | ISBN: 0521630096 | CHM | 3 MB
1999 | 272 Pages | ISBN: 0521630096 | CHM | 3 MB
Some 60 years ago physicist Gamow conceived the notion of presenting scientific ideas to the layperson through the medium of a fictional character, C.G.H. Tompkins, "a bank clerk interested in modern science." (Tompkins's initials derive from three fundamental physical constants: c, the velocity of light; G, the gravitational constant; and h, the quantum constant.) Gamow produced two popular books featuring Tompkins and then combined them in Mr. Tompkins in Paperback. Now science writer Stannard presents a considerably revised version of that book. Tompkins is still a willing if rather dim learner in his associations with a physicist identified only as "the professor." Gamow and Stannard, through the professor and his daughter, Maud (who marries Tompkins in chapter 10), deal with such concepts as relativity, quantum theory and the structure of the atom. The reader will get both entertainment and plenty of information about modern physics and astrophysics.