Two Cultures Essays in Honour of David Speiser [Hardcover]

The extraordinary range of cultural interests of renowned physicist David Speiserincluding the sciences, art, architecture, music, and history of sciencehas inspired generations of later scientists to look beyond the boundaries of their own disciplines. In this book, seventeen scholars from various fields pay tribute to his multifaceted career, addressing topics as varied as music theory and the nuclear arms race.

Truesdell and the History of the Theory of Structures.- Reflections on Interdisciplinarianism.- The Sciences.- David Speisers Group Theory: From Stiefels Crystallographic Approach to Kac-Moody Algebras.- Whither Quantum Theory?.- The Direct Determination of the Induced Pseudoscalar Current (and About the Slow Metamorphosis of an Institution).- In Praise of Asymmetry.- An Observation About the Huygens Clock Problem.- The History of Science.- Daniel Bernoulli and Leonhard Euler on the Jetski.- On the Changing Fortune of the Newtonian Tradition in Mechanics.- Studies of Magnetism in the Correspondence of Daniel Bernoulli.- On Enriquess Foundations of Mechanics.- On the Common Origin of Some of the Works on the Geometrical Interpretation of Complex Numbers.- The Arts.- Architecture and Music.- An Unusual Sacra Conversazione by Giovanni Bellini.- Ancient Astrological and Musical Analogies in The Renaissance: Palladios Villa Rotunda and a Geometric Construction by Leonardo.- Nuclear Arms.- The Gravest Danger: Nuclear Weapons And Their Proliferation.- Nuclear Arms Control.

David Speiser is Professor Emeritus at the Catholic University of Louvain, where he taught mathematics and physics from 1963 to 1990.  His work in history of science included various publications, some of which are related to art history.  Nephew of mathematician Andreas Speiser, David Speiser's own wide-ranging interests have brought him into contact with a panorama of disciplines.  Editor Kim Williams has assembled a group oflCt