Invitation to Contemporary Physics

In recent years, the exhilarating sense of discovery in the realm of physics has almost become the exclusive right of the specialist in the field. Books on contemporary physics tend to be oversimplified or too technical for the general reader to gain a proper appreciation of the appeal that this scientific quest holds for the modern-day physicist.Invitation To Contemporary Physics, however, offers a unique opportunity for the layman or new student to share in the fascination and excitement of seven of the most enthralling areas at the research frontiers of modern day physics: lasers, superconductivity, symmetries, chaos, the evolution of stars, elementary particles and cosmology.Organized into independent chapters, the book allows the reader to delve into each topic separately. Each chapter is also designed to commence at an elementary level, thus requiring little prior background knowledge from the reader. It is then developed in stages of increasing difficulty, but in such a way that any keen and determined reader will be able to comprehend. Emphasis is placed on understanding the basic principles behind the facts and ideas.The excitement and fascination in the intellectual pursuit of present-day physics is far too compelling to be left solely to the experts. The authors in this Invitation To Contemporary Physics have therefore answered the challenge of bringing it all home to the general reader. This book serves as a captivating introduction to modern-day physics for the layman, and is also an ideal reference text for a university course aiming at a general survey of contemporary physics.