Гвоздева Пхысицс фор адванцед студентс 2011
.pdfVocabulary Notes
1.consistency – coherence – wholeness
2.to be concerned– if you are concerned, you are interested in something, because you think that it is important
3.to fit together – to correspond to one another
4.a search – an attempt to find
5.to reject a theory – to disprove a theory – to give up a theory – to abandon a theory
6.to put forward a theory – to advance a theory – to suggest a theory
7.to be incompatible – if the theories are incompatible, they do not fit together.
POST-READING TASK
(To be done at home in writing)
I. Write down two definitions of experiment formulated by Feynman.
II. Find the information in the quotations and the passage.
1.What are the essential parts of a scientific research?
2.In what case is a theory wrong?
3.What does developing a theory begin with?
4.Explain what the ‘search for logical consistency’ means in theoretical physics.
5.Copy the definition of a good theory given by Stephen Hawking.
6.Explain why the theory always comes first.
7.Explain what theory fails.
III. Read grammar point II and do the exercise.
Open the brackets and write the passive form of the verbs.
1.Human behavior cannot (deduce) by physical laws.
2.The goal of theoretical physics might (achieve) in the not-too- distant future.
3.The values of these quantities cannot (predict) by our theories.
4.The values of these quantities have (choose) to agree with observations.
5.The predictions can (test) by observation.
6.The theory must (abandon).
7.The Newtonian theory of gravity had to (modify).
8.Some of the observations can’t (explain).
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9. A wide class of observations can (describe) by this theory.
V. Give words close in meaning.
1.in my opinion
2.wholeness
3.I am sure
4.to correspond to one another
5.to give up a theory
6.to suggest a theory
CLASS EXERCISES
Exercise 1 (in groups)
Checking up understanding
1.What is a theory of physics?
2.What theory is a good theory?
3.What pushed Einstein, Heisenberg and Dirac to develop new theo-
ries?
4.Why are elegant and beautiful theories rejected?
5.Why does the theory always come first?
6.In what case does one abandon a theory?
Exercise 2 (in pairs)
You have different points of view. Contradict your partner.
1.The theory agrees with the experiment.
2.The existing theories fit together.
3.The theory agrees with observation.
4.I know a major theory that has been advanced on the basis of experiment.
5.These predictions can be tested by observation.
6.The observations agree with the predictions.
7.These observations can be explained by this theory.
Exercise 3 (do it yourself)
Translate the sentences using the below expressions.
1.to fit together
2.to reject a theory
3.to agree with the experiment
4.to advance a theory
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5.on the basis of
6.to come first
7.to put forward a theory
8.to make predictions
9.to test something against something
10.to fail
11.to modify a theory
12.I take the view
13.to describe the results
1. Эти теории не согласуются друг с другом.
2.Эта теория была отвергнута, потому что она не согласовывалась с экспериментом.
3.На основе эксперимента была выдвинута другая теория.
4.Теория всегда предшествует эксперименту.
5.Кем была выдвинута эта теория?
6.Какие предсказания сделала эта теория?
7.Предсказания этой теории были проверены экспериментально.
8.Почему эта теория была опровергнута?
9.Я придерживаюсь точки зрения, что физическая теория – это математическая модель, с помощью которой можно описать результаты наблюдений.
UNIT 4
CREATING MINDS
THE DEFEAT OF HABIT BY ORIGINALITY
When Alexandra the Great visited Diogenes and asked whether he could do anything for the famed teacher, Diogenes replied: “Only stand out of my light.” Perhaps some day we shall know how to heighten creativity. Until then, one of the best things we can do for creating minds is to stand out of their light.
FYI
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creativity is the ability to develop new original ideas and to use the things available in a new way.
creative – (ant.) conventional
Opinions that are conventional are accepted as normal and right by most people.
PRE-READING TASK Study some grammar points.
I. We use an infinitive To V as the subject of the sentence.
Study the sentences. Find the predicate.
1.“To raise new questions, new possibilities, to regard old questions from a new angle require a creative imagination and mark real advances in science.” Einstein
2.“To repeat what others have said requires education, to challenge it requires brains.” Mary Poole
3.One can make reasonably accurate weather forecasts for periods up to five days, but to predict the weather much further would require both a very accurate knowledge of the present state of the atmosphere and impossibly complicated calculations.
II. Ving – a verbal noun
If a verb comes after a preposition (in\at\without\on\of\about\ before\after, etc) the verb ends in ing: V + ing
Study the sentences.
1.What are the prospects of obtaining a quantum theory of gravity and of unifying it with the other three interactions?
2.Science is an endless process of questioning.
We use by + Ving to say how something happens.
Study the sentences.
1.Tesla also explained the principles of a magnetic rotating field and induction motor by demonstrating how to make an egg stand on end.
2.Tesla investigated X-rays by using his own single node vacuum tubes. His device had no target electrode. The modern term for the phenomenon produced by this device is bremsstrahlung (or braking radiation). We now know that this device operated by emitting electrons from the single electrode by a combination of field emission and thermionic emission.
3.You can actually observe a background of microwave radiation coming from outer space by tuning your television to an empty channel.
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III. The participle
V1 V2 V3 V4
to process – processed – processed (обработанный) – processing (обрабатывающий)
V3 is a passive participle; V4 is an active participle Ving … (Ved …) characterizes the noun it follows. Study the sentences.
1.Not all the scientists working in this field share this idea.
2.The speed of a pulse of light is the distance it travels between two events, divided by the time interval between the events.
3.Scientists believe that the universe is governed by well-defined laws. But the motion given by the laws is often chaotic.
4.A shock wave, called Cerenkov radiation, can be detected from the ground as a flash of visible light.
Note:
You translate a past participle V3 before you translate a N.
We sometimes put V3 before N, but we usually put V3 after N.
Study the sentences.
1.The stored information is then processed.
2.Each particle emitted corresponded to one quantum of light hitting the metal.
3.The data recorded were played back as visual patterns on a view screen
IV. Terminology
Any branch of exact sciences involves terminology.
1.Terms are expressed as a chain of nouns. The last N in the chain is the basic one.
1picture thinking
2a fuel source
3a thought photography machine
4a single node vacuum tube
5magnetic flux density
2.Terms are expressed as N + V3 + N
an ion-propelled aircraft a ground based station
Give Russian correspondence:
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on his own (independently), then (after that), another (one more), commonly (usually), to be referred to as (to be called), to consider (to examine), as (while), to be designed for (to be intended for), current, not at all
|
A SCIENTIFIC GENIUS |
Born |
10 July 1856 |
Place of Birth Serbia |
|
Died |
January 7, 1943 |
Field Physics, mechanical engineering, and electrical engineering Known for Inventions, alternating current, induction motor, rotat-
ing magnetic field, and wireless technology
A “MAD” SCIENTIST
FYI
1.a neuron is a cell that is a part of the nervous system and that conducts messages to and from the brain.
2.a retina – your retina is the part of your eye, which receives the image that you can see. It sends the image to your brain.
Study the passage. Mind the underlined grammar points.
According to legend, Tesla was born precisely at midnight during an electric storm.
He studied electrical engineering at the Austrian Polytec (1875). However the university says that he stopped attending lectures and according to a college roommate, he did not graduate. He suffered a nervous breakdown during this time. He read many scientific research works on his own, memorizing complete books. He had a photographic memory. Tesla related in his autobiography that he experienced detailed moments of insight. During his early life, Tesla suffered a peculiar disease in which blinding flashes of light would appear before his eyes, often accompanied by hallucinations. Much of the time the visions were linked to a word or idea; just by hearing the name of an item, he would involuntarily visualize it in realistic detail. Tesla would visualize an invention in his brain in precise form before moving to the construction stage. This technique is known as picture thinking.
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The strangest invention ever proposed by Tesla was probably “Thought Photography Machine.” He reasoned that a thought formed in the mind created a corresponding image on the retina, and the electrical data of this neural transmission could be read and recorded in a machine. The stored information could then be processed through an artificial optic nerve and played back as visual patterns on a view screen.
Another of Tesla’s theorized inventions is commonly referred to as
Tesla’s Flying Machine, which resembles an ion-propelled aircraft. Tesla claimed that one of his life goals was to create a flying machine that would run without an airplane engine, wings, propellers, or an onboard fuel source. Initially, Tesla considered the idea of a flying craft that would fly using an electric motor powered by ground based stations. As time progressed, Tesla suggested that such an aircraft could run entirely electro-mechanically. The theorized appearance would have the shape of a cigar or a saucer.
Tesla is also known for the invention of the Teslascope, a radio transmitter designed for communicating with extraterrestrial life on other planets.
Vocabulary Notes
1.precise – accurate
2.peculiar – strange
3.a vision – a mental picture – a hallucination
4.an item – a thing
5.to visualize – to imagine what something is like forming a mental picture
6.to record something – to put it onto tape
7.to store – to keep information in a computer
8.to process information – to put it through a computer system in order to deal with it
9.a pattern – (here) – a picture
10.to resemble – to look like
11.to propel something – to cause it to move – to drive
12.to claim – when you claim, you say that something is true, although you might not be able to prove it
13.your appearance is the way you look
14.a saucer – a UFO – an unidentified flying object
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POST-READING TASK
(To be done at home in writing)
I. Give facts of Nicola Tesla’s biography using the pre-text information.
Model: Nikola Tesla was born on the tenth of July, 1856.
II. Put in the prepositions.
1.… legend, Tesla was born precisely … midnight … an electric storm.
2.He studied electrical engineering … the Austrian Polytec.
3.… a college roommate, he did not graduate.
4.He experienced detailed moment … insight.
5.The visions were linked … a word or idea.
6.This technique is known … picture thinking.
III. Formulate simple sentences with the below expressions: Model:
1.Tesla proposed a Thought Photography Machine.
2.A thought is formed in the mind and creates an image on the retina.
1.to propose an invention
2.to form a thought
3.to create an image
4.to read data
5.to record data
6.to store information
7.to process information
8.to resemble an ion-propelled aircraft
9.to create a flying machine
10.to consider an idea
IV. Look for the information in the Internet concerning Tesla and add some more facts.
CLASS EXERCISES
COMMENT
INTERVIEW WITH CHITIN, AMERICAN MATHEMATICIAN
Study one of the points discussed in the interview. Mind the underlined grammar. Do the exercise that follows.
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‘Bridge the Gap’ is a series of discussions and exchanges of opinions on science, art and humanity organized by the Center for Contemporary Art in Japan. This interview took place in a café at the airport, Paris, and continued late into the night.
----Can you tell me your thoughts on a scientific genius?
----In my opinion, there is an element of madness in the sciences as much as in the arts. Look at Wittgenstein, for example. He was a philosopher, not a scientist. He is a great philosopher, isn’t he? But he was a lunatic. But there are lots of lunatics in uninteresting way, aren’t there? My feeling is that to create a new theory of science, you have to be mad. You have to be crazy to think up something at a time when there is almost no evidence for it and go off in the direction from the rest of scientific community. And the scientific community usually fights against you. You have to be convinced that all the current theories are wrong and that the physical universe is completely different. It happens if you have a mind that goes beyond the framework of generally accepted ideas; the mind that is needed at the moment to take the next quantum jump. In fact, you have to have an encyclopedic mind.
--- What about Einstein?
When Einstein did his theories he had the right psychology for relativity, but he hated quantum mechanics. And he had no interest in high energy physics. He wanted to understand just the electron. He wanted fundamental knowledge. He was only interested in the most basic ideas. Murray Gell-Mann, who is at the Santa Fe Institute, is not at all like Einstein. He is interested in everything. He knows dozens of languages, he is interested in birds, and he has a tremendous memory. He has an encyclopedic mind, the kind of mind to deal with high energy physics, with the particle zoo. It is really a zoo and you need a mind that could take this enormous number of facts and organize it.
Exercise 1
I. What scientist does the author consider ‘mad’?
Finish up the sentences
1.The scientist is ‘mad’ if he ………..
2.The scientist is ‘mad’ if he ………….
3.The scientist is ‘mad’ if he ………….
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II. What mind does a ‘mad’ scientist have?
1.
2.
3.
III. What are the synonyms of the word ‘mad’?
IV. What is the best Russian correspondence of a ‘mad scientist’?
UNIT 5
COMPLEMENTARITY OF THINKING
“The main point of complementary ideas is that one way of looking at things, be it the scientific one, be it the religious one, be that the artistic one, is not enough, and deprives you of understanding your environment; but even more, it is very dangerous because if you have only one approach, it is open for abuse.”
Victor Weisskopf, theoretical physicist at MIT
PRE-READING TASK Study some grammar points.
I. There is used as the subject of the verb ‘be’. It is used when you want to say that something exists.
Study the sentences.
1.There are books to be read and thrown away; there are books to be read and put on the shelf; and there are some few to be read and digested. (Seneca)
2.There is no rule without an exception.
II. S + seems + to V = Russian – По-видимому; Создаётся впе-
чатление, что + S Study the sentence.
1.There seem to be two possible explanations.
2.When I was a graduate student, there seemed to be no-one who took singularities seriously.
III. Ving – a verbal noun
Infinitives are neutral, impersonal and not visualized. They are just names of actions.
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