Historical and Social Aspects of Physics

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Information about the exam

Oral(in English)with written preparation.

(Dutch speaking students have the right to demand some weeks in advance that your exam is in Dutch.)

• Preperation for about 30 min (or untill someone is ready).

• 10 minutes oral exam (in the same room)

PS: Don't be surprised if there are 20 or more students taking the exam at the same time.

Questions

7-6-2024

4 questions, all on 5 points, you got 2 pages per question (written exam):

• Explain the competition for liquid He, what where the scientific results and impacts of this race? What was the role of K. Onnes and what was particular about his working principles? Give 2 examples of superconductors that are now used.

• Maria Sklodowska and Lise Meitner: what was their relevance in the context of women in science? Wat was particular about their research and personalities?

• Niels Bohr: explain his scientific career. Werner Heisenberg: explain his scientific career. Explain also the impact on society and on the physics of the 20th century of both (the question was formulated different but I think the point was that besides their science, you had to explain the school of Bohr in Copenhagen, that Heisenberg joined the German nuclear weapon program etc).

• The National Science Foundation: what were the different opinions about how science should be organised? What did they in the end use when founding the NSF?

2022

Example questions:

• Describe the state of physics around the year 1900 and explain the importance of the ‘ether theory’. Which discoveries were made at the end of the 19th century that would lead to a revolution in physics in the 20th century?
• Maria Sklodowska (who was married to Pierre Curie) was a pioneer, not only in her physics and chemistry research, but also for the position of women in science. Explain this in detail and describe the impact of her research and herself on society.
• What was the importance of the first Solvay conference in Brussels (1911) on further developments in physics?
• Understanding the electric resistance of materials at low temperature triggered a competition leading to the liquefaction of helium. Describe this competition and its scientific results, and explain three examples of the use of cryogenic liquids in today’s society.
• Explain how modern consumer electronics found its origin in physics research performed in an industrial environment. Discuss an example of the way how research in electronics led to an important experimental verification in quantum physics.
• Describe the situation and development of physics in the German Weimar Republic (1918-1933).
• Describe the work of Niels Bohr and his impact on science and scientific collaborations.
• Philip Lenard and Johannes Stark represented a ‘German’ or ‘Aryan’ physics. What were their views on physics? Why did they organize such strong attacks on Albert Einstein?
• Describe how the neutron was discovered. What was the impact of that discovery?
• Describe briefly the scientific and societal aspects of the Manhattan Project and its impact on the public opinion about scientists.
• What is meant by ‘Big Science’? Discuss an example.
• George Basalla presented in 1967 a model for ‘the spread of Western science’. Describe the basic ideas of this model.
• Lewis Pyenson presented in 1989 a model for cultural imperialism, based on three ‘axes’. Describe this model and discuss some examples of the way in which particular countries fit into that model.

09-06-2020 (12:00-15:00)

Due to the measures against the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 the exam was written instead of oral with written preparation. The exam lasted three hours, but a big majority of the students finished their exam in an hour and a half.

Professor Vanpaemel gave one page as the ideal length for the answer to a single question, and the answer was not allowed to exceed two pages.

• Niels Bohr did not publish a lot during his life, and his lectures were often chaotic and difficult to follow. Explain and discuss why and how he was important for the development of physics.

• The Basalla model explains how science and physics develop in non-Western countries, but it does not match with reality. Choose a non-Western country and discuss how physics research developed.

12-06-2018 (NM)

• What is Big Science and how did it influence physics?
• How did Indian science benefit (or not) from colonialism?

22-06-2015 (VM)

• What important discoveries at the end of the 19th century boosted physics early 1900? Explain.
• Why was Einstein both representative for other physicists and atypical? Explain.

22-06-2015 (NM)

• Why is it that the developments in the area of nuclear physics took place at such a high pace in the 1930's?
• Explain how the evolution of physics in a non-Western country of your choice has been influenced by politics and social factors.

06-2015

• Explain the Forman thesis and how it relates to the development of quantum mechanics.
• How did the increase of money for physicists after WW II affect the discipline?

10-06-2014 (VM)

• The first Solvay conference was a major turning point in the history of physics. Explain.
• Would you consider the transformation of physics between 1900 and 1950 as constituting a revolution? Explain.

June 2013

'Not the exact formulation'

• For some people the quantum revolution happened in the 1920s. Explain what happened and why you can call this a revolution.
• Doing physics changed after WW2, what where the differences before and after?

June, 11th 2012

'Not the exact formulation'

• Explain the significance of Heisenbergs matrices formulation in the Quantum theory.

• After the second World War things had changed for the physicist. What were the negative reactions?

June, 10th 2011

I just write the questions down from my memory, so formulation is not exact, this is how I recall the essence of the questions.

• Many textbooks refer to 1900 as the year of the quantum revolution. Yet even in 1920, most physicists held to classical principles. What describes the advent of the 'revolution' in physics? What was the importance of classical concepts for contemporary physicists to understand quantum physics?

• Social and political aspects had a lot of influence of the development of physics. Show this with two examples.

• The Manhattan project was of huge importance for physics. Explain how this is a hallmark for post-WWII physics.

28/06/2011

• By some people the "revolution" in physics came as a surprise, for others it was the consequence of what happened before. Explain.

• Schrodinger and Heisenberg had a different formulation of QM. Explain this in the historical and social context.

• Who was Bush and what was his role in science policy?