A History of Spectroscopy retraces the major stages in the growth of the various spectroscopic methods from their origins, as well as the most recent advances and the hopes they raise for future technological progress. With its multidisciplinary aspects, it embodies a unique effort which has no equivalent in the published literature.
Understanding the nature of light is a fundamental question that has troubled mankind since antiquity. It took a great deal of speculation and study concerning the formation of the rainbow to formulate the right hypotheses to explain the iridescence observed when white light passes through raindrops or pieces of glass. For a long time, ancient philosophers were far more interested in the propagation of the light than in its nature. A History of Spectroscopy retraces the major stages in the growth of the various spectroscopic methods from their origins, as well as the most recent advances and the hopes they raise for future technological progress. With its multidisciplinary aspects, it embodies a masterly and unique effort which has no equivalent in the published literature. The present contribution will be read with profit not only by students embarking on a career in physics in general and in spectroscopy or astrophysics more specifically, but also by students in many other related fields like chemistry, biology, medicine, pharmacy and engineering.
Key Features:
- The most extensive and detailed book on the history of spectroscopy.
- Covers a period of several centuries extending from Newton up to the present day.
- Discusses recent progress in different fields and subfields of physics and more specifically in the domain of the analysis of the light.
Section I From Rainbow Colors to Laser Light
Chapter 1 Units and Conversion Factors
Chapter 2 The Precursors of Spectroscopy
Chapter 3 The Contributions of the Master of Woolsthorpe
Chapter 4 The First Spectroscopists and the Birth of Spectral Analysis
Chapter 5 Prisms and Diffraction Gratings
Chapter 6 Interferometers and Fourier Transform Spectroscopy
Chapter 7 Spectral Lines and Series
Chapter 8 The Beginnings of Molecular Spectroscopy
Chapter 9 The Sun, the Stars and their Spectra
Chapter 10 W. Huggins and the Pioneers of Celestial Spectroscopy
Chapter 11 Laser Spectroscopy
Section II From Laser Light to Synchrotron Radiation
Chapter 12 Beyond the Visible: the Long Wavelengths
Chapter 13 Microwave Spectroscopy
Chapter 14 Astronomical Spectroscopy in the Infrared
Chapter 15 Röntgen and X-ray Spectroscopy
Chapter 16 The Spectrometry of -Rays
Chapter 17 Raman Scattering and Spectroscopy
Chapter 18 Structure of the Atom and Zeeman Effect
Chapter 19 Photoelectron Spectroscopy
Chapter 20 Spectroscopy and the Stark Effect
Chapter 21 The Hyperfine Structure of Spectral Lines
Chapter 22 Light Sources and Emissions in the UV
Chapter 23 Retrospective and perspectives
Appendix A: Main abbreviations used in spectroscopy and appearing in this
work 685
Appendix B: Life dates of key scientists mentioned in this work 691
Index of Subjects
Index
Emile Biémont is Honorary Research Director of the Belgian FNRS, Honorary professor of the University of Mons (Belgium) and Emeritus Member of the Royal Academy of Belgium. His fields of interest are atomic and molecular spectroscopy with applications in laser and plasma physics. In astrophysics, he has been involved in solar and stellar physics. Interested also by popularization of science, he has published more than 370 publications including 16 books.
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