A reader’s introduction
The physics collection compares mathematical laws, experimental reports, and historical criticism across mechanics, optics, electricity, sound, radiation, and relativity. These starting works move from a dialogue on motion and material strength to a critique of Newtonian concepts and a general exposition of space, time, and gravitation.
Start here: three works
- Galileo Galilei — Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences — Work through arguments about accelerated motion, projectiles, and the strength of materials as three speakers test claims against one another.
- Ernst Mach — The Science of Mechanics — Study mechanics as a history of concepts and measurements, with particular scrutiny of Newton’s absolute space and time.
- Albert Einstein — Relativity: The Special and General Theory — Use a nontechnical exposition to compare special relativity’s treatment of simultaneity with the broader account of gravitation.
Use these works to reconstruct the problems and evidence available to their authors, then check historical terminology and superseded models against a current physics reference rather than treating the collection as a modern textbook.
What Physics argues
- Physics seeks compressions of reality into laws.
- It depends on measurement, mathematization, and theory revision.
Primary works in Physics (15)
- Albert Einstein — Relativity: The Special and General Theory (1916) — Book · read the full text
- Albert Einstein — Time, Space, and Gravitation (1919) — Paper · read the full text
- Lord Rayleigh — The Theory of Sound (1877) — Book · read the full text
- Isaac Newton — Opticks (1704) — Book · read the full text
- Lucretius — On the Nature of Things (c. 50 BCE) — Book · read the full text
- Marie Curie — Radioactive Substances (1903) — Book · read the full text
- Christiaan Huygens — Treatise on Light (1690) — Book · read the full text
- Michael Faraday — Experimental Researches in Electricity (1839) — Book · read the full text
- James Clerk Maxwell — A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism (1873) — Book · read the full text
- Galileo Galilei — Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences (1638) — Book · read the full text
- Heinrich Hertz — Electric Waves (1893) — Book · read the full text
- Ernst Mach — The Science of Mechanics (1883) — Book · read the full text
- Wilhelm Röntgen — Röntgen Rays (1899) — Book · read the full text
- Ibn al-Haytham — Book of Optics (Kitāb al-Manāẓir) (c. 1021 CE) — Book · read the full text
- Galileo Galilei — Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems (1632) — Book · read the full text
Chambers connected to Physics
Reading Trails through Physics
- From Wonder to Method Reading Trail — How looking up at the sky slowly became the scientific method.