Drawing Physics

Short chronological essays and simple drawings “illuminate a millennia of famous discoveries” and explain 51 key physics concepts (Physics Today).

Humans have been trying to understand the physical universe since antiquity. Aristotle had one vision (the realm of the celestial spheres is perfect), and Einstein another (all motion is relativistic). More often than not, understanding begins with a drawing—a humble but effective tool of the physicist’s craft.

Professor of physics Don Lemons puts that skill to use in this collection of essays and drawings that convey important concepts from the history of physics. Follow 2,600 years of discovery in chronological order:

• Thales’ discovery of triangulation
• The Pythagorean monochord
• Archimedes’ explanation of balance.
• Leonardo’s “earthshine” (the ghostly glow between the horns of a crescent moon)
• Kepler’s laws of planetary motion
• Newton’s cradle
• 20th and 21st century discoveries like the hydrogen atom, general relativity, and more

Each essay also places the science of the drawings in historical context—describing Galileo’s conflict with the Roman Catholic Church over his teaching that the sun is the center of the universe; the link between the discovery of electrical phenomena and the romanticism of William Wordsworth; and the shadow cast by the Great War over Einstein’s discovery of relativity.

With Drawing Physics, even readers with little background in mathematics or physics will say, “Now I see, and now I understand.”