Physics in a Mad World

Physics in a Mad World
By:"M Shifman"
Published on 2015-08-28 by World Scientific

This book tells captivating stories of misadventures of two renowned theoretical physicists in the Soviet Union. The first part is devoted to Friedrich (Fritz) Houtermans, an outstanding Dutch–Austrian–German physicist who was the first to suggest that the source of stars' energy is thermonuclear fusion, and also made a number of other important contributions to cosmochemistry and geochemistry. In 1935, Houtermans, a German communist, in an attempt to save his life from Hilter's Gestapo, fled to the Soviet Union. He took up an appointment at the Kharkov Physico-Technical Institute, working there for two years with the Russian physicist Valentin P Fomin. In the Great Purge of 1937, Houtermans was arrested in December by the NKVD (Soviet Secret Police, KGB's predecessor). He was tortured, and confessed to being a Trotskyist plotter and German spy, out of fear of threats against his wife Charlotte. However, Charlotte had already escaped from the Soviet Union to Denmark, after which she went to England and finally the USA. As a result of the Hilter–Stalin Pact of 1939, Houtermans was turned over to the Gestapo in May 1940 and imprisoned in Berlin. The second part consists of two essays that narrate the life story of Yuri Golfand, one of the codiscoverers of supersymmetry, a major discovery in theoretical physics in the 20th century. In 1973, just two years after the publication of his seminal paper, he was fired from the Lebedev Physics Institute in Moscow. Because of his Jewish origin he could find no job. Under such circumstances, he applied for an exit visa to Israel, but his application was denied. Yuri Golfand became a refusnik and joined the Human rights movement, along with two other prominent physicists, Andrei Sakharov and Yuri Orlov. To earn his living, he had to do manual work, repeatedly being intimidated by KGB. Only 18 years later, shortly before the demise of the Soviet Union, did he obtain permission to leave the country, emigrating to Israel in 1990. These personal life stories of two outstanding theorists are interwined with the tragedies of the 20th century and make for compelling reading. Contents:Part I: HoutermansProfessor Friedrich Houtermans. Works, Life, Fate (Victor Frenkel)Part II: GolfandThe Life and Fate of Yuri Golfand (Boris Eskin)In Memory of Yuri Abramovich Golfand (Boris Bolotovsky) Readership: Students, teachers, physicists and historians of science interested in the dramatic events of the 20th century events. Keywords:Physics;Physicists in the Soviet Union;History of Theoretical Physics in the 20th PhysicsReview: “The eminent theoretical physicist Mihail Shifman has performed a tour de force: under the guise of writing about, the much underrated nuclear expert Fritz Houtermans, and Yuri Golfand, one of the originators of supersymmetry, also neglected in the West for many years, he has in fact created a veritable Russian novel of great sweep and detail that covers the terrible years 1933 – 1945 in the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Personal interviews with survivors, and recollections by many others, add to the account's immediacy, yet the technical aspects do not get in the way of the narrative.” Professor Stanley Deser Brandeis University \

This Book was ranked 35 by Google Books for keyword murdered physicist.

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Therapy in the Real World

Therapy in the Real World
By:"Nancy Boyd-Franklin","Elizabeth N. Cleek","Matt Wofsy","Brian Mundy"
Published on 2013-06-03 by Guilford Press

Helping beginning and experienced therapists cope with the myriad challenges of working in agencies, clinics, hospitals, and private practice, this book distills the leading theories and best practices in the field. The authors provide a clear approach to engaging diverse clients and building rapport; interweaving evidence-based techniques to meet therapeutic goals; and intervening effectively with individuals, families, groups, and larger systems. Practitioners will find tools for addressing the needs of their clients while caring for themselves and avoiding burnout; students will find a clear-headed framework for making use of the variety of approaches available in mental health practice.

This Book was ranked 26 by Google Books for keyword Cleek's Government Cases.

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A World on Fire

A World on Fire
By:"Amanda Foreman"
Published on 2011-06-02 by Penguin UK

'No two nations have ever existed on the face of the earth which could do each other so much good or so much harm' President Buchanan, State of the Nation Address, 1859 A World on Fire tells, with extraordinary sweep, one of the least known great stories of British and American history. As America descended into Civil War, British loyalties were torn between support for the North, which was against slavery, and defending the South, which portrayed itself as bravely fighting for its independence. Rallying to their respective causes, thousands of Britons went to America as soldiers - fighting for both Union and Confederacy - racing ships through the Northern blockades, and as observers, nurses, adventurers, guerillas and spies. At the heart of this international conflict lay a complicated and at times tortuous relationship between four individuals: Lord Lyons, the painfully shy British Ambassador in Washington; William Seward, the blustering US Secretary of State; Charles Francis Adams, the dry but fiercely patriotic U.S. ambassador in London; and the restless and abrasive Foreign Secretary Lord John Russell. Despite their efforts, and sometimes as a result of them, America and Britain came within a whisker of declaring war on each other twice in four years. The diplomatic story is only one element in this gloriously multifaceted book. Using a wealth of previously unpublished letters and journals, Amanda Foreman gives fresh accounts of Civil War battles by seeing them through the eyes of British journalists and myriad soldiers on both sides, from flamboyant cavalry commanders to forcibly conscripted private soldiers. She also shows how the War took place in England, from the Confederacy's secret ship-building programme in Liverpool to the desperate efforts of its propagandists and emissaries - male and female - to influence British public opinion. She even shows how one of the most famous set-piece naval encounters of the War was fought, remarkably, in the English Channel. Foreman tells this epic yet intimate story of enormous personalities, tense diplomacy and torn loyalties as history in the round, captivating her readers with the experience of total immersion in this titanic conflict.

This Book was ranked 33 by Google Books for keyword Cleek's Government Cases.

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