In their textbook „Monte Carlo simulations in statistical physics“ (5th edition 2010), physicists K. Binder and D. W. Heermann claim that computer simulation has emerged as a third branch of physics. This is supposed to question the established dichotomy between experimental and theoretical physics. The aim of this talk to discuss this popular view and to better understand the impact that the...
Today, atomic clocks are among the most emblematic instruments for precision measurement. In the pursuit of the next decimal after the comma, all kinds of cutting edge quantum techniques are mobilized, such as entanglement, atom trapping or laser cooling. Only 70 years ago, improvement of time measurement was predominantly thought of in terms of new astronomical instruments, the perfection of...
A la fin du 18e siècle, le physicien et astronome genevois Marc-Auguste Pictet (1752-1825), ancien assistant et élève du fameux naturaliste Horace-Bénédict de Saussure (1740-1799), débute à Genève des cours de physique expérimentale qui rencontrent très vite un grand succès. Destinés à un large public (aisé) aussi bien féminin que masculin, ces cours, divisés en une trentaine de séances...
The greek astronomer Hipparchos of Nikaia (194-120) BC is said to have compiled a catalogue with some hundreds of stars, although this catalogue has not survived history. Nevertheless this caused the European Space Agency ESA to call a catalogue of 120 000 stars High Precision Parallax Collecting Satellite, i.e. Hipparcos, measured by satellites in the 1990s with an accuracy of...
Taking opportunity of this year’s celebration of the 250th anniversary of Joseph Fourier, I analyse his approach to the study of heat exposed in his celebrated treatise Théorie analytique de la chaleur (1822). In a way of counterpoint, I take as comparison the renowned memoire of Sadi Carnot, Réflexions sur la puissance motrice du feu published almost simultaneously in 1824. Both...
