Physics in the making

This book was compiled in honour of the 80th birthday of H.B.G. Casimir by his friends and admirers and concentrates mainly on Casimir's achievements in the field of physics, though without ignoring the peripheral areas of the history and philosophy of physics in which he was greatly interested. The book is divided into four parts. Part 1 describes Casimir's teachers, Ehrenfest, Bohr and Pauli, and the key role which these physicists played in modern developments. Part 2 consists of essays on recent developments in various areas in which Casimir has taken an active interest. The subjects covered in part 3 have been selected because of Casimir's efforts in the industrial research area of physics. Part 4 contains an essay discussing a philosophy of physics which states that phenomenological laws prevail over fundamental ones for the purpose of experimental and technical physics. Part 2 contains two articles being in INIS scope, entitled respectively: Dynamic symmetries and supersymmetries in nuclear and particle physics; The Casimir effect. (author). refs.; figs.; tabs