Background
Henry Margenau was born on April 30, 1901, in Bielefeld, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.
(Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating bac...)
Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1444627473/?tag=2022091-20
1956
(Today the fruits of science are evident everywhere, but t...)
Today the fruits of science are evident everywhere, but the man responsible for them has remained, in large part, an enigma. Both by tradition and by preference, the scientist tends to be self-effacing. Yet never in history has there been a more urgent need to understand who he is and how he works. This book scrutinizes the scientist as a human being and as a modern legend, as a thinker and a doer, and as a powerful new force in 20th century life.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0006BLRGO/?tag=2022091-20
1964
(This book is intended for people interested in physics an...)
This book is intended for people interested in physics and its philosophy. for those who regard physics as an essential component of modern culture rather than merely a tool for industry or war. Indeed this volume is addressed to those students, teachers and research workers who enjoy learning, teaching or doing physics, and are in the habit of pausing once in a while to ponder over key physical concepts and hypotheses and to wonder whether received theories are as perfect as textbooks would have us believe and, if not, how they might be improved. Henry Margenau, recently retired from Yale University as Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics and Philosophy, is the most important philosopher of physics of his generation, and indeed one of the most eminent philosophers of science of our century. He introduced and elucidated the notion of the correspondence rule. He claimed and showed, in the heyday of positivism, that physics has metaphysical presuppositions. He was the first to realize that quantum mechanics can do without von Neumann's projection postulat- and that was as far back as 1936. He clarified the physics and the philosophy of Pauli's exclusion principle at a time when it seemed mysterious. He was the first physicist to publish a philosophical paper in a physics journal, which he did as early as 1941. He was also one of the rare scientists who proclaimed the need for a scientific approach to value theory and ethics.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/9027709017/?tag=2022091-20
1978
("The year's most intriguing book about God was produced n...)
"The year's most intriguing book about God was produced not by theologians but by 60 world-class scientists, 24 Nobel Prize-winners among them. Cosmos, Bios, Theos gives their thoughts on the Deity and the origin of the universe and of life on Earth. For instance, the co-editor, Yale physicist Henry Margenau, concludes that there is 'only one convincing answer' for the intricate laws that exist in nature: creation by an omnipotent, omniscient God." —Time "A most important body of informed opinion that will enlighten, inspire, and strengthen those who, in their quest for answers to questions of ultimate origins, or religious or metaphysical explanations, may look to scientists for inspiration in their personal lives as well as for answers to scientific questions." —The Science Teacher
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0812691865/?tag=2022091-20
1991
educator philosopher physicist scientist author
Henry Margenau was born on April 30, 1901, in Bielefeld, Nordrhein-Westfalen, Germany.
First, Margenau attended Midland Lutheran College, where he received his bachelor's degree. He proceeded to graduate in one year by virtue of a special examination in Latin; he had taught himself Latin and had read nearly all the early Roman historians. Then he graduated from the University of Nebraska with a master's degree in 1926.
He earned his doctorate from Yale University in 1929.
Margenau worked extensively with microwave theory, which contributed to the study of radar during World War II. He also worked as an educator, teaching physics and natural philosophy. He served on the faculty of Yale University for more than forty years. He earned the title of Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics and Natural Philosophy while at Yale. He also was a visiting professor at the University of Pennsylvania, University of Heidelberg, and Carleton College, among others. He also served as the Center for Integrative Education’s executive director beginning in 1969, and was an editor with the Foundation of Physics.
Margenau also was a consultant to organizations such as the Social Science Research Council, General Electric Company, and Lockheed Corporation. He wrote some ten books, including Einstein’s Space and Van Gogh's Sky, The Miracle of Existence, Ethics and Science, The Nature of Physical Reality, and Integrated Principles of Modem Thought.
He was also the editor of several professional journals and a consulting editor for the Time-Life science books.
("The year's most intriguing book about God was produced n...)
1991(Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating bac...)
1956(Today the fruits of science are evident everywhere, but t...)
1964(This book is intended for people interested in physics an...)
1978Margenau had broad interests not only in Christianity, but also in Eastern religions and his fascination with finding connections among different religious and philosophical traditions.
Quotations:
"The scientist had 'become increasingly humble with respect to absolute truth and religion as well seems to be emerging from a dogmatism that 'takes basic truths to be established once and for all.''
"Our thesis is that quantum mechanics leaves our body, our brain, at any moment in a state with numerous (because of its complexity we might say innumerable) possible futures, each with a predetermined probability. Freedom involves two components: chance (existence of a genuine set of alternatives) and choice. Quantum mechanics provides the chance, and we shall argue that only the mind can make the choice by selecting (not energetically enforcing) among the possible future courses."
Margenau is survived by his wife, Liesel Noe, two sons, Rolf C. and Henry M., a daughter, Annemarie Lindskog, nine grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.