The Kaleidoscope of Physics

"Physics manifests itself in our lives, like the metamorphoses of a kaleidoscope. The book of famous physicists — Attilio Rigamonti, Andrey Varlamov and Jacques Villain — carries us away from the very first chapter. The curious reader will find out why the sky and the sea are blue (but not only), why the rivers are meandering, how natural waveguides work, why the climate changes, with what forces tides associated ...

Furthermore, the path of knowledge leads from the beauties and uncovered mysteries of nature to the physics of everyday life — from the train in the gallery to the secrets of a glass harmonica and a good violin. Over the aperitif, the authors ask questions about the secrets of bubbles of champagne and wine tears on the walls of the glass, knowing the answers to which will help you to be known as an experienced sommelier. Then you enter the kitchen: the physical phenomena around ovens and stoves are endless, from microwaves to cooking, with corresponding phase transformations. Making pizza requires deep thought, not to mention pasta, where Italian and German philosophies collide. The physics behind making good (or bad) coffee is very interesting, and you can't go wrong.

After an excursion to the kitchen, the authors invite us to a strange quantum world. The quality of the text and the splendour of the illustrations convey the aesthetics of the physics of the atomic and subatomic world. The chapter entitled Physics, Geometry and Beauty deals with fullerenes, Leonardo, Piero della Francesca and Luca Pacioli. Even though our senses are already heightened by wine, cooking and good coffee, perhaps it is in the field of quantum physics that two cultures, once united, and then separated by Aristotelian constructions, again merge into world harmony."

"This book talks about physics and its role in the world around us. It was written by professional scientists who have devoted their entire lives to finding answers to the riddles posed by Nature. Riddles that authors find in a seemingly mundane world, and riddles of the quantum world, which they manage to penetrate, continuing the path of many generations of scientists.

The book has an unusual history. It originated back in the 1980s on the pages of the 'Kvant' magazine of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR for schoolchildren, widely known in those years.

Then, together with its first author, the famous theoretical physicist and popularizer of science Andrey Varlamov, the book moved to Italy where it was gradually enriched with its culinary part and other chapters. This happened thanks to his many years of collaboration with another author of the book — the remarkable experimental physicist Attilio Rigamonti.

Scientific meetings and joint work of the authors at the Lombard Academy of Literature and Science in Milan with its foreign member, the French theoretical physicist Jacques Villain, ended with the enrichment of the Italian 'Il Magico Caleidoscopio della Fisica' with new chapters and ideas and, most importantly, an appeal to a much wider audience. In 2014, it was published as Le Kaleidoscope de la Physique by the publishing house Belin. The following year it received the Roberval prize, an international award for the best popular science book of the year in French. Its Russian language version, published in 2020 was recognised among the best scientific popular books in the same year and awarded the Diploma of Russian Academy of Sciences. Today, thanks to the efforts of the World Scientific Publishing Company, the book, having been considerably expanded, becomes available to the English-speaking reader."

"I wish to tell you how much I had appreciated Le Kaléidoscope de la Physique which I discovered when I was a member of the jury of the Prix Roberval (sponsored by the Académie des Sciences). This yearly prize is awarded to books in French devoted to technology and science, and one of them is addressed to a wide audience. The large variety of subjects of your book, which stimulate the curiosity of the readers, the spirit in which they are presented, and the pleasure that anyone can take in discovering each topic, the nice illustrations, had led the jury, a few years ago, to rapidly focus on your book in the discussions and to readily select it. This is remarkable as I was the only physicist in the jury, which contained scientists and engineers from all specialities and from all French-speaking countries."

Attilio Rigamonti (born 1937) is experimental physicist, professor, member of the Lombard Institute Academy of Science and Letters (Italy), of the G Cardano Institute, and of the Mediterranean Institute of Fundamental Physics.

Presently he is Emeritus Professor for the discipline Structure of Matter. Since 1976 held the chair "Structure of Matter" at the Department of Physics "A Volta" of the University of Pavia, teaching as well at various universities in Europe and the USA. Director (2007–2012) of the Doctorate School of Science and Technology at Pavia University. Author of more than 250 scientific articles dealing with various aspects of Solid-State Physics (nuclear magnetic and quadrupolar resonances, liquids, polymers, phase transitions, incommensurate magnetic systems, superconductivity). He is also co-author of institutional books (one in collaboration with the Nobel Laureate K A Muller) and of popular science books.

Andrey Varlamov (born in 1954) is theoretical physicist, professor, member of the Lombard Institute Academy of Science and Letters (Italy), of the Mediterranean Institute of Fundamental Physics, popularizer of science. After graduating with honors from Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics (1977), he worked as a researcher, then as a professor at the Department of Theoretical Physics of the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys (1980–1999), in the theoretical group of condensed matter physics of the Argonne National Laboratory, USA (1993). Since 1999 he is Leading Researcher at the Institute of Superconductivity, New Materials and Devices (SPIN-CNR, Italy). His research focuses on the theory of superconductivity and condensed matter physics. Author of more than 170 scientific articles, co-author of the monograph Theory of Fluctuations in Superconductors, the book The Wonders of Physics, and other scientific publications.

Jacques Villain (born in 1934) is theoretical physicist, professor, member of the Academy of Sciences of France, foreign member of the Lombard Institute Academy of Science and Letters (Italy), popularizer of science. He worked as a researcher at the Nuclear Research Centers of Saclay and Grenoble (1961–2010), was engaged in research work at the European Synchrotron Radiation Research Center (Grenoble) and at the Institute of Solid-State Physics in Jülich (Germany). His research focuses mainly on condensed matter physics (magnetism, surfaces, crystal growth) and statistical physics. Author of 170 scientific articles, he is also co-author of two monographs Physics of Crystal Growth and Molecular Nanomagnets.

Sample Chapter(s)
Introduction
Chapter 1: Rivers, Meanders and Lakes