Adventure Diffusion

Gero Vogl graduated as Dr. phil. (Physik) at Universität Wien, Austria in 1965. He afterwards joined the Physikdepartment of Technische Universität München, Germany where he was habilitated in 1974 (Dr.rer.nat.habil.). In 1977 he became professor of experimental physics at Freie Universität Berlin, Germany and in 1985 full professor of physics at Universität Wien, Austria. From 1999 till 2001 he served as chairman of the Department of Structural Research at the Hahn-Meitner-Institut Berlin (Germany) before returning to Universität Wien from where he retired in 2009. For 40 years Gero Vogl’s scientific interests were centered on the dynamics of solid matter, i.e. lattice vibrations and in particular diffusion. He introduced several new methods, all based on the application of nuclear physics to the solid state (Nuclear Solid State Physics). To this aim he made use of research centers round the world using the most powerful neutron and x-ray sources spending altogether several years in France, USA, Japan and India. After 2005 Gero Vogl devoted much of his capacity to interdisciplinary research in the field of spread and diffusion together with experts from various other disciplines, publishing two booklets aiming at promoting the ideas. The present book lies exactly on this line. Presently he attempts to make use of models from physics to understand what drives language change, a phenomenon which threats to extinguish a good part of today’s languages. Corresponding member of Saxonian Academy of Sciences.

• Laws of diffusion and how they were found by unconventionally  acting and thinking scientists (Brownian motion, Fourier’s theory of heat, Fick’s laws, Einstein-Smoluchowski’s random walk, Perrin’s experiments).- Invasion of exotic plants (chestnut leaf miner moth, ragweed).- Wave of advance (Fisher, Luther).- Neolithic migration (Eurasia, Americas).- Spread of languages (Indo-European in the past, endangered languages of today).- Spread of diseases.- Spread of innovations.

“The writing is clear, jargon-free, and concise; the text is peppered generously with anecdotes that make the people, circumstances, and phenomena memorable. Most of the drawings and figures effectively support the material presented in the text, … Adventure Diffusion will help readers see patterns in the chaos of the commonplace. Summing Up: Recommended. All academic levels.” (R. M. Denome, Choice, July, 2019)