Rudolf Steiner and the Atom

Keith Francis was a teacher at the Rudolf Steiner School in New York City for over thirty years, teaching physics, chemistry, mathematics and music. He divides his time between New York and the Berkshires of Massachusetts.

• Author's NoteIntroductionI. The Atom - A Historical Background(i) Prelude in Greece(ii) Elements and Principles(iii) The Way of Truth(iv) Atoms(v) Roadblock(vi) Atoms back in Vogue(vii) Making Waves(viii) Rudolf Steiner meets the Atom(ix) Rejection(x) The Age of Electricity(xi) The Electrical Atom and Human ThoughtII. A Background for Quanta (i) Origins(ii) Thermal Radiation(iii) Enter Max PlanckIII. Steiner in the Quantum Age(i) Physical Science and Spiritual Science(ii) The Goethean Alternative(iii) The Primal PhenomenonIV. Bohr's Atom -- Antecedents(i) Periodic Tables(ii) From Siberia with Love(iii) Predictions and Confusions(iv) The Hydrogen Spectrum(v) Cathode Rays(vi) The Unstable AtomV. The Rutherford-Bohr Atom(i) Bohr Gets Involved(ii) The Hydrogen Atom(iii) Beyond HydrogenVI. Late Words from Rudolf Steiner(i) A Science of Dead Matter(ii) The Demonic Atom(iii) Don't be an Ostrich(iv) The Struggle for Human Consciousness(v) So what about the Electron?VII. The Atom After Steiner(i) Waves and Particles(ii) Knabenphysik(iii) "Thou Shalt Make No Mental Image." (iv) Discontinuities and Probabilities (v) HBJ or the Three-Man-Paper (vi) Schrodinger's Wave Mechanics (vii) Indeterminacy(viii) Quantum Physics and the Periodic Table (ix) More about Probability(x) Niels Bohr -- A Goethean Physicist?(xi) Are Particles Real?VIII. EpilogueAppendixEndnotesBibliographyAbout the Author