196
force: the electroweak force. In particular, the electromagnetic force is mediated by
massless particles (photons) while the weak force by the W and Z bosons, which
have a very small mass. Moreover, it was shown in the 1970s by Sheldon Glashow
and Howard Georgi (b. 1947) that the electroweak force is unified with the strong
nuclear force at energies higher than 10
14
GeV. This has opened the door to “Grand
Unification” theories which, however, are as yet unproven. A fortiori, no convincing
theory which includes the fourth (gravitational) force has been proposed so far.
This is, more or less, the current situation. But what was the situation in
Secchi’s time?
During his time, essentially no effort was really dedicated to such a topic because
knowledge of physical forces and their intrinsic differences was poor. Back then,
only gravitational and electromagnetic forces were considered as fundamental
forces; of course, nothing was known about nuclear forces. Moreover, thermodynamics was developing as a kinetic theory, and this was leading to some misconceptions related to the nature of heat and heat transfer, as if it were another
fundamental force.
In this context, mainly motivated by the goal of providing a synthetic view in
which the concept of kinetics was the unifying thread joining different aspects of
the physical world, Secchi wrote his book L’Unità delle forze fisiche: Saggio di
filosofia naturale. He published it in Rome in 1864. The book met with great interest
and success in Italy and in Europe. Two other editions were printed in Italy in 1874
and 1885, while two editions were published in France (Paris, 1869 and 1874), three
in Germany (Leipzig, 1876, 1884/1885; Braunschweig, 1891), and three in Russia
(St. Petersburg, 1872 and 1880; Vyatka, 1873) (Fig. 11.1).
11.2 Controversies (Old and New)
The book was divided into four chapters:
Capo I – Del Calorico (About Heat)
Capo II – Della Luce (About Light)
Capo III – Della Elettricità (About CAPITAL= Electricity)
Capo IV – Costituzione della Materia (Structure of Matter)
Secchi himself declared in the preface that, in writing that book, he had “not the
ambition to provide a new Philosophia Naturalis, but just to present a synthesis of
what nowadays is known about the study of physical phenomena...”. In the same
preface, he continues, “I have always had a particular predilection for such a synthesis and, already in 1858 at a meeting of the Academia Tiberina, I presented and later
published in a short note my ideas on this topic” (Giornale Arcadico, vol. IX, new
series, “Sulla correlazione delle forze fisiche ec.”).
His book was published in Rome by Tipografia Forense in 1864; it is a 510-page
volume, written in Italian, which does not contain any mathematical formula! In this
regard, he writes in the preface (translation by the author of this note):
R. Capuzzo-Dolcetta
force: the electroweak force. In particular, the electromagnetic force is mediated by
massless particles (photons) while the weak force by the W and Z bosons, which
have a very small mass. Moreover, it was shown in the 1970s by Sheldon Glashow
and Howard Georgi (b. 1947) that the electroweak force is unified with the strong
nuclear force at energies higher than 10
14
GeV. This has opened the door to “Grand
Unification” theories which, however, are as yet unproven. A fortiori, no convincing
theory which includes the fourth (gravitational) force has been proposed so far.
This is, more or less, the current situation. But what was the situation in
Secchi’s time?
During his time, essentially no effort was really dedicated to such a topic because
knowledge of physical forces and their intrinsic differences was poor. Back then,
only gravitational and electromagnetic forces were considered as fundamental
forces; of course, nothing was known about nuclear forces. Moreover, thermodynamics was developing as a kinetic theory, and this was leading to some misconceptions related to the nature of heat and heat transfer, as if it were another
fundamental force.
In this context, mainly motivated by the goal of providing a synthetic view in
which the concept of kinetics was the unifying thread joining different aspects of
the physical world, Secchi wrote his book L’Unità delle forze fisiche: Saggio di
filosofia naturale. He published it in Rome in 1864. The book met with great interest
and success in Italy and in Europe. Two other editions were printed in Italy in 1874
and 1885, while two editions were published in France (Paris, 1869 and 1874), three
in Germany (Leipzig, 1876, 1884/1885; Braunschweig, 1891), and three in Russia
(St. Petersburg, 1872 and 1880; Vyatka, 1873) (Fig. 11.1).
11.2 Controversies (Old and New)
The book was divided into four chapters:
Capo I – Del Calorico (About Heat)
Capo II – Della Luce (About Light)
Capo III – Della Elettricità (About CAPITAL= Electricity)
Capo IV – Costituzione della Materia (Structure of Matter)
Secchi himself declared in the preface that, in writing that book, he had “not the
ambition to provide a new Philosophia Naturalis, but just to present a synthesis of
what nowadays is known about the study of physical phenomena...”. In the same
preface, he continues, “I have always had a particular predilection for such a synthesis and, already in 1858 at a meeting of the Academia Tiberina, I presented and later
published in a short note my ideas on this topic” (Giornale Arcadico, vol. IX, new
series, “Sulla correlazione delle forze fisiche ec.”).
His book was published in Rome by Tipografia Forense in 1864; it is a 510-page
volume, written in Italian, which does not contain any mathematical formula! In this
regard, he writes in the preface (translation by the author of this note):
R. Capuzzo-Dolcetta