Professor Sluzalec is a well-known and respected authority in the field of Computational Mechanics, and his personal experience forms the basis of the book. Introduction to Nonlinear Thermomechanics provides both an elementary and advanced exposition of nonlinear thermomechanics. The scope includes theoretical aspects and their rational application in thermal problems, thermo-elastoplasticity, finite strain thermoplasticity and coupled thermoplasticity. The use of numerical techniques for the solution of problems and implementation of basic theory is included. Engineers, technicians, researchers, and advanced students will find the book an extremely useful compendium of solutions to problems. The scope is such that it would also be an effective teaching aid.

B. Coleman, M.E. Gurtin: Thermodynamics and wave propagation in Elastic and Viscoelastic media.- L. De Vito: Sui fondamenti della meccanica di sistemi continui (II).- G. Fichera: Problemi elastostatici con ambigue condizioni al contorno.- G. Grioli: Sistemi a trasformazioni reversibili.- W. Noll: the foundations of mechanics.- R.A. Toupin: Elasticity and electromagnetic.- C.C. Wang: Subfluids.

This volume contains the proceedings of the Seventh International Conference on Phonon Scattering in Condensed Matter held August 3-7, 1992, at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY, USA. The preceding conferences were held at: St. Maxime and Paris (France) 1972, Nottingham (UK) 1975, Providence (USA) 1979, Stuttgart (Germany) 1983, Urbana (USA) 1986, and Heidelberg (Germany) 1989. The Heidelberg conference was held jointly with the Third International Con ference on Phonon Physics. The next conference, to be held in August, 1995, in Sapporo, Japan, and hosted by Professor T. Nakayama and his colleagues, will also be such a joint conference. This conference was attended by 227 scientists from 27 countries, and covered all aspects of phonon scattering in condensed matter, ranging from the more traditional topics of thermal conductivity, Kapitza resistance, and ballistic phonon propagation to the recently added topics, such as electron-phonon interaction in high-T c superconductors, the use of phonons in particle detection, and phonons in confined geometries. The 207 papers arranged in 11 chapters in this volume are a cross section of the present activities in the quite obviously vibrant field of phonons and their interactions."

J.-P. CALISTE, A. TRUYOL AND J. WESTBROOK The Series, "Data and Knowledge in a Changing World", exemplifies CODATA's primary purpose of collecting, from widely different fields, a wealth of information on efficient exploitation of data for progress in science and technology and making that information available to scientists and engineers. A separate and complementary CODATA Reference Series will present Directories of compiled and evaluated data and Glossaries of data-related terms. The present book "Thermodynamic Modeling and Materials Data Engineering" discusses thermodynamic, structural, systemic and heuristic approaches to the modeling of complex materials behavior in condensed phases, both fluids and solids, in order to evaluate their potential applications. Itwas inspired by the Symposium on "Materials and Structural Properties" held during the 14th International CODATA Conference in Chambery, France. The quality of the contributions to this Symposium motivated us to present" a coherent book of interest to the field. Updated contributions inspired by Symposium discussions and selections from other CODATA workshops concerning material properties data and Computer Aided Design combine to highlight the complexity of material data issues on experimental, theoretical and simulation levels Articles were selected for their pertinence in three areas. Complex data leading to interesting developments and tools such as: * new developments in state equations and their applications, * prediction and validation of physical and energy data by group correlations for pure compounds, * modeling and prediction of mixture properties.

The aim of this book is to give a unified and critical account of the fundamental aspects of liquid crystals. Preference is given to discussing the assumptions made in developing theories and analyzing experimental data rather than to attempting to compile all the latest results. The book has four parts. Part I is quite descriptive in character and gives a general overview of the various liquid crystalline phases. Part II deals with the macroscopic continuum theory of liquid crystals and gives a systematic development of the theory from a tensorial point of view thus emphasizing the relevant symmetries. Part III concentrates on experiments that provide microscopic information on the orientational behaviour of the molecules. Finally Part IV discusses the theory of the various phases and their attendant phase transitions from both a Landau and a molecular-statistical point of view. Simplifying the various models as far as possible, it critically examines the merits of a molecular-statistical approach.

Macroscopic physics provides us with a great variety of pattern-forming systems displaying propagation phenomena, from reactive fronts in combustion, to wavy structures in convection and to shear flow instabilities in hydrodynamics. These proceedings record progress in this rapidly expanding field. The contributions have the following major themes: - The problems of velocity selection and front morphology of propagating interfaces in multiphase media, with emphasis on recent theoretical and experimental results on dendritic crystal growth, Saffman-Taylor fingering, directional solidification and chemical waves. - The "unfolding" of large-scale, low-frequency behavior in weakly confined homogeneous systems driven far from equilibrium, and more specifically, the envelope approach to the mathematical description of textures in different cases: steady cells, propagating waves, structural defects, and phase instabilities. - The implications of the presence of global downstream transport in open flows for the nature, convective or absolute, of shear flow instabilities, with applications to real boundary layer flows or shear layers, as reported in contributions covering experimental situations of fundamental and/or engineering interest.

The renormalization-group approach is largely responsible for the considerable success which has been achieved in the last ten years in developing a complete quantitative theory of phase transitions. Before, there was a useful physical picture of phase transitions, but a general method for making accurate quantitative predictions was lacking. Existent theories, such as the mean-field theory of Landau, sometimes reproduce phase diagrams reliably but were known to fail qualitatively near critical points, where the critical behavior is particularly interesting be cause of its universal character. In the mid 1960's Widom found that the singularities in thermodynamic quanti ties were well described by homogeneous functions. Kadanoff extended the homogeneity hypothesis to correlation functions and linked it to the idea of scale invariance. In the early 1970's Wilson showed how Kadanoff's rescaling could be explicitly carried out near the fixed point of a flow in Hamiltonian space. He made the first practical renormalization-group calculation of the flow induced by the elimination of short-wave-length Fourier components of the order-parameter field. The univer sality of the critical behavior emerges in a natural way in this approach, with a different fixed point for each universality class. The discovery by Wilson and Fisher of a systematic expansion procedure in E for a system in d = 4 - E dimen sions was followed by a cascade of calculations of critical quantities as a function of d and of the order-parameter dimensionality n."

ill the past three decades there has been enonnous progress in identifying the es sential role that "nonlinearity" plays in physical systems. Classical nonlinear wave equations can support localized, stable "soliton" solutions, and nonlinearities in quantum systems can lead to self-trapped excitations, such as polarons. Since these nonlinear excitations often dominate the transport and response properties of the systems in which they exist, accurate modeling of their effects is essential to interpreting a wide range of physical phenomena. Further, the dramatic de velopments in "deterministic chaos", including the recognition that even simple nonlinear dynamical systems can produce seemingly random temporal evolution, have similarly demonstrated that an understanding of chaotic dynamics is vital to an accurate interpretation of the behavior of many physical systems. As a conse quence of these two developments, the study of nonlinear phenomena has emerged as a subject in its own right. During these same three decades, similar progress has occurred in understand ing the effects of "disorder". Stimulated by Anderson's pioneering work on "dis ordered" quantum solid state materials, this effort has also grown into a field that now includes a variety of classical and quantum systems and treats "disorder" arising from many sources, including impurities, random spatial structures, and stochastic applied fields. Significantly, these two developments have occurred rather independently, with relatively little overlapping research.

This book is based on research carried out by the author in close collabora- tion with a number of colleagues. In particular, I wish to thank Per Bak, A. John Berlinsky, Hans C. Fogedby, Barry Frank, S. 1. Knak Jensen, David Mukamel, David Pink, and Martin Zuckermann for fruitful and extremely stimulating cooperation. It is a pleasure for me to note that active interaction with most of these colleagues is still continuing. The work has been performed at several different institutions, notably the Department of Chemistry, Aarhus University, Denmark, and the Depart- ment of Physics, University of British Columb~a, Canada. I wish to thank the Department of Chemistry at Aarhus University for providing me with splen- did research facilities over the years. From May 1980 to August 1981, I visited the Department of Physics at the University of British Columbia and I would like to express my sincere gratitude to members ofthe department for provi- ding me with excellent working conditions. My special thanks are due to Professor Myer Bloom who introduced me to the field of phase transitions in biological membranes and in whose biomembrane group I found an extre- mely stimulating scientific atmosphere happily married with a most agreeable social climate. During the last two years when a major part ofthis work was carried out, I was supported by AlS De Danske Spritfabrikker through their Jubilreumsle- gat of 1981. Their support is gratefully acknowledged.

Enrico Fermi s scientific work, noted for its originality and breadth, has had lasting consequences throughout modern science. Written by close colleagues as well as scientists whose fields were profoundly influenced by Fermi, the papers collected here constitute a tribute to him and his scientific legacy. They were commissioned on the occasion of his 100th birthday by the Italian Physical Society and confirm that Fermi was a rare combination of theorist, experimentalist, teacher, and inspiring colleague. The book is organized into three parts: three biographical overviews by close colleagues, replete with personal insights; fourteen analyses of Fermi's impact by specialists in their fields, spanning physics, chemistry, mathematics, and engineering; and a year-by-year chronology of Fermi s scientific endeavors. Written for a general scientific audience, Enrico Fermi: His Work and Legacy offers a highly readable source on the life of one of the 20th century's most distinguished scientists and a must for everybody interested in the history of modern science."

As a basis for printed property charts and tables, empirical multiparameter equa tions of state have been the most important source of accurate thermodynamic property data for more than 30 years now. However, due to increasing demands on the accuracy of thermodynamic property data in computerised calculations as well as the availability of appropriate software tools, and the ever increasing computer power, such formulations are nowadays becoming a valuable tool for everyday work. This development has substantially increased the number of scientists, engi neers, and students who are working with empirical multiparameter equations of state, and it continues to do so. Nevertheless, common knowledge on this kind of thermodynamic property models and on the ongoing progress in this scientific discipline is still very limited. Multiparameter equations of state do not belong to the topics which are taught intensively in thermodynamic courses in engineering and natural sciences and the books and articles where they are published mainly deal with the thermodynamic properties of certain substances rather than with the theoretical background of the used equations of state. In contrast to this, my concern mainly was to give a survey of the theoretical background of multiparameter equations of state both with regard to their application and their development."

This booklet is designed to bridge the gap between handbooks and technical literature and aims at graduate students or experienced readers. Commercial flow sheeting simulation software is increasingly available and is used in the early steps of process design in industry. As to this, more sophisticated and precise models based on activities instead of concentrations should be used. After an introductory chapter there is in Chapter 2 an intensive discussion of reactive phase equilibria of ionic and non-ionic solutes based on chemical potentials. Chapter 3 introduces to multicomponent diffusion and mass transfer. However, the main focus is on the reactive mass transfer on rigid and mobile surfaces where the interfacial reaction, molecular diffusion and adsorption layers are decisive. The respective extraction of zinc with a cation exchanger and of acetic acid with an anion exchanger is discussed as case studies. Since adsorption layers and surfactants have a major impact on liquid-liquid extraction efficiency, the final chapter reviews several tech niques which make use of polymeric species in an extractive process. A short review is also given on extraction apparatus and the hydrodynamics (hydraulic design, droplet populance balances) of columns. Much of the booklet is based on the PhD works of C. Czapla (2000), G. Modes (2000), H. Klocker (1996), T. Kronberger (1995), M. Marters (2000), M. Roos (2000), M. Traving (2000) and B. Wachter (1996) who I wish to thank for their fruitful contributions."

Properties of systems with long range interactions are still poorly understood despite being of importance in most areas of physics. The present volume introduces and reviews the effort of constructing a coherent thermodynamic treatment of such systems by combining tools from statistical mechanics with concepts and methods from dynamical systems. Analogies and differences between various systems are examined by considering a large range of applications, with emphasis on Bose--Einstein condensates. Written as a set of tutorial reviews, the book will be useful for both the experienced researcher as well as the nonexpert scientist or postgraduate student.

The focus is on the main physical ideas and mathematical methods of the microscopic theory of fluids, starting with the basic principles of statistical mechanics. The detailed derivation of results is accompanied by explanation of their physical meaning. The same approach refers to several specialized topics of the liquid state, most of which are recent developments, such as: a perturbation approach to the surface tension, an algebraic perturbation theory of polar nonpolarizable fluids and ferrocolloids, a semi-phenomenological theory of the Tolman length and some others.

Providing the first comprehensive treatment, this book covers all aspects of the laser Doppler and phase Doppler measurement techniques, including light scattering from small particles, fundamental optics, system design, signal and data processing, tracer particle generation, and applications in single and two-phase flows. The book is intended as both a reference book for more experienced users as well as an instructional book for students. It provides ample material as a basis for a lecture course on the subject and represents one of the most comprehensive treatments of the phase Doppler technique to date. The book will serve as a valuable reference book in any fluid mechanics laboratory where the laser Doppler or phase Doppler techniques are used. This work reflects the authors' long practical experience in the development of the techniques and equipment, as the many examples confirm.

The present volume offers a state-of-the-art report on the various recent sci entific developments in the Theory of Porous Media (TPM) comprehending the basic theoretical concepts in continuum mechanics on porous and mul tiphasic materials as well as the wide range of experimental and numerical applications. Following this, the volume does not only address the sophisti cated reader but also the interested beginner in the area of Porous Media by presenting a collection of articles. These articles written by experts in the field concern the fundamental approaches to multiphasic and porous materials as well as various applications to engineering problems. In many branches of engineering just as in applied natural sciences like bio- and chemomechanics, one often has to deal with continuum mechanical problems which cannot be uniquely classified within the well-known disci plines of either "solid mechanics" or "fluid mechanics." These problems, characterized by the fact that they require a unified treatment of volumetri cally coupled solid-fluid aggregates; basically fall into the categories of either mixtures or porous media. Following this, there is a broad variety of problems ranging in this category as for example the investigation of reacting fluid mix tures or solid-fluid suspensions as well as the investigation of the coupled solid deformation and pore-fluid flow behaviour of liquid- and gas-saturated porous solid skeleton materials like geomaterials (soil, rock, concrete, etc. ), polymeric and metallic foams or biomaterials (hard and soft tissues, etc)."

This book does not give a prediction of what the efficiency will be of the energy use of industrial processes in the future. However, it does give an exploration of limits to the efficiency of current processes and an indication of what might be achieved if new technologies can be developed. At the Department of Science, Technology and Society of Utrecht University research had been done to the opportunities for improvement of the energy efficiency in the short term since the 1980's. This had resulted in a comprehensive database on energy efficient measures. This database and a possible application are described in Chapter 3 of this book. The use of the database induced new research themes around efficiency improvement, e.g. concerning barriers for implementation of measures. It was around 1993 that I did a preliminary study to the potential for efficiency improvement in the long term. Historical analysis had shown us that the short term potential stayed constant over the years. It seemed to be replenished by the introduction of new technologies. This lead to the question whether there are limits to the efficiency, taking into account both thermodynamic considerations and ideas on the development and dissemination of new technologies.

This book involves application of the Calphad method for derivation of a self consistent thermodynamic database for the geologically important system Mg0- Fe0-Fe203-Alz03-Si02 at pressures and temperatures of Earth's upper mantle and the transition zone of that mantle for Earth. The created thermodynamic database reproduces phase relations at 1 bar and at pressures up to 30 GPa. The minerals are modelled by compound energy formalism, which gives realistic descriptions of their Gibbs energy and takes into account crystal structure data. It incorporates a detailed review of diverse types of experimental data which are used to derive the thermodynamic database: phase equilibria, calorimetric stud ies, and thermoelastic property measurements. The book also contains tables of thermodynamic properties at 1 bar (enthalpy and Gibbs energy of formation from the elements, entropy, and heat capacity, and equation of state data at pressures from 1 bar to 30 GPa. Mixing parameters of solid solutions are also provided by the book. Table of Contents Introduction to the Series . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . V Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . VII Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . IX Table of Contents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XI Co-Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XIII Vitae of Co-Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XV CODATA Task Group on Geothermodynamic Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . XXIII Chapter 1. Thermodynamics and Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1. 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1. 2 Thermodynamic Modeling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 1. 3 Experimental Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 1. 4 Programs and Assessment. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 System and Phases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 1. 5 Chapter 2. Experimental Phase Equilibrium Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 The Si02 System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 2. 1 2. 2 The Fe-0 System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 2. 3 The Fe-Si-0 System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 2. 4 The Mg0-Si0 System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

In Statistical Physics one of the ambitious goals is to derive rigorously, from statistical mechanics, the thermodynamic properties of models with realistic forces. Elliott Lieb is a mathematical physicist who meets the challenge of statistical mechanics head on, taking nothing for granted and not being content until the purported consequences have been shown, by rigorous analysis, to follow from the premises. The present volume contains a selection of his contributions to the field, in particular papers dealing with general properties of Coulomb systems, phase transitions in systems with a continuous symmetry, lattice crystals, and entropy inequalities. It also includes work on classical thermodynamics, a discipline that, despite many claims to the contrary, is logically independent of statistical mechanics and deserves a rigorous and unambiguous foundation of its own. The articles in this volume have been carefully annotated by the editors.

This textbook covers the basic principles of statistical physics and thermodynamics. The text is pitched at the level equivalent to first-year graduate studies or advanced undergraduate studies. It presents the subject in a straightforward and lively manner. After reviewing the basic probability theory of classical thermodynamics, the author addresses the standard topics of statistical physics. The text demonstrates their relevance in other scientific fields using clear and explicit examples. Later chapters introduce phase transitions, critical phenomena and non-equilibrium phenomena.

The theory of thermoelasticity studies the interaction between thermal and mechan ical fields in elastic bodies. This theory is of interest both for the mathematical and technical point of view. Intense interest has been shown recently in this field owing to the great practical importance of dynamical effects in aeronautics, nu clear reactors, and its potential importance in cryogenic applications. This work is concerned mainly with basic problems of the theory of thermoelasticity. Ther moelasticity of polar materials and the theories of thermoelasticity with finite wave speeds are not considered here. The reader interested in these subjects will find a full account in the works of Nowacki [280], Chandrasekharaiah [60] and Ignaczak [195]. Our purpose in this work is to present a systematic treatment of some results established in the theory of thermoelasticity. On the whole, the subject matter is directed towards recent developments. Chapter 1 is concerned mainly with the development of the fundamental equa tions of the theory of thermoelasticity. The kinematics and primitive concepts associated with the basic principles are developed and emphasized only to the ex tent that they are needed in our treatment of the subject. Chapter 2 is devoted to a study of linear thermoelastic deformations for prestressed bodies. We have at tempted to isolate those conceptual and mathematical difficulties which arise over and above those inherent in the problems concerned with unstressed bodies.

Crystal growth, casting, soldering, welding, high-energy surface treatment, nuclear safety systems and geophysical flows are just a few examples where solidification and convection occur together. These processes are interactive on micro- and macroscales: flow affects the distribution of heat and species and hence the freezing process, while solidification evolves flow boundaries, as in crusting, for example, and hence can radically alter the convection. Mathematical modellers, experimentalists and applied scientists were invited to this colloquium with the aim of consolidating our understanding of such interactions, of identifying key outstanding issues, and of developing new approaches in this important area of fundamental research. Both invited and contributed papers focus on both fundamental and technologically relevant problems.

The simulation of technological and environmental flows is very important for many industrial developments. A major challenge related to their modeling is to involve the characteristic turbulence that appears in most of these flows. The traditional way to tackle this question is to use deterministic equations where the effects of turbulence are directly parametrized, i. e. , assumed as functions of the variables considered. However, this approach often becomes problematic, in particular if reacting flows have to be simulated. In many cases, it turns out that appropriate approximations for the closure of deterministic equations are simply unavailable. The alternative to the traditional way of modeling turbulence is to construct stochastic models which explain the random nature of turbulence. The application of such models is very attractive: one can overcome the closure problems that are inherent to deterministic methods on the basis of relatively simple and physically consistent models. Thus, from a general point of view, the use of stochastic methods for turbulence simulations seems to be the optimal way to solve most of the problems related to industrial flow simulations. However, it turns out that this is not as simple as it looks at first glance. The first question concerns the numerical solution of stochastic equations for flows of environmental and technological interest. To calculate industrial flows, 3 one often has to consider a number of grid cells that is of the order of 100 .

obtained are still severely limited to low Reynolds numbers (about only one decade better than direct numerical simulations), and the interpretation of such calculations for complex, curved geometries is still unclear. It is evident that a lot of work (and a very significant increase in available computing power) is required before such methods can be adopted in daily's engineering practice. I hope to l"Cport on all these topics in a near future. The book is divided into six chapters, each. chapter in subchapters, sections and subsections. The first part is introduced by Chapter 1 which summarizes the equations of fluid mechanies, it is developed in C apters 2 to 4 devoted to the construction of turbulence models. What has been called "engineering methods" is considered in Chapter 2 where the Reynolds averaged equations al"C established and the closure problem studied ( 1-3). A first detailed study of homogeneous turbulent flows follows ( 4). It includes a review of available experimental data and their modeling. The eddy viscosity concept is analyzed in 5 with the l"Csulting alar-transport equation models such as the famous K-e model. Reynolds stl"Css models (Chapter 4) require a preliminary consideration of two-point turbulence concepts which are developed in Chapter 3 devoted to homogeneous turbulence. We review the two-point moments of velocity fields and their spectral transforms ( 1), their general dynamics ( 2) with the particular case of homogeneous, isotropie turbulence ( 3) whel"C the so-called Kolmogorov's assumptions are discussed at length."

Carl Friedrich von Weizsacker s "Aufbau der Physik," first published in 1985, was intended as an overview of his lifelong concern: an understanding of the unity of physics. That is, the idea of a quantum theory of binary alternatives (the so-called ur-theory), a unified quantum theoretical framework in which spinorial symmetry groups are considered to give rise to the structure of space and time.

The book saw numerous reprints, but it was published in German only.

The present edition, in English, provides a newly arranged and revised version, in which some original chapters and sections have been deleted, and a new chapter about further insights and results of ur-theoretic research of the late 1980 s and 1990 s, mainly by the work of Thomas Gornitz, has been included, as well as a general introduction to Weizsacker s Philosophy of Physics.

Carl Friedrich von Weizsacker also enjoys high esteem by a much broader audience for his socio-cultural, political and religious thoughts and writings. In him the intercultural and interdisciplinary dialogue has found one of its most important proponents: a great thinker who combines the perspectives of science, philosophy, religion and politics with a view towards the challenges as well as the responsibilities of our time."