Basic Theoretical Physics: A Concise Overview P21. This concise treatment embraces, in four parts, all the main aspects of theoretical physics (I . Mechanics and Basic Relativity, II. Electrodynamics and Aspects of Optics, III. Non-relativistic Quantum Mechanics, IV. Thermodynamics and Statistical Physics). It summarizes the material that every graduate student, physicist working in industry, or physics teacher should master during his or her degree course. It thus serves both as an excellent revision and preparation tool, and as a convenient reference source, covering the whole of theoretical physics. It may also be successfully employed to deepen its readers’ insight and. | Holography 201 It is clear that not all possibilities offered by holography have been exploited systematically as yet see for example the short article in German in the Physik Journal p. 42 2005 issue 1 already mentioned in 17 certainly in other journals similar articles in a different language exist . Some of the present-day and future applications of holography without claiming completeness are color holography volume holograms distributed information filtering holographic data-storage and holographic pattern recognition. These new methods may be summarized as potential applications of analogue optical quantum computing23. 23 In quantum computation see Part III one exploits the coherent superposition of Schrodinger s matter waves where to date mainly quantum-mechanical two-level systems are being considered. In the field of optics in principle one is further ahead with the invention of coherent light sources the laser and with the methods of holography. 22 Conclusion to Part II In this part of the book we have outlined the foundations of theoretical electrodynamics and some related aspects of optics where optics has been essentially viewed as a branch of applied electrodynamics . If in Maxwell s lifetime Nobel prizes had existed he would certainly have been awarded one. His theory after all was really revolutionary and will endure for centuries to come. Only the quantum mechanical aspects . light quanta due to the likes of Einstein and Planck etc. Part III are missing. It was not coincidental that Einstein s views on relativity turned out to be in accord with Maxwell s theory of electrodynamics from which he was essentially inspired . In fact without realizing it Maxwell had overturned the Newtonian view on space and time in favor of Einstein s theory. Actually as mentioned in the Introduction much of our present culture or perhaps lack of it is based on the electrodynamics of a Hertzian dipole Part III Quantum .
