Photo: Euphonics.org
In its early years, the CPS pioneered scientific publication in Cambridge, and also provided the first public forum for research results to be presented and discussed. In the age of the internet there are new possibilities for doing those things, which the conventional publishing world has not entirely caught up with. By hosting this e-book, the CPS is providing it with a long-term home — otherwise, online resources like this are vulnerable to vanishing without trace if there were to be any hitch with the private hosting subscription.
Euphonics.org is a website written by former CPS President Jim Woodhouse, emeritus professor in the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge. It presents a wide range of material on the science behind musical instruments, and is organised in such a way that a general reader can follow an “outreach-style” account, while the more technically-minded reader can dig deeper through many side links which provide detailed material, mathematical and otherwise, at a level aimed at scientists (of any age: sixth-formers, undergraduates or professional scientists). Euphonics.org has received many glowing endorsements:
Jim Woodhouse has combined the best elements of a book and a website to create Euphonics, a dazzling resource for researchers, instrument makers, players, technicians, and music lovers. While the main text is accessible to those with no mathematical background, the work as a whole speaks to scientists at any level seeking an introduction to musical acoustics. I am a violinmaker and researcher and have benefitted enormously from Woodhouse’s deep understanding of violin acoustics, his sparkling prose, and his clear visualizations. Euphonics is a generous and timeless contribution to the field.
Joseph CurtinViolin maker, and 2005 MacArthur Fellow.
Woodhouse does an outstanding job addressing both the basics and many really interesting details. The presentation makes it easy for readers with minimal technical background to get the gist, while there is sufficient detail to be useful to researchers in the field of acoustics of musical instruments. In my undergraduate course on what science has to say about music, I recommend euphonics.org to students as a resource for how instruments work.
David PolitzerRichard Chase Tolman Professor of Theoretical Physics, Caltech; Nobel prize for physics, 2004; and banjo nut.
Euphonics.org is a great open resource to understand the physics and acoustics of musical instruments. I recommend it to everyone who wants an introduction to musical acoustics. Professor Woodhouse has a gift for explaining complex subjects in an easy to understand yet scientifically rigorous manner. The e-book format allows it to be read by readers with very different backgrounds. The main sections explain the basic concepts with a minimum of math while those who wish to explore the mathematical physics and equations in depth can do so. Highly recommended!
Fan TaoDirector of R&D, D’Addario & Company; co-director, VSA-Oberlin Acoustics Workshop; and violinist.
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Volcanoes are hazardous and beautiful manifestations of the dynamic processes that have shaped our planet. Volcanoes impact our environment in numerous ways. Over geological time volcanic activity has resurfaced the Earth and provided life with a terrestrial substrate upon which to proliferate. Volcanic degassing has shaped our secondary atmosphere and as part of the process of plate tectonics, maintained just the right amount of water and carbon dioxide at the surface to produce a stable and equitable climate. Magma in the subsurface in volcanic environments today gives Society geothermal energy. The fluids degassed from magmas in the plumbing systems of volcanoes give rise to hydrothermal ore deposits, the source of much of our copper and other metals, critical to the energy transition. In this lecture I will describe the nature and importance of magma degassing for our atmosphere and oceans, as a source of both pollutants and nutrients, and in the formation of mineral deposits. I will describe my own research in carrying out measurements of volcanic gases (using a range of spectroscopic methods, from the ground and using drones), and analysis of erupted lavas, to understand the chemistry and physics of volcanic outgassing and its role in sustaining our planetary environment.
One of the many outstanding achievements of G I Taylor was the discovery of relatively simple statistical laws that apply to highly complex turbulent flows. The emergence of simple laws from complexity is well known in other branches of physics, for example the emergence of the laws of heat conduction from molecular dynamics. Complexity can also arise at large scales, and the structural vibration of an aircraft or a car can be a surprisingly difficult phenomenon to analyse, partly because millions of degrees of freedom may be involved, and partly because the vibration can be extremely sensitive to small changes or imperfections in the system. In this talk it is shown that the prediction of vibration levels can be much simplified by the derivation and exploitation of emergent laws, analogous to some extent to the heat conduction equations, but with an added statistical aspect, as in turbulent flow. The emergent laws are discussed and their application to the design of aerospace, marine, and automotive structures is described. As an aside it will be shown that the same emergent theory can be applied to a range of problems involving electromagnetic fields.
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