The solid state at the click of a mouse
S. Crampin · Physics World · 1998
“How would you like to learn solid-state physics with a working model to play with?” So begins the preface to the guidebook that accompanies this collection of software. The result of a three-year experiment into the use of computer simulations in solid-state physics at Cornell University, Simulations for Solid State Physics aims to provide just such a model. It comes in the form of a collection of computer programs covering much of what is found in a typical undergraduate course in the subject. In a nice touch, each of the fourteen programs is named after of a famous scientist linked with the topic. So we Find, among others, Bravais, Debye, Fermi, Drude, Ziman and Néel.