Binding Energy: Books by Chicago Physics Faculty, a student-curated virtual exhibit at the University of Chicago Library, puts more than 1,000 faculty-authored physics books into dialogue with personal and departmental archives to bring scientific progress to life. “Physics is an activity that lives in its practice,” write the curators, “in conversation, written correspondence, lectures and talks; in the thinking, doing, sharing, and making of things.”

In comments edited and condensed below, the curators reflect on some of these books.

The Early Universe

Westview Press, 1990

By Edward W. Kolb, Arthur Holly Compton Distinguished Service Professor in Astronomy and Astrophysics, and Michael S. Turner, Bruce V. and Diana M. Rauner Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in Astronomy and Astrophysics and Physics

“The Early Universe foreshadows the profound realization that most of the universe is invisible and composed of dark matter formed in those seconds following the big bang. Before this book I hadn’t considered how the early universe could dictate stellar evolution, and I found this connection really exciting. ”—Estelle Snider, Class of 2027

Soft Matter: Concepts, Phenomena, and Applications

Princeton University Press, 2024

By Vincenzo Vitelli, professor of physics; Wim van Saarloos; and Zorana Zeravcic

“This book stood out for its breadth and for its attempt to give an overture to contemporary soft-matter research. It was great seeing topics we read from the textbook, while working on the exhibit over the summer, again in a course I took with Professor Vitelli last winter.”—Filippos Tsoukis, Class of 2028

A Passion for Discovery

World Scientific, 2007

By Peter Freund, professor emeritus of physics (1936–2018)

“A Passion for Discovery offers a treasure trove of anecdotes—many of them unbelievably funny—that showcase Chicago physics at its finest and most unexpected.”—Tyler Lutz, AB’14, PhD student in the Division of the Arts & Humanities

The Uranium People

Crane, Russak, 1979

By Leona Marshall Libby, SB’38, PhD’43 (1919–86)

“Libby, at 23, became the youngest (and only) woman on the Pile-1 team. She brushed off warnings she’d ‘starve to death’ as a woman in science, earned her PhD, and joined [Enrico] Fermi’s group, while splitting her time between ‘atoms and potatoes’ to help on her family’s farm. Libby’s story makes Chicago physics feel lived-in and human, particularly when it comes to women’s often-overlooked work and grit in a male-dominated field.”—Eva Spin, AM’25

Truth and Beauty: Aesthetics and Motivations in Science

University of Chicago Press, 1987

By Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, Morton D. Hull Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus of Theoretical Astrophysics (1910–95)

“This book forced me to completely rethink what I thought I understood about the relationship between science and aesthetic experience.”—Tyler Lutz

Testing the Big Bang: Light Elements, Neutrinos, Dark Matter, and Large-Scale Structure

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, 1991

By David N. Schramm, Louis Block Distinguished Service Professor in the Physical Sciences (1945–97)

“I took David Schramm’s From Quarks to the Cosmos course my first year. I was struck that someone so influential in cosmology was teaching undergraduates, and then intrigued when I learned he had competed in the Olympic trials in Greco-Roman wrestling. This taught young me that you can follow your interests and deep dive across different fields.”—Patti Gibbons, AB’94, Head of Collection Management and Exhibitions in the Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center

See the virtual exhibit at mag.uchicago.edu/bindingenergy.