Opis: Eurekas - Walter Gratzer

The march of science has never proceeded smoothly. It has been marked through the years by episodes of drama and comedy, of failure as well as triumph, by outrageous strokes of luck, deserved and undeserved, and sometimes by human tragedy. It has seen deep intellectual friendships, as well as ferocious animosities, and once in a while acts of theft and malice, deceit, and even a hoax or two. Scientists come in all shapes: the obsessive and the dilettantish, the genial, the envious, the preternaturally brilliant and the slow-witted who sometimes see further in the end, the open-minded and the intolerant, recluses and arrivistes. From the death of Archimedes at the hands of an irritated Roman soldier to the concoction of a superconducting witches' brew at the very close of the twentieth century, the stories in Eurekas and Euphorias pour out, told with wit and relish by Walter Gratzer. Open this book at random and you may chance on the clumsy chemist who breaks a thermometer in a reaction vat and finds mercury to be the catalyst that starts the modern dyestuff industry; or a famous physicist dissolving his gold Nobel Prize medal in acid to prevent it from falling into the hands of the Nazis, recovering it when the war ends; mathematicians and physicists diverting themselves in prison cells, and even in a madhouse, by creating startling advances in their subject. We witness the careers, sometimes tragic, sometimes carefree, of the great women mathematicians, from Hypatia of Alexandria to Sophie Germain in France and Sonia Kovalevskaya in Russia and Sweden, and then Marie Curie's relentless battle with the French Academy. Here, then, a glorious parade unfolds to delight the reader, with stories to astonish, to instruct, and most especially, to entertain. Walter Gratzer's tales are delightful... New Scientist Review from previous edition open the book at any point and be educated, thrilled, sobered or surprised, for there is astonishment and delight on every page ... a banquet of epiphanies, a reference book which is also a work of art. Oliver Sacks, in Nature hilarious, baffling, surreal, dry, shocking, and almost always enthralling. You'll want this book just for the delight of reading it. Focus This romp through the best stories from the history of science-from the death of Archimedes to the explanation of superconductivity-will delight even those with just a passing interest in the subject. Good Book Guide [Gratzer] is the perfect author and editor for this hilarious compilation of scientific history, gossip and eccentricity. Sunday Times Perfect bathroom reading for anyone who wants to get under the skin of science. Fortean Times wonderfully entertaining Sunday TelegraphA SELECTION OF ANECDOTES... ; Cats and dogmas ; A mathematical death ; The Bucklands deflate a miracle ; Farmyard thermodynamics ; Chemistry in the kitchen: the discovery of nitrocellulose ; Fortune favours the ham fist ; Rutherford finds a solution ; The unbreakable cypher ; Mathematical peril ; The Pauli principle ; The first Eureka ; Baccy and quanta ; Hewn in marble ; Koch on cooking ; Ben Franklin stills the waves ; Loving an enzyme ; The poltergeist next door ; Tug-of-war on the thread of life ; The living fossil ; Smoking for the Fuhrer ; AND MANY MORE (SOME 200 ENTRIES)

Szczegóły: Eurekas - Walter Gratzer

Tytuł: Eurekas
Autor: Walter Gratzer
Producent: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 9780198609407
Rok produkcji: 2004
Ilość stron: 368
Oprawa: Miękka
Waga: 0.25 kg

Recenzje: Eurekas - Walter Gratzer