Is science beautiful? Yes, argues acclaimed philosopher andhistorian of science Robert P. Crease in this engaging explorationof history’s most beautiful experiments. The result is anengrossing journey through nearly 2,500 years of scientificinnovation. Along the way, we encounter glimpses into thepersonalities and creative thinking of some of the field’s mostinteresting figures. We see the first measurement of the earth’s circumference,accomplished in the third century B.C. by Eratosthenes usingsticks, shadows, and simple geometry. We visit Foucault’smesmerizing pendulum, a cannonball suspended from the dome of thePanthéon in Paris that allows us to see the rotation of the earthon its axis. We meet Galileo—the only scientist with twoexperiments in the top ten—brilliantly drawing on his musicaltraining to measure the speed of falling bodies. And we travel tothe quantum world, in the most beautiful experiment of all. We also learn why these ten experiments exert such a powerful holdon our imagin
Bestselling nature writer David Quammen introduces CharlesDarwin's incredible tale of excursion that led to his revolutionarytheory of evolution--Voyage of the Beagle.
In 1831, Charles Darwin embarked on an expedition that, in hisown words, determined my whole career. The Voyage of theBeagle chronicles his five-year journey around the world andespecially the coastal waters of South America as a naturalist onthe H.M.S. Beagle. While traveling through these unexploredcountries collecting specimens, Darwin began to formulate thetheories of evolution and natural selection realized in his masterwork, The Origin of Species. Travel memoir and scientific primeralike, The Voyage of the Beagle is a lively and accessibleintroduction to the mind of one of history's most influentialthinkers.
"The edge of the sea is a strange and beautiful place." A bookto be read for pleasure as well as a practical identificationguide, The Edge of the Sea introduces a world of teeming life wherethe sea meets the land. A new generation of readers is discoveringwhy Rachel Carson's books have become cornerstones of theenvironmental and conservation movements. New introduction by SueHubbell. (A Mariner Reissue)
We may know that Einstein was the epitome of genius, but howmany of us know what his theory really means, and what itsrealistic implications are? Einstein and Relativity presents adistillation of Einstein's life and work within their historicaland scientific contexts; and offers a truly accessible explanationof the concept that shaped the twentieth century. Just a few of thebig ideas covered here are Einstein's discovery that light is botha particle and a wave; how Einstein proved the existence ofmolecules; why there is no such thing as real time; and howEinstein's brilliance led to his worst nightmare - the atombomb.
Starred Review。 What Aczel did for mathematician Fermat(Fermat’s Last Theorem)he now does for Descartes in this splendidstudy about the French philosopher and mathematician (1596–1650)most famous for his paradigm-smashing declaration, “I think;therefore, I am。” Part historical sketch, part biography and partdetective story, Aczel’s chronicle of Descartes’s hidden workhinges on his lost secret notebook。 Of 16 pages of codedmanu*, one and a half were copied in 1676 by fellowphilosopher and mathematician Leibniz。 For him, Descartes’sin*ion of the cryptic letters“GFRC” immediately revealed hisassociation with the occult fraternity of the Rosicrucians—Leibnizwas also a member。 The notebook also revealed to Leibniz adiscovery made by Descartes that would have transformedmathematics。 As Aczel so deftly demonstrates, Descartes'smathematical theories were paths to an understanding the order andmystery of the cosmos, and he kept the notebook hidden because itcont