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Harmony And Unity The Life Of Niels Bohr
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Book Synopsis Harmony and Unity: The Life of Niels Bohr by : Niels Blaedel
Download or read book Harmony and Unity: The Life of Niels Bohr written by Niels Blaedel and published by Plunkett Lake Press. This book was released on 2019-08-09 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “Blaedel has addressed himself to the task of writing a full-length biography that covers all facets of his subject and that emphasizes that they form part of one harmonious unity. I think that on the whole he has succeeded remarkably well. He gives an accurate picture of the man theorists of my generation both admired and loved. And not only of the physicist: Bohr’s relations with his family and in particular with his wife, an admirable woman, are drawn with sympathy and understanding. Blaedel’s sketch of the atmosphere at Bohr’s institute in Copenhagen... is true to life; it will raise nostalgic memories among those who, like myself, experienced it... [Blaedel] has produced a fitting tribute to a great scientist and a noble man.” — H.B.G. Casimir, Nature “The book is intended primarily for nonphysicists; nevertheless it offers extensive (albeit nontechnical) accounts of all aspects of Bohr’s scientific work. The consistent emphasis, however, is on Bohr as a person—his character, interests andWeltanschauung. Niels Blaedel was able to draw on matchless resources, both human and material: Bohr’s family (especially his widow, Margrethe Bohr, who shared both her memories and her correspondence), Bohr’s former friends and colleagues, and a rich supply of documentary and photographic material from Danish collections, as well as from the AIP Niels Bohr Library in New York. The result is a lavishly illustrated and affectionate account of Bohr from his earliest years until his death... as a general picture of Bohr and his work this book can be warmly recommended.” — Anthony P. French, Physics Today “Niels Bohr is generally regarded as a giant of twentieth-century physics... Bohr was securely entrenched in a Danish culture that is difficult for many historians to penetrate. It is important, then, that at last a biography has been written by a Dane with wide knowledge of the society in which Bohr lived and moved... The author had unprecedented access to Bohr’s family correspondence, primarily with his wife Margrethe, who, before she died at ninety-four in 1984, read Blaedel many letters from her husband... Blaedel’s book, written on commission for the Bohr centennial and published in Danish in 1985, contains valuable insights on Bohr, particularly as they relate to his previously unavailable family correspondence and his place in Danish culture.” — Finn Aaserud, Isis: A Journal of the History of Science “Though Niels Bohr is best known as a distinguished citizen of the international community of science, he was also a leading citizen of Denmark. This is the first biography of Bohr to deal with both of these dimensions to his life, without which it is hard to fully understand either the man or his work.” — Robert March, University of Wisconsin-Madison, author of Physics for Poets “... the book can be read without any background knowledge in physics. But its overwhelming number of photographs and rich use of letters and recollections make Niels Blaedel’s book closely resemble the great standard biography — a literary monument to Niels Bohr.” — Flemming Christian Nielsen, Jyllands-Posten “Niels Blaedel has solved an almost insoluble problem... thereby clarifying the life of Niels Bohr... a well-constructed piece of documentation and a coherent piece of scientific history.” — Jens Kistrup, Berlingske Tidende
Download or read book Harmony and Unity written by Niels Blædel and published by Springer. This book was released on 1988-01-01 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Niels Bohr, the founder of quantum mechanics, is generally considered to be one of the greatest scientists of the 20th century. His work revolutionized natural science, and his name is inscribed in history side by side with the names of Galileo, Newton, and Einstein. He won the Nobel Prize in physics for his model of the atom, which is still taught today in science classes everywhere. But the image of Bohr is complete only when the physicist is joined with the person Niels Bohr. This book, skillfully interweaving Bohr's scientific and personal life, is the first biography to be based on the extensive archives of the Bohr Institute of Physics in Copenhagen, and on excerpts from many of Bohr's letters to his family, his friends, and his colleagues. In addition, the book includes more than 150 photographs, as well as extracts from Bohr's personal correspondence to his wife, Margrethe, dating from the time of their engagement to just before his death 50 years later. This work of scientific biography is accessible to both the scientist and the general reader. Skillfully translated from the original Danish by Geoffrey French, the book has been carefully edited for an English-speaking readership.
Download or read book Harmony and Unity written by Niels Blædel and published by John Koning. This book was released on 1988-01-01 with total page 323 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Biografie van de Deense fysicus Niels Hendrik David Bohr (1885-1962).
Book Synopsis The Upright Thinkers by : Leonard Mlodinow
Download or read book The Upright Thinkers written by Leonard Mlodinow and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2016-04-19 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: How did a near-extinct species, eking out a meager existence with stone axes, become the dominant power on earth, able to harness a knowledge of nature ranging from tiny atoms to the vast structures of the universe? Leonard Mlodinow takes us on an enthralling tour of the history of human progress, from our time on the African savannah through the invention of written language, all the way to modern quantum physics. Along the way, he explores the colorful personalities of the great philosophers, scientists, and thinkers, and traces the cultural conditions—and the elements of chance—that influenced scientific discovery. Deeply informed, accessible, and infused with the author’s trademark humor and insight, The Upright Thinkers is a stunning tribute to humanity’s intellectual curiosity and an important book for any reader with an interest in the scientific issues of our day.
Book Synopsis Driven to Innovate by : Ioan Mackenzie James
Download or read book Driven to Innovate written by Ioan Mackenzie James and published by Peter Lang. This book was released on 2009 with total page 328 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ioan James celebrates the extraordinary contribution made by Jewish people in mathematics and physics, from the mathematician Norbert Wiener, the founder of cybernetics, to distinguished nuclear physicist and Nobel Prize-winner Niels Bohr. He tells the life-stories of thirty-five men and women, born in the nineteenth century, who were at the forefront of research in the closely related fields of mathematics and physics, often in the face of various kinds of anti-Semitism. Some were caught up in the trauma of the Nazi accession to power in Germany and the Second World War. Wolfgang Pauli, described as 'greater than Einstein' by his contemporary Max Born, became a German national following the Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938 but was able to escape to the United States for the duration of the war. Already hampered by anti-Semitism in his native Poland, logician and mathematician Alfred Tarski found himself stranded in the USA at the outbreak of war and did not see his wife and sons until the war's end. The Italian mathematician Vito Volterra publicly opposed Mussolini's Fascist regime at considerable personal risk. Others such as George Pólya and Emmy Noether found that their left-wing political beliefs hindered their careers.
Book Synopsis The Hunting of the Quark: A True Story of Modern Physics by : Michael Riordan
Download or read book The Hunting of the Quark: A True Story of Modern Physics written by Michael Riordan and published by Plunkett Lake Press. This book was released on 2019-07-31 with total page 312 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is the absorbing account of one of the twentieth century’s most revolutionary discoveries — our first encounter with an essential mystery of the universe. Told by an active participant in this discovery, it is the saga of the search for quarks, the elementary particles lurking within the protons and neutrons of atomic nuclei, which constitute the fundamental basis of matter. Michael Riordan, physicist and author, was present at the key moments in this story. He brings to life the personalities, triumphs and failures of this true-life scientific detective story, vividly portraying the soaring ambitions and clashing egos of modern physicists at work, vying for the coveted Nobel Prize. The Hunting of the Quark gives readers an insider’s perspective on how frontier science actually occurs — the great leaps of imagination, the blind alleys followed, and the final resolution of the mysteries that had to be overcome on the road to unity. Like James Watson’s famous accountThe Double Helix, it has the immediacy and excitement of being on the trail of a monumental discovery — leading to a striking new scientific paradigm, the Standard Model of particle physics. “Many books on the 20th-century revolution in particle physics focus on the startling new notions introduced. Not as much attention is paid to those who dirtied their hands, nursing crotchety accelerator instruments, in order to prove the conjectures. Mr. Riordan, a physicist affiliated with the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center, presents an authoritative account of this less-told tale. A veteran quark-stalker himself, he deftly combines his technical expertise with a journalistic flair, personally acquainting us with many of the men and women who joined in the hunt... Mr. Riordan enables us to behold exactly how physicists work and the tortuous paths that experimentalists must travel to gain just a scrap of insight into the puzzling laws of nature.” — Marcia Bartusiak, The New York Times “A great book that I couldn’t put down even though I knew the plot.” — Sheldon Glashow, Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics, Emeritus, Harvard University, Nobel prize in physics (1979) “Machines two miles long, pieces of matter elusive as lost souls, the likes of Richard Feynman ‘snooping around,’ reputations made and lost on the contumacious front lines of science — what a wonderful mix for a book. Particle physics has seemed arcane, the quark business most of all. Michael Riordan, who lives the story he tells, makes it lively, literate and accessible.” — Richard Rhodes, author of The Making of the Atomic Bomb “Mr. Riordan... understands the physics, but he also has an eye for the human comedy associated with the work. The result is a fine book on elementary particle physics.” — Jeremy Bernstein, The New Yorker “Riordan was an active participant in the search for the enigmatic quark, and his story reflects the excitement, passion and revelation of peeking into nature’s most elusive realm.” — Rudy Rucker, San Francisco Chronicle “An enjoyable book with enough good explanations and clear discussions to make it well worth reading both for the expert in modern high-energy physics and for the general reader.” — Alexander Firestone, Physics Today “A physicist with first-hand experience chasing quarks at the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center (SLAC) relates the high points of the search for those elusive subatomic particles... Riordan builds a suspenseful tale around the neck-and-neck race between MIT/Brookhaven (Sam Ting) and Stanford (Burton Richter) in discovering the J/psi particle... Riordan’s epilogue is eloquent... Readers will... turn to Riordan for a close-in view and astute commentary on a pivotal period in 20th-century physics.” —Kirkus
Book Synopsis Theology and Modern Physics by : Peter E. Hodgson
Download or read book Theology and Modern Physics written by Peter E. Hodgson and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2017-09-08 with total page 297 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The new discoveries in physics during the twentieth century have stimulated intense debate about their relevance to age-old theological questions. Views range from those holding that modern physics provides a surer road to God than traditional religions, to those who say that physics and theology are incommensurable and so do not relate. At the very least, physics has stimulated renewed theological discussions. In this critical introduction to the science-theology debate, Peter E. Hodgson draws on his experience as a physicist to present the results of modern physics and the theological implications. Written for those with little or no scientific background, Hodgson describes connections between physics, philosophy and theology and then explains Newtonian physics and Victorian physics, the theories of relativity, astronomy and quantum mechanics, and distinguishes the actual results of modern physics from speculations. The connections with theology are explored throughout. The concluding section draws discussions together and makes an important new contribution to the debate.
Book Synopsis Alvarez: Adventures of a Physicist by : Luis W. Alvarez
Download or read book Alvarez: Adventures of a Physicist written by Luis W. Alvarez and published by Plunkett Lake Press. This book was released on 2019-08-08 with total page 225 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During World War II, Luis W. Alvarez participated in the Allies’ development of radar at the MIT Radiation Laboratory, and of the atomic bomb at Los Alamos. He then worked as an experimental physicist on cyclotrons, particle accelerators and bubble chambers at UC-Berkeley with Ernest Lawrence. Later in life, he used cosmic rays to “X ray” an Egyptian pyramid, developed a new theory about the extinction of the dinosaurs, and won the 1968 Nobel prize in physics for his work on elementary particles. In this autobiography, Alvarez shares insights on the process of scientific discovery, risk-taking in science and how theoretical and experimental physics interact. “[A] delightful autobiography... [A] fascinating book... It should be read by everyone who is interested in science and adventure, or who just wants to meet one of our most fascinating contemporaries.” — James Trefil, New York Times Book Review “Beyond its self-portrait, Alvarez provides an exceptionally clear view of the world of science.” — Alan Lightman, Washington Post Book World “This is a richly absorbing autobiography... Personally as well as scientifically forthright and plainspoken, [Alvarez] holds the reader with the story of his life as a scientist, much of the time at Berkeley, Calif., working with such men as Robert Oppenheimer, Ernest Lawrence and Enrico Fermi.” — Publishers Weekly “A gripping book. It succeeds well in making the scientific experience and the excitement of discovery accessible to the general reader.” — Richard L. Garwin,Physics Today “A fascinating life.” — Elena Brunet, Los Angeles Times “One of the best popular books on science to emerge from the laboratory in years.” — Henry Kisor, Chicago Sun-Times “Luis W. Alvarez has an unsurpassed reputation among scientists for a lifelong record of crucial participation in important discoveries in pure and applied science. In this book he performs an additional service by revealing his thought processes.” — Philip Abelson, Science Advisor, American Association for the Advancement of Science
Book Synopsis The Intelligibility of Nature by : Peter Dear
Download or read book The Intelligibility of Nature written by Peter Dear and published by University of Chicago Press. This book was released on 2008-09-15 with total page 255 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Throughout the history of the Western world, science has possessed an extraordinary amount of authority and prestige. And while its pedestal has been jostled by numerous evolutions and revolutions, science has always managed to maintain its stronghold as the knowing enterprise that explains how the natural world works: we treat such legendary scientists as Galileo, Newton, Darwin, and Einstein with admiration and reverence because they offer profound and sustaining insight into the meaning of the universe. In The Intelligibility of Nature, Peter Dear considers how science as such has evolved and how it has marshaled itself to make sense of the world. His intellectual journey begins with a crucial observation: that the enterprise of science is, and has been, directed toward two distinct but frequently conflated ends—doing and knowing. The ancient Greeks developed this distinction of value between craft on the one hand and understanding on the other, and according to Dear, that distinction has survived to shape attitudes toward science ever since. Teasing out this tension between doing and knowing during key episodes in the history of science—mechanical philosophy and Newtonian gravitation, elective affinities and the chemical revolution, enlightened natural history and taxonomy, evolutionary biology, the dynamical theory of electromagnetism, and quantum theory—Dear reveals how the two principles became formalized into a single enterprise, science, that would be carried out by a new kind of person, the scientist. Finely nuanced and elegantly conceived, The Intelligibility of Nature will be essential reading for aficionados and historians of science alike.
Book Synopsis John von Neumann: The Scientific Genius Who Pioneered the Modern Computer, Game Theory, Nuclear Deterrence, and Much More by : Norman Macrae
Download or read book John von Neumann: The Scientific Genius Who Pioneered the Modern Computer, Game Theory, Nuclear Deterrence, and Much More written by Norman Macrae and published by Plunkett Lake Press. This book was released on 2019-07-31 with total page 253 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: John von Neumann was a Jewish refugee from Hungary — considered a “genius” like fellow Hungarians Leo Szilard, Eugene Wigner and Edward Teller — who played key roles developing the A-bomb at Los Alamos during World War II. As a mathematician at Princeton’s Institute for Advanced Study (where Einstein was also a professor), von Neumann was a leader in the development of early computers. Later, he developed the new field of game theory in economics and became a top nuclear arms policy adviser to the Truman and Eisenhower administrations. “I always thought [von Neumann’s] brain indicated that he belonged to a new species, an evolution beyond man. Macrae shows us in a lively way how this brain was nurtured and then left its great imprint on the world.” — Hans A. Bethe, Cornell University “The book makes for utterly captivating reading. Von Neumann was, of course, one of this century’s geniuses, and it is surprising that we have had to wait so long... for a fully fleshed and sympathetic biography of the man. But now, happily, we have one. Macrae nicely delineates the cultural, familial, and educational environment from which von Neumann sprang and sketches the mathematical and scientific environment in which he flourished. It’s no small task to render a genius like von Neumann in ordinary language, yet Macrae manages the trick, providing more than a glimpse of what von Neumann accomplished intellectually without expecting the reader to have a Ph.D. in mathematics. Beyond that, he captures von Neumann’s qualities of temperament, mind, and personality, including his effortless wit and humor. And [Macrae] frames and accounts for von Neumann’s politics in ways that even critics of them, among whom I include myself, will find provocative and illuminating.” — Daniel J. Kevles, California Institute of Technology “A lively portrait of the hugely consequential nonmathematician-physicist-et al., whose genius has left an enduring impress on our thought, technology, society, and culture. A double salute to Steve White, who started this grand book designed for us avid, nonmathematical readers, and to Norman Macrae, who brought it to a triumphant conclusion.” — Robert K. Merton, Columbia University “The first full-scale biography of this polymath, who was born Jewish in Hungary in 1903 and died Roman Catholic in the United States at the age of 53. And Mr. Macrae has some great stories to tell... Mr. Macrae’s biography has rescued a lot of good science gossip from probable extinction, and has introduced many of us to the life story of a man we ought to know better.” — Ed Regis, The New York Times “A nice and fascinating picture of a genius who was active in so many domains.” —Zentralblatt MATH “Biographer Macrae takes a ‘viewspaperman’ approach which stresses the context and personalities associated with von Neumann’s remarkable life, rather than attempting to give a detailed scholarly analysis of von Neumann’s papers. The resulting book is a highly entertaining account that is difficult to put down.” — Journal of Mathematical Psychology “A full and intimate biography of ‘the man who consciously and deliberately set mankind moving along the road that led us into the Age of Computers.’” — Freeman Dyson, Princeton, NJ “It is good to have a biography of one of the most important mathematicians of the twentieth century, even if it is a biography that focuses much more on the man than on the mathematics.” — Fernando Q. Gouvêa, Mathematical Association of America “Based on much research, his own and that of others (especially of Stephen White), Macrae has written a valuable biography of this remarkable genius of our century, without the opacity of technical (mathematical) dimensions that are part of the hero’s intellectual contributions to humanity. Interesting, informative, illuminating, and insightful.” — Choice Review “Macrae paints a highly readable, humanizing portrait of a man whose legacy still influences and shapes modern science and knowledge.” — Resonance, Journal of Science Education “In this affectionate, humanizing biography, former Economist editor Macrae limns a prescient pragmatist who actively fought against fascism and who advocated a policy of nuclear deterrence because he foresaw that Stalin’s Soviet Union would rapidly acquire the bomb and develop rocketry... Macrae makes [von Neumann’s] contributions accessible to the lay reader, and also discusses von Neumann’s relationships with two long-suffering wives, his political differences with Einstein and the cancer that killed him.” — Publishers Weekly “Macrae’s life of the great mathematician shows dramatically what proper care and feeding can do for an unusually capacious mind.” — John Wilkes, Los Angeles Times
Book Synopsis Structure, Agency and Theory by : Ib Gram-Jensen
Download or read book Structure, Agency and Theory written by Ib Gram-Jensen and published by BoD – Books on Demand. This book was released on 2021-04-20 with total page 418 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Structure, Agency and Theory" challenges common readings of Marx' and Engels' historical materialism and argues the necessity of abandoning their conception of the dialectic of forces and relations of production as the motive power of historical development and transformations because of its doubtful validity and deterministic implications. Instead another fundamental conception in historical materialism, the interaction between social circumstances and agency as the motive power of history, is accentuated with an emphasis on agents' experiences as a causal factor, arguing its potential in terms of historical explanation, and attempting to spell out some of its strategic implications for revolutionary socialism.
Book Synopsis The Last Sorcerers by : Richard Morris
Download or read book The Last Sorcerers written by Richard Morris and published by Joseph Henry Press. This book was released on 2003-11-10 with total page 295 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They started with four: earth, air, fire, and water. From these basics, they sought to understand the essential ingredients of the world. Those who could see further, those who understood that the four were just the beginning, were the last sorcerers â€" and the world's first chemists. What we now call chemistry began in the fiery cauldrons of mystics and sorcerers seeking not to make a better world through science, but rather to make themselves richer through magic formulas and con games. But among these early magicians, frauds, and con artists were a few far-seeing "alchemists" who, through rigorous experimentation, transformed mysticism into science. By the 18th century the building blocks of nature, the elements of which all matter is composed, were on the verge of being discovery. Initially, it was not easy to determine whether a substance really was an element. Was water just water, plain and simple? Or could it be the sum of other (unknown and maybe unknowable) parts? And if water was made up of other substances, how could it be broken down into discreet, fundamental, and measurable components? Scientific historians generally credit the great 18th century French chemist Antoine Lavoisier with addressing these fundamental questions and ultimately modernizing the field of chemistry. Through his meticulous and precise work this chaotic new field of scientific inquiry was given order. Exacting by nature, Lavoisier painstakingly set about performing experiments that would provide lasting and verifiable proofs of various chemical theories. Unfortunately, the outspoken Lavoisier eventually lost his head in the Terror, but others would follow his lead, carefully examining, measuring, and recording their findings. As the field slowly progressed, another pioneer was to emerged almost 100 years later. Dimitri Mendeleev, an eccentric genius who cut his flowing hair and beard but once a year, sought to answer the most pressing questions that remained to chemists: Why did some elements have properties that resembled those of others? Were there certain natural groups of elements? And, if so, how many, and what elements fit into them? It was Mendeleev who finally addressed all these issues when he constructed the first Periodic Table in the late 1800s. But between and after Lavoisier and Mendeleev were a host of other colorful, brilliant scientists who made their mark on the field of chemistry. Depicting the lively careers of these scientists and their contributions while carefully deconstructing the history and the science, author Richard Morris skillfully brings it all to life. Hailed by Kirkus Reviews as a "clear and lively writer with a penchant for down-to-earth examples" Morris's gift for explanation â€" and pure entertainment â€" is abundantly obvious. Taking a cue from the great chemists themselves, Morris has brewed up a potent combination of the alluringly obscure and the historically momentous, spiked with just the right dose of quirky and ribald detail to deliver a magical brew of history, science, and personalities.
Book Synopsis Pandora's Keepers by : Brian Van DeMark
Download or read book Pandora's Keepers written by Brian Van DeMark and published by Hachette+ORM. This book was released on 2003-06-01 with total page 551 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: There Were Nine of Them: men with the names Oppenheimer, Teller, Fermi, Bohr, Lawrence, Bethe, Rabi, Szilard, and Compton-brilliant men who believed in science and who saw before anyone else did the awesome workings of an invisible world. They came from many places, some fleeing Nazism in Europe, others quietly slipping out of university teaching jobs, all gathering in secret wartime laboratories to create the world's first atomic bomb. At one such place hidden away in the mountains of northern New Mexico-Los Alamos-they would crack the secret of the nuclear chain reaction and construct a device that incinerated a city and melted its victims so thoroughly that the only thing left was their scorched outlines on the sidewalks. During the war, few of the atomic scientists questioned the wisdom of their desperate endeavor. But afterward, they were forced to deal with the sobering legacy of their creation. Some were haunted by the dead of Hiroshima and Nagasaki and would become anti-nuclear weapons activists; others would go on to build bigger and even deadlier bombs. Some would remain friends; others would become bitter rivals and enemies. In explaining their lives and their struggles, Brian VanDeMark superbly illuminates the ways in which these brilliant and sensitive men came to terms with their horrific creation. The result is spectacular history and a moral investigation of the highest order.
Download or read book Accidental written by Tim James and published by Robinson. This book was released on 2024-04-04 with total page 219 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: 'Who said science was dry? Certainly not Tim James' New York Post 'James writes with infectious enthusiasm and optimism' Kirkus Reviews 'A science teacher by profession, Mr. James knows how to get his audience's attention' Wall Street Journal 'Humorous, yet deep' Professor Charles Antoine A rip-roaring adventure through science gone wrong, and accidentally changing humanity (mostly) for the better. We may imagine that science is a process of breakthroughs and light bulb moments. But in reality, science goes wrong 99% of the time. Almost every idea a scientist comes up with is quickly disproved by a failed experiment or rival research. Science moves at a rate of inches per decade and we often like it that way. But occasionally, just occasionally, a complete fluke happens and changes everything as we know it. From an untimely sneeze in a petri dish leading to the groundbreaking creation of antibiotics, to the incredible discovery of microwaves via melted chocolate, Accidental is a rip-roaring adventure through science gone wrong, and accidentally changing humanity for the better.
Book Synopsis Lise Meitner and the Dawn of the Nuclear Age by : Patricia Rife
Download or read book Lise Meitner and the Dawn of the Nuclear Age written by Patricia Rife and published by Plunkett Lake Press. This book was released on 2019-08-09 with total page 456 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This biography of Lise Meitner (1878-1968), the Austrian Jewish female physicist at the heart of the discovery of nuclear fission, also looks at major developments in physics during her life. Meitner was a colleague and friend of many giants of 20th century physics: Max Planck, her Berlin mentor, Einstein, von Laue, Marie Curie, Chadwick, Pauli and Bohr. She was the first woman to earn a Ph.D. in physics at the University of Vienna, a pioneer in the research of radioactive processes and, together with her nephew Otto Robert Frisch, an interpreter of the process of nuclear fission in 1938. Yet at the end of World War II, her colleague of thirty years, radiochemist Otto Hahn alone was awarded the 1944 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the “discovery” of nuclear fission — a discovery based on years of research in which Meitner was directly involved before her secret 1938 escape from Nazi Germany to Sweden. “A story of one of the half dozen most remarkable women of the 20th century.” — John Archibald Wheeler, Princeton University “Patricia Rife’s biography truly brings Meitner to life, both as a scientist and as a woman... Rife weaves Meitner’s personal struggles into the social and political fabric of her times. For example, the story of Meitner’s early career is told against the backdrop of the development of the new physics, with plentiful illumination of the limited prospects for women scientists in the German-speaking world during the early twentieth century. When Meitner's story enters the Nazi era — including her escape from Germany — it is as riveting as the best novel.” — Catherine Westfall,Technology and Culture “A well-written, thorough, readable and engrossing work.” — Gary Goldstein, Peace and Change: a Journal of Peace Research “Rife has produced an exciting book, which reads like a novel and she gives justice to Meitner’s life full of science and human stories... [The] book is a beautiful tribute to an outstanding scientist; it has a lot to teach us about our world; and it is a great read. I warmly recommend it to everyone interested in science and in history.” — Structural Chemistry “Lise Meitner comes to life as author Rife skillfully weaves social, political, and scientific events into a well-researched and documented work. Lists of Meitner’s awards and publications and an extensive bibliography complete this excellent book.” — Association of Women in Science Magazine “The dramatic tale of the discovery of nuclear fission on the eve of WWII... not just a story of ideas... but also of the social and intellectual milieu in which these ideas were developed. It is also the story of how a shy, self-effacing young woman, through talent and hard work, became a world-class scientist... Rife tells this story very well.” — The Antioch Review “The particular merit of Rife’s biography of Austrian physicist Meitner is that it places her life and work within the historical context... It is comprehensive, generally clearly written... and appropriate for undergraduate students. Just enough science is included as to make clear the significance of her work... Extensive bibliography, informative footnotes.” — Choice
Book Synopsis James B. Conant: Harvard to Hiroshima and the Making of the Nuclear Age by : James Hershberg
Download or read book James B. Conant: Harvard to Hiroshima and the Making of the Nuclear Age written by James Hershberg and published by Plunkett Lake Press. This book was released on 2019-07-31 with total page 556 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: James B. Conant (1893-1978) was one of the titans of mid-20th-century American history, attaining prominence and power in multiple fields. Usually remembered as an educational leader, he was president of Harvard University for two tumultuous decades, from the Depression to World War II to the Cold War and McCarthyism. To take that job he gave up a scientific career as one of the country’s top chemists, and he left it twenty years later to become Eisenhower’s top diplomat in postwar Germany. Hershberg’s prize-winning study, however, examines a critical aspect of Conant’s life that was long obscured by government secrecy: his pivotal role in the birth of the nuclear age. During World War II, as an advisor to Roosevelt and then Truman (on the elite “Interim Committee” that considered how to employ the bomb against Japan), Conant was intimately involved in the decisions to build and use the atomic bomb. During and after the Manhattan Project, he also led efforts to prevent a postwar nuclear arms race between the United States and the Soviet Union that, he feared, threatened the survival of civilization — an apocalyptic prospect he glimpsed in the first instant of the new age, when he witnessed the first test of the new weapon at Alamogordo on July 16, 1945. “... a vivid inquiry... a model of historiography; evocative reading...[Conant was] central to atomic policy and progress; the bomb would be as much Conant’s as it was anyone’s in Government. His inner response to that burden responsibility has long been obscured, but it is illumined here.” — Philip Morrison, The New York Times Book Review “In his splendid portrait of Conant, James Hershberg has illuminated the life of a pivotal figure in the making of U.S. nuclear, scientific, educational and foreign policy for almost a half-century. But the book is much more: It is not only an insightful narration of Conant’s life; it is also a brilliant and important account of the making of the nuclear age, a chronicle that contains much that is new... Hershberg’s superb study... is a chronicle of Conant’s moral journey and we are the wiser for his having charted Conant’s path.” — S.S. Schweber, Washington Post Book World “James G. Hershberg ably comes to grips with Conant and his hazardous times... His book is vibrantly written and compelling, and it breaches Conant’s shield of public discretion in masterly fashion, making extensive use of unpublished interviews, diaries, reports, and correspondence pried from private and governmental repositories. It is a huge, ambitious work — a history of the Cold War as Conant encountered it as well as a study of the man.” — Daniel J. Kevles, The New Yorker “... a well-written, comprehensive, nonjudgmental but sensitive biography... Conant was involved in so many and such critical events that students of almost any aspect of our public life over the past half-century will find useful the new material and helpful insights in this book... This fine biography of one of the most important and complicated of America’s twentieth-century leaders immediately establishes James Hershberg as one of America’s outstanding young historians.” — Stephen E. Ambrose,Foreign Affairs “... magnificent... Any reader interested in nuclear weapons, Cold War history or American politics from FDR to JFK will find this biography riveting.” — Priscilla McMillan, Chicago Tribune “... masterful... The prose is clear, the narrative forceful and the author’s judgments are balanced and judicious. This is simply splendid biography... The highest praise one can give for a book of this sort is that the historian has not shrunk from speaking truth to power. This book quietly but insistently does so. It should be read by the public at large as one of the definitive texts on the cold war and the nuclear age... Hershberg’s triumph is that he has prevailed over all the official lies to give us one more layer of the historical truth.” — Kai Bird, The Nation “... riveting... an impressive achievement... honest and comprehensive in its scholarship, the author has shown himself to be a historian of notable achievement and promise.” — McGeorge Bundy, Nature “Hershberg’s outstanding, balanced biography lifts the self-imposed secrecy surrounding a key architect of U.S. Cold War policy and of the nuclear age.” —Publisher’s Weekly “... [an] impressive and substantial achievement. [Hershberg] has used the life of one strategically placed individual to illuminate the most important issues surrounding America’s role and conduct in the nuclear age. His book will be invaluable to scholars assessing the impact and legacy of the group who acquired the epithet ‘wise men’ now that the Cold War has receded.” — Carol S. Gruber, Science “... definitive... a far more textured picture than one finds in Conant’s own guarded and unrevealing autobiography... an important and rewarding book... illuminating... Conant led a remarkable and eventful life in remarkable and eventful times. James Hershberg has explored that life, and those times, in exhaustive and revealing detail.” — Paul Boyer, The New Republic “James G. Hershberg has achieved the impossible. He has written a huge biography of a Harvard president that is fascinating, informative and as valuable a piece of American history as anything I have read in years... Mr. Hershberg has brought us back vividly to an age that seems remote, so long ago, but the questions about nuclear proliferation are the same, even while the answers are still ambiguous. As we watch men struggling with unanticipated post-Cold War problems and civil wars sprouting like Jason’s men at arms, it is good to read this story about a complex man who deserves an important place in our history because he helped make that history possible.” — Arnold Beichman, The Washington Times “... engrossing... A magisterial study of an awesome and intriguing public career.” —Kirkus Reviews “... entertaining... thought-provocative.” — Dick Teresi, The Wall Street Journal “Hershberg’s book helps us more clearly understand the postwar Establishment and offers a challenging appraisal of the role of elites, of universities and of the state.” — Gar Alperovitz, In These Times “Hershberg deserves great credit for cracking a tough New England walnut, analyzing this very important public figure, demonstrating how he fit into his own time and showing us what we can learn from the man.” — Daniel R. Mortensen, The Friday Review of Defense Literature “... a compelling account... an engaging examination of one of the central figures of the nuclear age. It succeeds in showing ‘one man’s intersection with great events and issues’ and in the process illuminates those issues for us all.” — American Historical Review “... well-written... Conant’s participation in one of our country’s most dynamic periods is, thanks to Hershberg, now much better understood.” — Library Journal “A reader of the book will enter the realm of the greats, the shapers of worlds created by the atomic blasts at Hiroshima and Nagasaki... Conant was no bit player in Cold War history... [the book is] very successful in weaving Conant’s subsurface persona in with his ups and downs as a prominent and committed public figure. And it leaves out little detail in describing top-level decisions involving the Cold War geopolitics of nuclear weaponry. Conant was a participant in most of these decisions—with Presidents Roosevelt and Truman themselves, their Secretaries of War and State, and, of course, all the major scientific figures of the time.” — Chemical & Engineering News “A wonderfully rich portrait that emerges from a carefully documented account of Conant’s role in the development of the atomic bomb and post-war nuclear policy... An extraordinarily well written text... Hershberg lays bare the person behind the persona — warts, dimples and all.” — Stanley Goldberg, Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists
Download or read book Alsos written by Samuel Goudsmit and published by Plunkett Lake Press. This book was released on 2019-07-31 with total page 150 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Near the end of World War II, as Allied armies swept across battle-torn Germany and leading scientists at Los Alamos were racing to assemble the atomic bombs America would drop over Japan later that summer, General Leslie Groves, the military head of the Manhattan Project, established Alsos, a unit of scientists, soldiers, and secret agents to find the Nazi Germany’s physicists and technicians working on the development of a German atomic bomb and to determine how far along they were. In this book, Samuel Goudsmit, the Dutch-American physicist who was the scientific leader of the Alsos mission, recounts the mission and its findings. “Alsos is more than a dramatic chronicle of how Goudsmit and his staff accompanied Allied troops in order to ferret out German atomic secrets and round up German scientists who might have been working on a fission bomb. It is also an overview and critique of the German research establishment under Nazi control.” — Albert Moyer,American Scientist “Highly readable and informative... [T]he immediacy of Goudsmit’s experience makes this memoir of enduring value... inspired story-telling that provides in retrospect a great deal of information on the operations of the postwar intelligence teams... An extraordinary book.” — Alan Beyerchen, New Scientist “Samuel Goudsmit... the scientific leader of Alsos... tells the fascinating story of the mission’s work... To the extent that the average citizen is permitted to learn how his servants spend his money for the purpose of insuring his safety, it will be useful for every intelligent American to hear Goudsmit’s story and ponder his views. In any case,Alsos is highly entertaining... Goudsmit’s assessment of Nazi war science is excellent... There are a lot of things in Goudsmit’s book that we had better keep in mind.” — Paul Ridenour, The New York Times “[Goudsmit’s] short memoir is a thrilling combination of detective story and scientific deduction.” — Stephen Budiansky, Wall Street Journal “[Alsos] is the compelling story of what the Germans did [to develop an atomic bomb], what went wrong and why.” — Lee Dembart, Los Angeles Times “For the history of science this chatty little book is surely one of the most important books to emerge from World War II, since it is the account of one of the most absorbing war assignments to fall to the lot of any scientist.” — Henri Guerlac, Isis, A Journal of the History of Science Society
