Engineering Physics

Based on the newly released personal letters of Albert Einstein, Walter Isaacson explores how an imaginative, impertinent patent clerk, a struggling father in a difficult marriage who couldn't get a teaching job or a doctorate, became the mind reader of the creator of the cosmos, the locksmith of the mysteries of the atom and the universe. His success came from questioning conventional wisdom and marveling at mysteries that struck others as mundane.

Navigating poverty, violence, and instability, a young James Plummer had two guiding stars - a genius IQ and a love of science. But a bookish nerd is a soft target, and James faced years of bullying and abuse. As he struggled to survive his childhood in some of the country’s toughest urban neighborhoods in New Orleans, Houston, and LA, and later in the equally poor backwoods of Mississippi, he adopted the persona of “gangsta nerd” - dealing weed in juke joints while winning state science fairs with computer programs that model Einstein’s theory of relativity.

Whether searching for extra-terrestrial life, managing the effects of space weather or learning about dark matter, the study astrophysics has profound implications for us all. NASA scientist and astronomer Sten Odenwald explains the key concepts of this vast topic, bringing clarity to some of the great mysteries of space.

For centuries, people have been returning to the same tired nature-versus-nurture debate, trying to determine what we learn and what we inherit. In Dancing Cockatoos and the Dead Man Test, biologist Marlene Zuk goes beyond the binary and instead focuses on interaction, or the way that genes and environment work together. Driving her investigation is a simple but essential question: How does behavior evolve?

In researching one of history's greatest scientific quests, a mission to measure the Earth and define the meter, Ken Alder stumbled on a 200-year-old secret: The meter, it turns out, is in error. This is a story of two men, a secret, and a timeless human dilemma: is it permissible to perpetuate a small lie in the service of a larger truth?

If you've ever found yourself fascinated by the idea of quantum computing but feel a little overwhelmed by the mind-blowing subject of quantum mechanics or concerned by climate change but haven't been able to get to grips with the details of global warming, this book is for you.

The periodic table is one of the most potent icons in science. It lies at the core of chemistry and embodies the most fundamental principles of the field. The one definitive text on the development of the periodic table by van Spronsen (1969), has been out of print for a considerable time. The present book provides a successor to van Spronsen, but goes further in giving an evaluation of the extent to which modern physics has, or has not, explained the periodic system. The book is written in a lively style to appeal to experts and interested lay-persons alike.

Perhaps the greatest physicist of the second half of the 20th century, Richard Feynman changed the way we think about quantum mechanics, the most perplexing of all physical theories. Here Lawrence M. Krauss, himself a theoretical physicist and best-selling author, offers a unique scientific biography: a rollicking narrative coupled with clear and novel expositions of science at the limits.

One of the great insights of science is that the universe has an underlying order. The supreme goal of physicists is to understand this order through laws that describe the behavior of the most basic particles and the forces between them. For centuries, we have searched for these laws by studying the results of experiments. Since the 1970s, however, experiments at the world's most powerful atom-smashers have offered few new clues. So some of the world's leading physicists have looked to a different source of insight: modern mathematics.

Does alien life exist? Is time travel possible? How did the universe begin, and how will it end? Is the future predetermined? These are just some of the fascinating questions posed in this book, which stretches across physics, the life sciences and cosmology. Each chapter considers a separate question and ends with either an answer or, if there is insufficient evidence, a ‘best guess’ answer.

The concept of the superhero has permeated our culture. They fascinate their fans with their incredible superhuman abilities and impressive technology. But do you ever wonder if any of it is plausible or rooted in fact? Enter The Science of Superheroes, which address more than fifty topics that span the worlds of your favorite superheroes and villains. Explore and examine their amazing abilities and fantastic gadgets with a detailed scientific lens.

The Physics of Life argues that the evolution phenomenon is much broader and older than the evolutionary designs that constitute the biosphere, empowering listeners with a new view of the globe and the future, revealing that the urge to have better ideas has the same physical effect as the urge to have better laws and better government. This is evolution explained loudly but also elegantly, forging a path that flows sustainability.

During the last 50 years, numerous physicists have tried to unravel the secrets of string theory. Yet why do these scientists work on a theory lacking experimental confirmation? Why String Theory? provides the answer, offering an easily understood and accessible panorama of the who, what, and why of this large aspect of modern theoretical physics.

A brief conceptual overview of quantum mechanics, with minimal math. The structure is motivated by asking and answering questions about the nature of the universe.

The fundamental outlines of the physical world, from its tiniest particles to massive galaxy clusters, have been apparent for decades. Does this mean physicists are about to tie it all up into a neat package? Not at all. Just when you think you’re figuring it out, the universe begins to look its strangest, and this book illustrates how answers often lead to more questions and open up new paths to insight.

Complex theories are meticulously unpacked and brought to life through vivid examples and crystal-clear explanations, including: The origins of quantum theory and revolutionary ideas from pioneers like Planck, Einstein, Bohr and Schrödinger. Foundational quantum mysteries like wave-particle duality, the uncertainty principle, and quantum entanglement

Când a descoperit legea gravitației, Newton a unificat regulile care guvernează cerurile și Pământul; de-atunci, fizicienii au tot așezat noi forțe în teorii tot mai cuprinzătoare. Însă provocarea supremă este realizarea unei sinteze monumentale a teoriei relativității și teoriei cuantice. Ar fi realizarea de căpătâi a științei, o fuziune profundă a tuturor forțelor naturii într-o singură ecuație minunată, care să descifreze cele mai profunde mistere ale științei: Ce s-a întâmplat înainte de Big Bang?

Can there be freedom and free will in a deterministic world? Renowned philosopher Daniel Dennett emphatically answers "yes!" Using an array of provocative formulations, Dennett sets out to show how we alone among the animals have evolved minds that give us free will and morality. Weaving a richly detailed narrative, Dennett explains in a series of strikingly original arguments - drawing upon evolutionary biology, cognitive neuroscience, economics, and philosophy - that far from being an enemy of traditional explorations of freedom, morality, and meaning, the evolutionary perspective can be an indispensable ally.

Quantum Psychology holistically approaches challenges and basic conceptions about the way reality reveals itself that we take for granted, re-thinking them from a new prism. It questions the very same foundations of our existence and what "being" truly encompasses. This is a journey to interpret our reality and your role in its unfolding as never imagined before. You might love it or disagree with it, but you will not be left indifferent.

No one can escape a sense of awe when reflecting on the workings of the mind: we see, we hear, we feel, we are aware of the world around us. But what is the mind? What do we mean when we say we are “aware” of something? What is this peculiar state in our heads, at once utterly familiar and bewilderingly mysterious, that we call awareness or consciousness? In Physics in Mind, eminent biophysicist Werner R. Loewenstein argues that to answer these questions, we must first understand the physical mechanisms that underlie the workings of the mind.