Physics Biography

Isaac Newton did not discover gravity; people had noticed it before! But he did figure out the rules for how it works.

As a child, Sarafina El-Badry Nance spent nearly every evening with her father gazing up at the flickering stars and pondering what secrets the night sky held. The daughter of an American father and Egyptian mother who both pushed her toward academic excellence, Sarafina dreamed of becoming an astronomer and untangling the mysteries of the stars overhead. But it wasn’t long before she was told, both explicitly and implicitly, that girls just weren’t cut out for math and science.

One in eight UK males will be diagnosed with prostate cancer, more than 130 new cases are discovered each day and, on average, one man dies from the disease every 45 minutes. Despite these statistics, and the fact that there are getting on for half a million men living with, or in remission from, prostate cancer in the UK, the condition is rarely discussed publicly and most men ignore the warning signs. Graham Sharpe wants to help change that.

Werner Heisenberg's "uncertainty principle" challenged centuries of scientific understanding, placed him in direct opposition to Albert Einstein, and put Niels Bohr in the middle of one of the most heated debates in scientific history. Heisenberg's theorem stated that there were physical limits to what we could know about sub-atomic particles; this "uncertainty" would have shocking implications.

The first popular introduction to Hawking's work, this program discusses the mysterious world of black holes, singularities, and the "big bang"--the point at which our universe may have begun.

In 1695, Isaac Newton already renowned as the greatest mind of his agemade a surprising career change. He left quiet Cambridge, where he had lived for 30 years and made his earth-shattering discoveries, and moved to London to take up the post of Warden of His Majestys Mint. Newton was preceded to the city by a genius of another kind, the budding criminal William Chaloner.

One of the most influential physicists of our time, Stephen Hawking touched the lives of millions. Recalling his nearly two decades as Hawking’s collaborator and friends, Leonard Mlodinow brings this complex man into focus in a unique and deeply personal portrayal. We meet Hawking the genius, who pours his mind into uncovering the mysteries of the universe - ultimately formulating a pathbreaking theory of black holes that reignites the discipline of cosmology and paves the way for physicists to investigate the origins of the universe in completely new ways.

As a female Jewish physicist in Berlin during the early 20th century, Lise Meitner had to fight for an education, a job, and equal treatment in her field, like having her name listed on her own research papers. Meitner made groundbreaking strides in the study of radiation, but when Hitler came to power in Germany, she suddenly had to face not only sexism, but also life-threatening anti-Semitism as well. Nevertheless, she persevered and one day made a discovery that rocked the world: the splitting of the atom.

On the night of March 26, 1938, nuclear physicist Ettore Majorana boarded a ship, cash and passport in hand. He was never seen again. In A Brilliant Darkness, theoretical physicist Joo Magueijo tells the story of Majorana and his research group, the Via Panisperna Boys, who discovered atomic fission in 1934. As Majorana, the most brilliant of the group, began to realize the implications of what they had found, he became increasingly unstable.

For the larger-than-life personalities now staking their fortunes on the development of rocket ships, the new race to explore space could be a dead end, a lucrative opportunity - or the key to humanity's salvation. Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos take center stage in this fast-paced narrative as they attempt to disrupt the space economy, feed their own egos, and maybe even save the world.

From a garden shed laboratory where he manufactured the greatest stink in the world to a tent high in the Arctic in pursuit of fossils, this is a story of obsession and love of nature, flavoured with the peculiarities and restrictions of post-war Britain. Fortey tells the story of following his father down riverbanks to fish for trout, and also of his father's shocking death. He unfolds his early passions–fungi, ammonite hunting and eyeing up bird's eggs. He evokes with warmth and wit how the natural world started out as his playground and refuge, then became his life's work.

Biografía resumida que contiene los datos más relevantes de la vida del conocido físico.

What was Isaac Newton like? Secretive, vindictive, withdrawn, obsessive, and oh, yes, brilliant. His imagination was so large that, just “by thinking on it”, he invented calculus and figured out the scientific explanation of gravity. Yet Newton was so small-minded that he set out to destroy other scientists who dared question his findings. This compelling portrait of Newton, contradictions and all, places him against the backdrop of 17th-century England, a time of plague, the Great Fire of London, and two revolutions.

Renowned American astrophysicist Hakeem Oluseyi (born James Plummer) pens a gripping, gritty coming-of-age memoir, from young boy to graduate-school student, that will resonate with teenagers, especially those of color, who are facing many choices and obstacles as they navigate their young adult lives.

Physics for Rock Stars is not a weighty treatise on science, but a personal tour of physics from a quirky friend. Anyone who's ever wondered why nature abhors a vacuum, what causes magnetic attraction, or how to jump off a moving train or do a perfect stage dive will find answers and a few laughs, too. No equations, numbers, or tricky concepts - just an inspiring and comical romp through the basics of physics and the beauty of the organized universe.

This comprehensive biography delves into the life of the "Father of the Atomic Bomb" and his profound impact on science, ethics, and nuclear physics. Discover Oppenheimer's journey from a precocious child in New York City to his groundbreaking role in the Manhattan Project during World War II. Uncover the evolution of his intellect and character with meticulous research and engaging storytelling. But this biography goes beyond the atomic bomb. Delve into Oppenheimer's post-war years and his enduring legacy in the fields of nuclear physics and theoretical science.

Featuring kid-friendly explanations of the scientific principles, this compelling biography follows Einstein from his childhood through his early career struggles, and on to the theoretical breakthroughs and groundbreaking writings that won him the Nobel Prize. Equally important, we get a complete portrait of the man, who - deeply affected by the Holocaust - dedicated his life to pacifism and equal rights for all.

Centered on the inter-war years—within the ivy clad walls of Cambridge University's famed Cavendish Laboratory, amid the windswept valleys of north Wales, and in the industrial heartland of Birmingham—The Basis of Everything is the story of the coming of the atomic bomb, and how the unlikely union of two scientists—Ernest Rutherford, the son of a New Zealand farmer, and Mark Oliphant, a peace-loving vegetarian from a tiny Australian hills village—would change the world.

Richard Feynman foi um gênio incomum. Espirituoso, ele conta os casos mais engraçados e excêntricos desde a infância, quando já se mostrava um menino engenhoso e brincalhão, até o momento em que recebeu o prêmio Nobel, com a personalidade desafiadora e fora dos padrões que o tornou extremamente popular dentro e fora da área acadêmica. Suas palestras sobre física, um marco na vida de outras personalidades extraordinárias, como Bill Gates—que assina uma breve introdução neste livro—encantaram gerações de estudantes e outros interessados em conhecimento científico de uma maneira geral.

"Il pensiero logico, da solo, non ci può fornire conoscenze sul mondo dell'esperienza e termina in essa. Le proposizioni puramente logiche sono vuote davanti alla realtà. È grazie a questa conoscenza e soprattutto per averla fatta penetrare a colpi di martello nel mondo della scienza, che Galileo è diventato il padre della fisica moderna e soprattutto delle scienze naturali moderne". Albert Einstein.