Physics Biography

In Handprints on Hubble, retired astronaut Kathryn Sullivan describes her work on the NASA team that made all of this possible. Sullivan, the first American woman to walk in space, recounts how she and other astronauts, engineers, and scientists launched, rescued, repaired, and maintained Hubble, the most productive observatory ever built.

In How the Laser Happened, Nobel laureate Charles Townes provides a highly personal look at some of the leading events in 20th-century physics. This lively memoir, packed with firsthand accounts and historical anecdotes, is an invaluable resource for anyone interested in the history of science and an inspiring example for students considering scientific careers.

A thrilling scientific investigation and the portrait of an extraordinary genius, The Seashell on the Mountaintop gives us new insight into our planet, revealing how we learned to read the story told to us by the Earth itself, written in rock and stone.

Augustin Fresnel (1788–1827) shocked the scientific elite with his unique understanding of the physics of light. The lens he invented was a brilliant feat of engineering that made lighthouses blaze many times brighter, farther, and more efficiently. Battling the establishment, his own poor health, and the limited technology of the time, Fresnel was able to achieve his goal of illuminating the entire French coast. At first, the British sought to outdo the new Fresnel-equipped lighthouses as a matter of national pride.

In 1934, Irene Curie, working with her husband and fellow scientist, Frederic Joliot, made a discovery that would change the world: artificial radioactivity. This breakthrough allowed scientists to modify elements and create new ones by altering the structure of atoms. Curie shared a Nobel Prize with her husband for their work. But when she was nominated to the French Academy of Sciences, the academy denied her admission and voted to disqualify all women from membership.

Do aclamado autor do best-seller O andar do bêbado, um retrato íntimo e inspirador de Stephen Hawking — o homem, o amigo e o físico. Recordando quase duas décadas como colaborador e amigo de Stephen Hawking, o físico e autor best-seller Leonard Mlodinow retrata aqui, de uma forma singular e profundamente pessoal, um ser humano fora de qualquer expectativa.

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.

En bog fra cirka 12 år om Niels Bohr og hans fantastiske liv. En af Danmarks største videnskabsmænd og en forunderlig beskeden og menneskekærlig mand var Niels Bohr. Hans forskning inden for fysikken ændrede vores syn på verden - og hans største resultater fik på godt og ondt konsekvenser for hele verden.

Marie Curie, Max Planck, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger e Albert Einstein não só revolucionaram a física, mas redefiniram nosso mundo e a realidade em que vivemos. Em A era da incerteza, Tobias Hürter reconstrói a época de ouro desse campo do saber através da história de seus heróis e heroínas deslumbrantes, imperfeitos e inesquecíveis.

Nobel per la chimica nel 1993, Kary Mullis è divenuto una leggenda per la scoperta della PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction), una tecnica che ha rivoluzionato il mondo della chimica e della genetica. Esperto surfista e contestatore nella Berkeley negli anni Sessanta, Mullis è l'unico Nobel ad aver descritto un possibile incontro con gli alieni.

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.

Nata in Via delle Cento Stelle a Firenze il 12 giugno 1922, Margherita hack non poteva che diventare un'astrofisica di fama mondiale. Eppure lei non ha mai creduto al destino: credeva invece nel merito, nella possibilità di realizzare i propri sogni. Lei che di sogni ne aveva tantissimi: dall'atletica, in cui sperava di conquistare una medaglia alle Olimpiadi, alla bici, con la quale fu amore a prima vista, fino alle stelle, scoperte a scuola un po' per caso e che le hanno illuminato il cammino fino ad arrivare alla guida dell'osservatorio astronomico di Trieste.

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.

When it comes to scientists that have made their mark in the world, none are perhaps more famous than Albert Einstein. Students around the world are taught about his theories and equations, with E=mc2 undoubtedly being the most famous. However, there was more to this man than simply being a genius or the original prototype of the mad professor. Instead, this was a man that was dedicated to not only his profession, but also the concept of pacifism, something that most people are unaware of.

Penguin presents the audiobook edition of Henry VIII: The Quest for Fame by John Guy, read by John Banks. Henry VIII's reign transformed the physical and spiritual landscape of England. Magnificent, tyrannical, a strong ruler, a 'pillager of the commonwealth', this most notorious of kings remains a figure of extreme contradictions: a devout traditionalist who oversaw a cataclysmic rupture with the church in Rome, a talented, charismatic, imposing figure who nevertheless could not bear to meet people's eyes when he talked to them.

Listeners have come to expect chatty, direct narratives that develop distinct characters and place those individuals squarely in the context of both their times and their disciplines, and this account of the noted physicist’s life delivers the goods. From her childhood in an oppressed Poland, the daughter of two highly educated individuals, Curie emerges as a driven woman, determined to excel for both her parents’ and her country’s sake - this drive informing everything that followed.

Albert Einstein: His name has become a synonym for genius. His wild case of bedhead and playful sense of humor made him a media superstar - the first, maybe only, scientist-celebrity. He wasn’t much for lab work - in fact, he had a tendency to blow up experiments. What he liked to do was think - not in words, but in "thought experiments". What was the result of all his thinking? Nothing less than the overturning of Newtonian physics. Once again, Kathleen Krull delivers a witty and astute look at one of the true giants of science and the turbulent times in which he lived.

Did you know that Albert Einstein was a high-school dropout and that he failed his physics class when he finally made it to college? Or that when he died, his brain and eyeballs were removed from his body? Have you ever wondered why his hair looked so wild? Siblings Paige and Turner have - and they’ve collected some of the kookiest and most unusual facts about him, from his childhood and school days through his time studying relativity and working on the atomic bomb.

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.

Der Wiener Physiker Erwin Schrödinger (1887-1961) leistete bahnbrechende Arbeiten zur Wellenmechanik und Quantentheorie, für die er unter anderem mit dem Nobelpreis ausgezeichnet wurde. Untrennbar mit seinem Namen verbunden sind die von ihm entdeckte "Schrödinger-Gleichung" sowie sein berühmtes Gedankenexperiment "Schrödinger's Katze".