Basic Books.Basic Books 387 Park Avenue South, NY, NY 10016 www.perseusbooks.com The lives of world scientists can be almost as insightful as reviews of their major discoveries: that's why two new biographical coverages are recommended picks for any who would study scientific achievement. Nancy Thorndike Greenspan's The End Of The Certain World: The Life And Science Of Max Born, The Nobel Physicist Who Ignited ig·nite v. ig·nit·ed, ig·nit·ing, ig·nites v.tr. 1. a. To cause to burn. b. To set fire to. 2. To subject to great heat, especially to make luminous by heat. The Quantum Revolution (0738206938, $26.95) tells of a physicist forced to emigrate em·i·grate intr.v. em·i·grat·ed, em·i·grat·ing, em·i·grates To leave one country or region to settle in another. See Usage Note at migrate. to England when the Nazis took over--and found his pacifist nature compromised when he discovered his findings had helped the developers of the atom bomb. Born's complete story is presented here for the first time, from his achievement of the Nobel prize Nobel Prize, award given for outstanding achievement in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, peace, or literature. The awards were established by the will of Alfred Nobel, who left a fund to provide annual prizes in the five areas listed above. as discoverer of quantum theory quantum theory, modern physical theory concerned with the emission and absorption of energy by matter and with the motion of material particles; the quantum theory and the theory of relativity together form the theoretical basis of modern physics. to his exile from Germany and his teaching of nine Nobel physicists in turn. A splendid coverage of a major figure. Palle Yourgrau's A World Without Time: The Forgotten Legacy Of Godel And Einstein (0465092934, $24.00) follows the close friendship of physicist Albert Einstein and logician Kurt Godel Noun 1. Kurt Godel - United States mathematician (born in Austria) who is remembered principally for demonstrating the limitations of axiomatic systems (1906-1978) Godel during the last decade and a half of Einstein's life. The two walked home daily, shared ideas about physics, philosophy and politics, and acknowledged important connections between the world of physics and philosophy which exist to this day. Their discoveries and achievements are framed within the context of their unusual friendship. |
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