Einstein's Heroes: Imagining the World through the Language of Mathematics.EINSTEIN Albert 1879-1955. German-born American theoretical physicist whose special and general theories of relativity revolutionized modern thought on the nature of space and time and formed a theoretical base for the exploitation of atomic energy. He won a Nobel Prize in 1921 for his explanation of the photoelectric effect. Albert Einstein is rightly admired as one of history's great mathematical and scientific minds. But did he have his own heroes? During his lifetime, Einstein acknowledged at least three: Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday faraday /far·a·day/ (F ) (far´ah-da) the electric charge carried by one mole of electrons or one equivalent weight of ions, equal to 9.649 × 104coulombs. far·a·day (f  r, and in particular James Clerk Maxwell, who produced the first mathematical description of electromagnetism and thus presaged the discovery of radio waves. Australian mathematician and writer Arianrhod proposes a commonality among the visionary contributions of these scientists and the breakthrough work of Einstein. All four scientists were fluent in the language of mathematics, which the author calls the language of nature. When applied creatively and with insight, this language is a physicist's most valuable tool, writes Arianrhod. It even has the power to describe phenomena not yet observed, she points out. Einstein's Heroes offers readers an engaging intellectual exercise combining physics, language, mathematics, and biography. Oxford Univ. Press, 2005, 323 p., b&w illus., hardcover, $28.00.
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