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The Pontecorvo Affair: A Cold War Defection and Nuclear Physics
Par Simone Turchetti. 2012
In the fall of 1950, newspapers around the world reported that the Italian-born nuclear physicist Bruno Pontecorvo and his family…
had mysteriously disappeared while returning to Britain from a holiday trip. Because Pontecorvo was known to be an expert working for the UK Atomic Energy Research Establishment, this raised immediate concern for the safety of atomic secrets, especially when it became known in the following months that he had defected to the Soviet Union. Was Pontecorvo a spy? Did he know and pass sensitive information about the bomb to Soviet experts? At the time, nuclear scientists, security personnel, Western government officials, and journalists assessed the case, but their efforts were inconclusive and speculations quickly turned to silence. In the years since, some have downplayed Pontecorvo's knowledge of atomic weaponry, while others have claimed him as part of a spy ring that infiltrated the Manhattan Project. The Pontecorvo Affair draws from newly disclosed sources to challenge previous attempts to solve the case, offering a balanced and well-documented account of Pontecorvo, his activities, and his possible motivations for defecting. Along the way, Simone Turchetti reconsiders the place of nuclear physics and nuclear physicists in the twentieth century and reveals that as the discipline's promise of military and industrial uses came to the fore, so did the enforcement of new secrecy provisions on the few experts in the world specializing in its application.Frederic W. Harmer: A Scientific Biography
Par John A. Kington. 2014
Comprising the first definitive account of the geological and palaeometeorological studies made by the British geologist, Frederic W. Harmer (1835-1924)…
this book contributes a previously missing chapter to the history of science. The main objective of the author is to ensure that the scientific work of Harmer, which unfortunately has been widely neglected or forgotten, becomes more generally known and acknowledged. The balance of this deficiency will be redressed by bringing to light in this volume his contributions to the history of science to an audience of academic and lay readers of the current literature.Once We All Had Gills
Par Rudolf A. Raff. 2012
In this book, Rudolf A. Raff reaches out to the scientifically queasy, using his life story and his growth as…
a scientist to illustrate why science matters, especially at a time when many Americans are both suspicious of science and hostile to scientific ways of thinking. Noting that science has too often been the object of controversy in school curriculums and debates on public policy issues ranging from energy and conservation to stem-cell research and climate change, Raff argues that when the public is confused or ill-informed, these issues tend to be decided on religious, economic, and political grounds that disregard the realities of the natural world. Speaking up for science and scientific literacy, Raff tells how and why he became an evolutionary biologist and describes some of the vibrant and living science of evolution. Once We All Had Gills is also the story of evolution writ large: its history, how it is studied, what it means, and why it has become a useful target in a cultural war against rational thought and the idea of a secular, religiously tolerant nation.Einstein in Love
Par Dennis Overbye. 2000
In Einstein in Love, Dennis Overbye has written the first profile of the great scientist to focus exclusively on his…
early adulthood, when his major discoveries were made. It reveals Einstein to be very much a young man of his time-draft dodger, self-styled bohemian, poet, violinist, and cocky, charismatic genius who left personal and professional chaos in his wake. Drawing upon hundreds of unpublished letters and a decade of research, Einstein in Love is a penetrating portrait of the modern era's most influential thinker.Nurses
Par Michael Brown. 1992
Registered nurse Michael Brown has interviewed over fifty practicing nurses, spanning forty-one states and most nursing specialties. He takes you…
to the front lines of his profession, where split-second, life-and-death decisions are made every day by these unsung heroes of health care, who put their own lives at risk to provide support and comfort to those who need it most..From the Paperback edition.Herbert Fröhlich
Par G. J. Hyland. 2015
This biography provides a stimulating and coherent blend of scientific and personal narratives describing the many achievements of the theoretical…
physicist Herbert Fr#65533;hlich. For more than half a century, Fr#65533;hlich was an internationally renowned and much respected figure who exerted a decisive influence, often as a 'man ahead of his time', in fields as diverse as meson theory and biology. Although best known for his contributions to the theory of dielectrics and superconductivity, he worked in many other fields, his most important legacy being the pioneering introduction quantum field-theoretical methods into condensed matter physics in 1952, which revolutionised the subsequent development of the subject. Gerard Hyland has written an absorbing and informative account, in which Herbert Fr#65533;hlich's magnetic personality shines through.First, You Cry
Par Betty Rollin. 2007
NBC News correspondent Betty Rollin, glamorous, successful, and happily married, had it all -- and then she learned that she…
had a malignant tumor in her breast. Written with wit, warmth, and soul searching honesty, First, You Cry is the inspiring, true story about how one woman transformed the most terrifying ordeal of her life into a new beginning. Now with a new introduction and epilogue, this unique memoir serves as a fascinating retrospective of the twenty-five years since Rollin's first mastectomy and, given the continuing threat of breast cancer, tells a story that will inform all women as it touches them with its honesty and even, humor.You Don't Look Like Anyone I Know
Par Heather Sellers. 2010
An unusual and uncommonly moving family memoir, with a twist that give new meaning to hindsight, insight, and forgiveness. Heather…
Sellers is face-blind-that is, she has prosopagnosia, a rare neurological condition that prevents her from reliably recognizing people's faces. Growing up, unaware of the reason for her perpetual confusion and anxiety, she took what cues she could from speech, hairstyle, and gait. But she sometimes kissed a stranger, thinking he was her boyfriend, or failed to recognize even her own father and mother. She feared she must be crazy. Yet it was her mother who nailed windows shut and covered them with blankets, made her daughter walk on her knees to spare the carpeting, had her practice secret words to use in the likely event of abduction. Her father went on weeklong "fishing trips" (aka benders), took in drifters, wore panty hose and bras under his regular clothes. Heather clung to a barely coherent story of a "normal" childhood in order to survive the one she had. That fairy tale unraveled two decades later when Heather took the man she would marry home to meet her parents and began to discover the truth about her family and about herself. As she came at last to trust her own perceptions, she learned the gift of perspective: that embracing the past as it is allows us to let it go. And she illuminated a deeper truth-that even in the most flawed circumstances, love may be seen and felt. Watch a Video .The Remarkable Life of William Beebe: Explorer And Naturalist
Par Carol Grant Gould. 2004
When William Beebe needed to know what was going on in the depths of the ocean, he had himself lowered…
a half-mile down in a four-foot steel sphere to see-five times deeper than anyone had ever gone in the 1930s. When he wanted to trace the evolution of pheasants in 1910, he trekked on foot through the mountains and jungles of the Far East to locate every species. To decipher the complex ecology of the tropics, he studied the interactions of every creature and plant in a small area from the top down, setting the emerging field of tropical ecology into dynamic motion.William Beebe's curiosity about the natural world was insatiable, and he did nothing by halves. As the first biographer to see the letters and private journals Beebe kept from 1887 until his death in 1962, science writer Carol Grant Gould brings the life and times of this groundbreaking scientist and explorer compellingly to light.From the Galapagos Islands to the jungles of British Guiana, from the Bronx Zoo to the deep seas, Beebe's biography is a riveting adventure. A best-selling author in his own time, Beebe was a fearless explorer and thoughtful scientist who put his life on the line in pursuit of knowledge. The unique glimpses he provided into the complex web of interactions that keeps the earth alive and breathing have inspired generations of conservationists and ecologists. This exciting biography of a great naturalist brings William Beebe at last to the recognition he deserves.Healing Through the Chaos: Practical Care Giving
Par Tandy Elisala. 2014
If you have never been a caregiver, chances are you will become one. One in three people are or will…
become caregivers and most are unprepared. A devastating illness or an unexpected disabling injury can change your life in the blink of an eye. Part self-help and part memoir, Healing Through the Chaos takes an inside look into Tandy's unexpected journey from corporate executive and entrepreneur to full-time caregiver while raising three children as a single mother and simultaneously going through cancer for the third time. This book distills years of wisdom to give you invaluable and practical care giving strategies and an action guide you can use today. This book is for you if: * Saving time, money, stress, and heartache is important to you * You are taking care of a parent, grandparent, or other loved one * You are raising children while providing care for a parent * You anticipate making health care decisions for an aging or ill loved one * You want your wishes known and followed in the event of incapacitation You will learn: * Why your legal, medical and household affairs MUST be in order * Ways to improve communications with medical providers * How to keep loved ones safe; physically, emotionally, and financially * How to avoid mistakes from someone who has been there * The overlooked roles gratitude, humor and self-care play in care giving * Ways to create a legacy that honors your loved ones and much, much more This is a must read and valuable resource you will use time and time again.From Medicine to Manuscript: Doctors with a Literary Legacy
Par Seymour I. Schwartz. 2018
An eminent surgeon, who has written books on the history of medicine and cartography, profiles physicians past and present who…
have also published works in the humanities.Throughout history doctors have felt the need to express themselves in prose and poetry, often on subjects far removed from their medical interests. Renowned surgeon Seymour I. Schwartz felt this same compulsion to write and eventually decided to investigate other authors with a background in medicine. The result is this informative and entertaining compilation of biographical profiles spanning the Middle Ages to the present era.In many cases, literary fame has eclipsed memory of these authors' medical expertise: Most people today talk about Maimonides, Rabelais, Locke, Schiller, Keats, Conan Doyle, and Chekhov because of their literary works, not because they practiced medicine. But the lesser-known individuals are just as interesting in many ways: such people as Cadwallader Colden, the loyalist lieutenant governor of New York during the American Revolution, who wrote the first English history of the Iroquois; Margaret Georgina Todd, author of popular novels in the Victorian era, which promoted the idea of women in medicine; and Rudolph John Chauncey Fisher, who was not only a physician, researcher, and radiologist, but played a role in the Harlem Renaissance as an orator, musician, musical arranger, and literary figure.Concluding with profiles of contemporary doctors who are also respected authors, this diverse collection shows that, despite increasing specialization, medicine and the humanities continue to complement each other to enrich our lives.The Nurses: A Year of Secrets, Drama, and Miracles with the Heroes of the Hospital
Par Alexandra Robbins. 2015
A New York Times bestseller. “A funny, intimate, and often jaw-dropping account of life behind the scenes.”—PeopleNurses is the compelling…
story of the year in the life of four nurses, and the drama, unsung heroism, and unique sisterhood of nursing—one of the world’s most important professions (nurses save lives every day), and one of the world’s most dangerous, filled with violence, trauma, and PTSD. In following four nurses, Alexandra Robbins creates sympathetic characters while diving deep into their world of controlled chaos. It’s a world of hazing—“nurses eat their young.” Sex—not exactly like on TV, but surprising just the same. Drug abuse—disproportionately a problem among the best and the brightest, and a constant temptation. And bullying—by peers, by patients, by hospital bureaucrats, and especially by doctors, an epidemic described as lurking in the “shadowy, dark corners of our profession.” The result is a page-turning, shocking look at our health-care system.The Watcher: Jane Goodall's Life with the Chimps
Par Jeanette Winter. 2011
Acclaimed picture book biographer Jeanette Winter has found her perfect subject: Jane Goodall, the great observer of chimpanzees. Follow Jane…
from her childhood in London watching a robin on her windowsill, to her years in the African forests of Gombe, Tanzania, invited by brilliant scientist Louis Leakey to observe chimps, to her worldwide crusade to save these primates who are now in danger of extinction, and their habitat. Young animal lovers and Winter's many fans will welcome this fascinating and moving portrait of an extraordinary person and the animals to whom she has dedicated her life.From the Hardcover edition.Rebel Genius: Warren S. McCulloch's Transdisciplinary Life in Science
Par Tara Abraham. 2016
Warren S. McCulloch (1898--1969) adopted many identities in his scientific life -- among them philosopher, poet, neurologist, neurophysiologist, neuropsychiatrist, collaborator,…
theorist, cybernetician, mentor, engineer. He was, writes Tara Abraham in this account of McCulloch's life and work, "an intellectual showman," and performed this part throughout his career. While McCulloch claimed a common thread in his work was the problem of mind and its relationship to the brain, there was much more to him than that. In Rebel Genius, Abraham uses McCulloch's life as a window on a past scientific age, showing the complex transformations that took place in American brain and mind science in the twentieth century -- particularly those surrounding the cybernetics movement.Abraham describes McCulloch's early work in neuropsychiatry, and his emerging identity as a neurophysiologist. She explores his transformative years at the Illinois Neuropsychiatric Institute and his work with Walter Pitts -- often seen as the first iteration of "artificial intelligence" but here described as stemming from the new tradition of mathematical treatments of biological problems. Abraham argues that McCulloch's dual identities as neuropsychiatrist and cybernetician are inseparable. He used the authority he gained in traditional disciplinary roles as a basis for posing big questions about the brain and mind as a cybernetician. When McCulloch moved to the Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT, new practices for studying the brain, grounded in mathematics, philosophy, and theoretical modeling, expanded the relevance and ramifications of his work. McCulloch's transdisciplinary legacies anticipated today's multidisciplinary field of cognitive science.Naturalists, Explorers and Field Scientists in South-East Asia and Australasia
Par Indraneil Das, Andrew Alek Tuen. 2016
"Alfred Russel Wallace- His Predecessors and Successors. Naturalists, Explorers and Field Scientists in South-east Asia and Australasia. An International Conference"…
will be the premier forum for the presentation of new advances and research results in the fields of studies on Alfred Russel Wallace and other natural historians, past and present, as well as contemporary research on South-east Asian and Australasian biological diversity. The conference will bring together leading researchers including biologists, ecologists, zoologists, botanists, geologists, anthropologists, social scientists and others from around the world. Topics of interest include, but are not limited to: history of biology, biodiversity, anthropology, geology, conservation, ecosystem management, environmental impact assessments, environmental law, environmental policies, landscape management and habitat restoration and management.Lost in Math: How Beauty Leads Physics Astray
Par Sabine Hossenfelder. 2018
A contrarian argues that modern physicists' obsession with beauty has given us wonderful math but bad science Whether pondering black…
holes or predicting discoveries at CERN, physicists believe the best theories are beautiful, natural, and elegant, and this standard separates popular theories from disposable ones. This is why, Sabine Hossenfelder argues, we have not seen a major breakthrough in the foundations of physics for more than four decades. The belief in beauty has become so dogmatic that it now conflicts with scientific objectivity: observation has been unable to confirm mindboggling theories, like supersymmetry or grand unification, invented by physicists based on aesthetic criteria. Worse, these "too good to not be true" theories are actually untestable and they have left the field in a cul-de-sac. To escape, physicists must rethink their methods. Only by embracing reality as it is can science discover the truth.Intellectual Pursuits of Nicolas Rashevsky
Par Maya M. Shmailov. 2016
Who was Nicolas Rashevsky? To answer that question, this book draws on Rashevsky's unexplored personal archival papers and shares interviews…
with his family, students and friends, as well as discussions with biologists and mathematical biologists, to flesh out and complete the picture. "Most modern-day biologists have never heard of Rashevsky. Why?" In what constitutes the first detailed biography of theoretical physicist Nicolas Rashevsky (1899-1972), spanning key aspects of his long scientific career, the book captures Rashevsky's ways of thinking about the place mathematical biology should have in biology and his personal struggle for the acceptance of his views. It brings to light the tension between mathematicians, theoretical physicists and biologists when it comes to the introduction of physico-mathematical tools into biology. Rashevsky's successes and failures in his efforts to establish mathematical biology as a subfield of biology provide an important test case for understanding the role of theory (in particular mathematics) in understanding the natural world. With the biological sciences moving towards new vistas of inter- and multi-disciplinary collaborations and research programs, the book will appeal to a wide readership ranging from historians, sociologists, and ethnographers of American science and culture to students and general readers with an interest in the history of the life sciences, mathematical biology and the social construction of science.Upstream: Searching for Wild Salmon, from River to Table
Par Langdon Cook. 2017
From the award-winning author of The Mushroom Hunters comes the story of an iconic fish, perhaps the last great wild…
food: salmon. For some, a salmon evokes the distant wild, thrashing in the jaws of a hungry grizzly bear on TV. For others, it’s the catch of the day on a restaurant menu, or a deep red fillet at the market. For others still, it’s the jolt of adrenaline on a successful fishing trip. Our fascination with these superlative fish is as old as humanity itself. Long a source of sustenance among native peoples, salmon is now more popular than ever. Fish hatcheries and farms serve modern appetites with a domesticated “product”—while wild runs of salmon dwindle across the globe. How has this once-abundant resource reached this point, and what can we do to safeguard wild populations for future generations? Langdon Cook goes in search of the salmon in Upstream, his timely and in-depth look at how these beloved fish have nourished humankind through the ages and why their destiny is so closely tied to our own. Cook journeys up and down salmon country, from the glacial rivers of Alaska to the rainforests of the Pacific Northwest to California’s drought-stricken Central Valley and a wealth of places in between. Reporting from remote coastlines and busy city streets, he follows today’s commercial pipeline from fisherman’s net to corporate seafood vendor to boutique marketplace. At stake is nothing less than an ancient livelihood. But salmon are more than food. They are game fish, wildlife spectacle, sacred totem, and inspiration—and their fate is largely in our hands. Cook introduces us to tribal fishermen handing down an age-old tradition, sport anglers seeking adventure and a renewed connection to the wild, and scientists and activists working tirelessly to restore salmon runs. In sharing their stories, Cook covers all sides of the debate: the legacy of overfishing and industrial development; the conflicts between fishermen, environmentalists, and Native Americans; the modern proliferation of fish hatcheries and farms; and the longstanding battle lines of science versus politics, wilderness versus civilization. This firsthand account—reminiscent of the work of John McPhee and Mark Kurlansky—is filled with the keen insights and observations of the best narrative writing. Cook offers an absorbing portrait of a remarkable fish and the many obstacles it faces, while taking readers on a fast-paced fishing trip through salmon country. Upstream is an essential look at the intersection of man, food, and nature.Praise for Upstream“Passionate . . . Cook deftly conveys his love of nature, the beauty of the Pacific Northwest, and the delectable eating provided by fresh caught wild salmon.”—Library Journal “Insightful . . . this work is a great place to learn what needs to done—and an entertaining view on the positive and negative connections humans have with the natural environment.”—Publishers Weekly“Langdon Cook delivers a beautifully written portrait of the iconic salmon that blends history, biology, contentious politics, and the joy of fishing into a captivating and thought-provoking tale.”—Eric Jay Dolin, author of Brilliant Beacons“Salmon are the essence of the Pacific Northwest, and as Langdon Cook shows so powerfully, they are the key to its future."—Rowan Jacobsen, author of The Essential Oyster“In this fresh tale of an ancient wonder, Langdon Cook takes us on an inspired journey of discovery through the heart and soul of salmon country.”—David R. Montgomery, author of King of Fish and Growing a RevolutionWhat Fanon Said: A Philosophical Introduction to His Life and Thought
Par Lewis R. Gordon. 2015
Antiblack racism avows reason is white while emotion, and thus supposedly unreason, is black. Challenging academic adherence to this notion,…
Lewis R. Gordon offers a portrait of Martinican-turned-Algerian revolutionary psychiatrist and philosopher Frantz Fanon as an exemplar of "livingthought" against forms of reason marked by colonialism and racism. Working from his own translations of the original French texts, Gordon critically engages everything in Fanon from dialectics, ethics, existentialism, and humanism to philosophical anthropology, phenomenology, and political theory aswell as psychiatry and psychoanalysis. Gordon takes into account scholars from across the Global South to address controversies around Fanon's writings on gender and sexuality as well as political violence and the social underclass. In doing so, he confronts the replication of a colonial and racist geography of reason, allowing theoristsfrom the Global South to emerge as interlocutors alongside northern ones in a move that exemplifies what, Gordon argues, Fanon represented in his plea to establish newer and healthier human relationships beyond colonial paradigms.