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Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > Science, technology & engineering
Andrew T. Still, the founder of osteopathic medicine, reveals how
he matured into a medical pioneer from humble beginnings in the
rural frontier of the United States. Beginning with his upbringing
in rural Missouri, we witness how Still became accustomed to
practicality at a young age. At the time he was a boy in the 1840s,
the area he and his family lived in was barely settled - many basic
public amenities such as hospitals and schools simply did not
exist. Still's father became the local doctor, and would introduce
his son to the medicine. The outbreak of the American Civil War in
the 1860s disrupted the young Still's apprenticeship in medicine
and surgery, although he gained valuable experience treating sick
and wounded soldiers as a hospital steward. During and after the
war, Still was astonished at how ineffectual so many medical
techniques were - this, coupled with researches and a further
course in medicine, spurred him to create the science of
osteopathy.
The extraordinary life of Bernard Lovell began before the First
World War and his story encompasses many of the great events of
last hundred years: the Second World War, the invention of radio
astronomy, the space race, the Moon landings, the exploration of
the Solar System, the Cold War, the Cuban missile crisis and the
defence of Britain against nuclear attack. It can now be revealed
that he was also a spy. "He ranks as one of the great visionary
leaders of science," Martin Rees, the Astronomer Royal, said of
him. The great radio telescope which Lovell built became and
remains one of the most important scientific instruments in the
World. The Jodrell Bank Observatory and the Lovell Telescope have
held their place at the frontier of research for fifty five years.
This book seeks to explore succinctly and accessibly Lovell's life
and achievements in the scientific and political context of the
time. His legacy remains great, as can be seen from the extensive
media coverage and personal tributes that his death in 2012
attracted all over the world. With the seventieth anniversaries of
many wartime events in which he played a crucial role, as well as
the recent declassification of information relating to his
activities as an agent in the Cold War, this biography is sure to
have a broad and timely interest.
Winner of the Pulitzer Prize, published to exceptional reviews in both the US and the UK, American Prometheus is as compelling a work of biography as it is a significant work of history.
Physicist and polymath, as familiar with Hindu scriptures as he was with quantum mechanics, J. Robert Oppenheimer - director of the Manhattan Project that developed the atomic bomb - was the most famous scientist of his generation.
In their meticulous and riveting biography, Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin reveal a brilliant, ambitious, complex and flawed man, profoundly involved with some of the momentous events of the twentieth century.
THE NO.1 SUNDAY TIMES BESTSELLER 'A beautiful little book by a
brilliant mind' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Effortlessly instructive,
absorbing, up to the minute and - where it matters - witty'
GUARDIAN The world-famous cosmologist and #1 bestselling author of
A Brief History of Time leaves us with his final thoughts on the
universe's biggest questions in this brilliant posthumous work. Is
there a God? How did it all begin? Can we predict the future? What
is inside a black hole? Is there other intelligent life in the
universe? Will artificial intelligence outsmart us? How do we shape
the future? Will we survive on Earth? Should we colonise space? Is
time travel possible? Throughout his extraordinary career, Stephen
Hawking expanded our understanding of the universe and unravelled
some of its greatest mysteries. But even as his theoretical work on
black holes, imaginary time and multiple histories took his mind to
the furthest reaches of space, Hawking always believed that science
could also be used to fix the problems on our planet. And now, as
we face potentially catastrophic changes here on Earth - from
climate change to dwindling natural resources to the threat of
artificial super-intelligence - Stephen Hawking turns his attention
to the most urgent issues for humankind. Wide-ranging,
intellectually stimulating, passionately argued, and infused with
his characteristic humour, Brief Answers to the Big Questions, the
final book from one of the greatest minds in history, is a personal
view on the challenges we face as a human race, and where we, as a
planet, are heading next. A percentage of all royalties will go to
charity.
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