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Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > Science, technology & engineering
In January of 1999, the arrest of Wen Ho Lee, the Los Alamos scientist who was falsely accused under a cloud of suspicion of espionage by the U.S. government and imprisoned without trial, sparked controversy throughout the country. It triggered concern for national security, debate about racial profiling and media distortion, and outrage over a return to McCarthy-era paranoia. Throughout the ordeal, Wen Ho Lee quietly and steadfastly maintained his innocence. Now he tells his story. This compelling narrative takes readers inside Los Alamos, revealing how violations of national security were ubiquitous throughout the weapons lab. Dr. Lee describes how the FBI infiltrated his private life -- spying on him for nearly two decades. He relates his own anti-Communist stance, the results of tragic events from his past, and explains how he even assisted the FBI, protecting nuclear secrets. He details his brutal treatment in jail, and how such treatment, without factual justification, is protected under U.S. law. Finally Dr. Lee explains why he downloaded codes, demonstrating once and for all that he was innocent of every charge leveled against him except for one simple procedure common throughout the lab. A riveting story about prejudice, fear, suspicion -- and courage -- My Country Versus Me offers at last a clear and truthful account of one of the great miscarriages of justice of our time.
Fritz Muller (1821-1897), though not as well known as his colleague Charles Darwin, belongs in the cohort of great nineteenthcentury naturalists. In Darwin's Man in Brazil, David A. West recovers Muller's legacy. He describes the close intellectual kinship between Muller and Darwin, detailing a lively correspondence spanning seventeen years, in which the two men often discussed new research topics and exchanged ideas. Darwin frequently praised Muller's powers of observation and interpretation, counting him among those scientists whose opinions he valued most. A free thinker who refused to sign the Christian oaths required of teachers in Prussia, Muller emigrated to Brazil in 1852 to become a pioneer farmer researching tropical biology. In the 1860s he reorganized his biological research in order to test Darwin's theory of evolution. Conducting field studies to answer questions generated from a Darwinian perspective, Muller was unique among naturalists testing Darwin's theory of natural selection because he investigated an enormous diversity of plants and animals rather than a relatively narrow range of taxa. Despite the importance and scope of his work, however, Muller is known for relatively few of his discoveries. West remedies this oversight, chronicling the life and work of this remarkable and overlooked man of science.
Discover the exhilarating true story of Ernest Shackleton's legendary Antarctic expedition Told through the words of the world's greatest living explorer, Sir Ranulph Fiennes - one of the only men to understand his experience first-hand . . . 'For anyone with a passion for polar exploration, this is a must read' NEW YORK TIMES 'THE definitive book on Shackleton and no one could have done it better . . . an authentic account by one of the few men who truly knows what it's like to challenge Antarctica' LORRAINE KELLY _________ In 1915, Sir Ernest Shackleton's attempt to be the first to traverse the Antarctic was cut short when his ship, Endurance, became trapped in ice. He and his crew should have died. Instead, through a long, dark winter, Shackleton fought back: enduring sub-zero temperatures, a perilous lifeboat journey across icy seas, and a murderous march over glaciers to seek help. Shackleton's epic trek is one of history's most enthralling adventures. But who was he? How did previous Antarctic expeditions and his rivalry with Captain Scott forge him? And what happened afterwards to the man many believed was invincible? In this astonishing account, Fiennes brings the story vividly to life in a book that is part celebration, part vindication and all adventure. _________ 'Fiennes makes a fine guide on voyage into Shackleton's world . . . What makes this book so engaging is the author's own storytelling skills' Irish Independent 'Fiennes relates these tales of exploration and survival, adding insight to Shackleton's journeys unlike any other biographer' Radio Times Praise for Sir Ranulph Fiennes: 'The World's Greatest Living Explorer' Guinness Book of Records 'Full of awe-inspiring details of hardship, resolve and weather that defies belief, told by someone of unique authority. No one is more tailor-made to tell [this] story than Sir Ranulph Fiennes' Newsday 'Fiennes' own experiences certainly allow him to write vividly and with empathy of the hell that the men went through' Sunday Times 'Fiennes brings the promised perspective of one who has been there, illuminating Shackleton's actions by comparing them with his own. Beginners to the Heroic Age will enjoy this volume, as will serious polar adventurers seeking advice. For all readers, it's a tremendous story' Sara Wheeler, The Wall Street Journal
Michael Baum is recognised as a world authority on breast cancer and surgery. In 2007 he was awarded the St.Gallen prize, the most prestigious award worldwide for breast cancer research. This book is the story of his life, his work and his mission. Part autobiography, part anti-establishment polemic, part scientific empirical dialogue, Breast Beating recounts the story of Michael's extraordinarily gifted family, his attachment and adherence to the Jewish faith, and on a wider scale his profound love for human kind. He propounds his appreciation for the arts, music and the finer things of life. Michael is a man of science and medicine. Having qualified as a surgeon and reached the top of his profession, his career path also led him into battle against breast cancer wherein with colleagues he developed a number of clinical trials that changed the way breast cancer patients were treated. His research, operations and knowledge have contributed to the improvement in care for cancer sufferers worldwide, and have saved many lives. Michael's steadfastly scientific way of thinking with his knowledge firmly grounded in fact and not hypothesis has recently led him into confrontation with Prince Charles and other proponents of homeopathy and alternative medicine. In this book he explains just how and why he holds such strong opinions and beliefs both from a professional and personal point of view.
This is a revealing account of the family life and achievements of the Third Earl of Rosse, a hereditary peer and resident landlord at Birr Castle, County Offaly, in nineteenth-century Ireland, before, during and after the devastating famine of the 1840s. He was a remarkable engineer, who built enormous telescopes in the cloudy middle of Ireland. The book gives details, in an attractive non-technical style which requires no previous scientific knowledge, of his engineering initiatives and the astronomical results, but also reveals much more about the man and his contributions - locally in the town and county around Birr, in political and other functions in an Ireland administered by the Protestant Ascendancy, in the development and activities of the Royal Society, of which he was President from 1848-54, and the British Association for the Advancement of Science. The Countess of Rosse, who receives full acknowledgement in the book, was a woman of many talents, among which was her pioneering work in photography, and the book includes reproductions of her artistic exposures, and many other attractive illustrations. -- .
Peter Danckwerts was brilliant, witty and wise. A hero of the London Blitz, disarming parachute mines at 23, Danckwerts later turned his sharp intellect to chemical processing, studying at MIT to find out how the Americans did it. Back in the UK at Cambridge University he made an international reputation for himself as an innovator. This biography covers his interest in wine, women and song, as well as his wide grasp of things scientific and the great sympathy and generosity he showed to his colleagues and many friends. 'An elegant exposition of the social, technical and sometimes turbulent life and times of this gentle and considerate man': Bernard Atkinson, ex-ceo Brewing Research Foundation International. 'Captures Danckwerts' disconcertingly complex and essentially private nature while showing how he provided a large part of the thinking which makes chemical engineering a distinct discipline': Roland Clift, executive director of the International Society for Industrial Ecology and emeritus professor at the University of Surrey, UK.
From New York Times bestselling author and blogger Heather B. Armstrong comes an honest and irreverent memoir--reminiscent of the New York Times bestseller Brain on Fire--about her experience as the third person ever to participate in an experimental treatment for depression involving ten rounds of a chemically induced coma approximating brain death. For years, Heather B. Armstrong has alluded to her struggle with depression on her website, dooce. It's scattered throughout her archive, where it weaves its way through posts about pop culture, music, and motherhood. In 2016, Heather found herself in the depths of a depression she just couldn't shake, an episode darker and longer than anything she had previously experienced. She had never felt so discouraged by the thought of waking up in the morning, and it threatened to destroy her life. For the sake of herself and her family, Heather decided to risk it all by participating in an experimental clinical trial. Now, for the first time, Heather recalls the torturous eighteen months of suicidal depression she endured and the month-long experimental study in which doctors used propofol anesthesia to quiet all brain activity for a full fifteen minutes before bringing her back from a flatline. Ten times. The experience wasn't easy. Not for Heather or her family. But a switch was flipped, and Heather hasn't experienced a single moment of suicidal depression since. "Breathtakingly honest" (Lisa Genova, New York Times bestselling author), self-deprecating, and scientifically fascinating, The Valedictorian of Being Dead brings to light a groundbreaking new treatment for depression. The Valedictorian of Being Dead was previously published with the subtitle "The True Story of Dying Ten Times to Live."
'Indecently entertaining.' A Daily Mail Book of the Week An Amazon US Best Book of 2022 'A fascinating tale of poisons and poisonous deeds which both educates and entertains.' - Kathy Reichs As any reader of murder mysteries can tell you, poison is one of the most enduring - and popular - weapons of choice for a scheming murderer. It can be slipped into a drink, smeared onto the tip of an arrow or the handle of a door, even filtered through the air we breathe. But how exactly do these poisons work to break our bodies down, and what can we learn from the damage they inflict? In a fascinating blend of popular science, medical history, and narrative crime nonfiction, Dr Neil Bradbury explores this most morbidly captivating method of murder from a cellular level. Alongside real-life accounts of murderers and their crimes -some notorious, some forgotten, some still unsolved - are the equally compelling stories of the poisons involved: eleven molecules of death that work their way through the human body and, paradoxically, illuminate the way in which our bodies function. Drawn from historical records and current news headlines, A Taste for Poison weaves together the fascinating tales of spurned lovers, shady scientists, medical professionals and political assassins, showing how the precise systems of the body can be impaired to lethal effect through the use of poison. From the deadly origins of the gin & tonic cocktail to the arsenic-laced wallpaper in Napoleon's bedroom, A Taste for Poison leads readers on a fascinating tour of the intricate, complex systems that keep us alive - or don't.
'This is an interesting and bittersweet biography. Elizabeth Alexander was a capable and energetic scientist, but circumstances meant that she was never able to settle down and develop her scientific career. The three years she spent in charge of the Operational Research Section of the Radar Development Laboratory in New Zealand was the only time that Elizabeth held a position of responsibility, and is a clear indication that, had she lived 50 years later, she would have been an effective science leader ... The book outlines the career of a remarkable scientist, and is a significant contribution to the history of several different areas of science. 'Scoop Review of BooksMany women scientists, particularly those who did crucial work in two world wars, have disappeared from history. Until they are written back in, the history of science will continue to remain unbalanced. This book tells the story of Elizabeth Alexander, a pioneering scientist who changed thinking in geology and radio astronomy during WWII and its aftermath.Building on an unpublished diary, recently declassified government records and archive material adding considerably to knowledge about radar developments in the Pacific in WWII, this book also contextualises Elizabeth's academic life in Singapore before the war, and the country's educational and physical reconstruction after it as it moved towards independence.This unique story is a must-read for readers interested in scientific, social and military history during the WWII, historians of geology, radar, as well as scientific biographies.Related Link(s)
This study explores the evolution of Lomonosov's imposing stature in Russian thought from the middle of the eighteenth century to the closing years of the Soviet period. It reveals much about the intersection in Russian culture of attitudes towards the meaning and significance of science, as well as about the rise of a Russian national identity, of which Lomonosov became an outstanding symbol. Idealized depictions of Lomonosov were employed by Russian scientists, historians, and poets, among others, in efforts to affirm to their countrymen and to the state the pragmatic advantages of science to a modernizing nation. In setting forth this assumption, Usitalo notes that no sharply drawn division can be upheld between the utilization of the myth of Lomonosov during the Soviet period of Russian history and that which characterized earlier views. The main elements that formed the mythology were laid down in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries; Soviet scholars simply added more exaggerated layers to existing representations.
Following his blockbuster biography of Steve Jobs, Walter Isaacson’s New York Times bestselling and critically acclaimed The Innovators is a “riveting, propulsive, and at times deeply moving” (The Atlantic) story of the people who created the computer and the internet. What were the talents that allowed certain inventors and entrepreneurs to turn their visionary ideas into disruptive realities? What led to their creative leaps? Why did some succeed and others fail? The Innovators is a masterly saga of collaborative genius destined to be the standard history of the digital revolution—and an indispensable guide to how innovation really happens. Isaacson begins the adventure with Ada Lovelace, Lord Byron’s daughter, who pioneered computer programming in the 1840s. He explores the fascinating personalities that created our current digital revolution, such as Vannevar Bush, Alan Turing, John von Neumann, J.C.R. Licklider, Doug Engelbart, Robert Noyce, Bill Gates, Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, Tim Berners-Lee, and Larry Page. This is the story of how their minds worked and what made them so inventive. It’s also a narrative of how their ability to collaborate and master the art of teamwork made them even more creative. For an era that seeks to foster innovation, creativity, and teamwork, The Innovators is “a sweeping and surprisingly tenderhearted history of the digital age” (The New York Times).
This is the story of Rene M. Caisse of Bracebridge, Canada and describes her extraordinary perseverance to obtain official recognition of her herbal cancer remedy she called Essiac, her name spelled backwards. Rene Caisse was thrust into a life-long medical-legal-political controversy that still persists since her death in 1978. Rene wrestled with the Hepburn government of Ontario over the operation of her Bracebridge cancer clinic during 1935 to 1941 and her use of Essiac. She refused to reveal her secret formula and legislation demanding the recipe forced the closing of her clinic. The government was embroiled in the dilemma of ensuring their public favour and appeasing cancer patients. This documented research presents a biography of a remarkable woman and her struggle to help "suffering humanity."
This is a kaleidoscopic account of the remarkable life story of Alladi Ramakrishnan (1923-2008), an internationally reputed physicist, and the son of Sir Alladi Krishnaswami Iyer (1883-1953), one of India's most eminent jurists.Part I of the autobiography gives a fascinating account his early life in Madras, India during the last decades of British colonial rule, and the leading role played by Sir Alladi in drafting the Constitution of India. Then follows the incredible saga of his creation of MATSCIENCE, The Institute of Mathematical Sciences, in Madras, inspired by his visit to the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, and the result of a Theoretical Physics Seminar which he organized in his family home Ekamra Nivas in Madras, which received the endorsement of Nobel Laureate Niels Bohr, and the support of India's Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.Part II covers the period of Ramakrishnan's term as Director of MATSCIENCE, and his visits to about 200 centres of learning the world over, where he interacted with leading scientists and lectured on his research in the fields of Probability, Stochastic Processes, Elementary Particle Physics, Matrix Theory, and on his novel treatment of Einstein's Special Relativity. Historical photos, letters, and documents of special interest are included.
From his childhood in Waco, Texas, where he took expert care of
nine small cousins while the adults ate Sunday lunch, to Princeton
and an offer from Broadway, to medical and psychoanalytic training,
to the exquisite observations into newborn behavior that led babies
to be seen in an entirely new light, Dr. T. Berry Brazelton's life
has been one of innovation and caring. Known internationally for
the Touchpoints theory of regression and growth in infants and
young children, Brazelton is also credited for bringing the
insights of child development into pediatrics, and for his powerful
advocacy in Congress.
What if you could peer into the minds of an entire population? What if you could target the weakest with rumours that only they saw? In 2016, an obscure British military contractor turned the world upside down. Funded by a billionaire on a crusade to start his own far-right insurgency, Cambridge Analytica combined psychological research with private Facebook data to make an invisible weapon with the power to change what voters perceived as real. The firm was created to launch the then unknown Steve Bannon's ideological assault on America. But as it honed its dark arts in elections from Trinidad to Nigeria, 24-year-old research director Christopher Wylie began to see what he and his colleagues were unleashing. He had heard the disturbing visions of the investors. He saw what CEO Alexander Nix did behind closed doors. When Britain shocked the world by voting to leave the EU, Wylie realised it was time to expose his old associates. The political crime of the century had just taken place - the weapon had been tested - and nobody knew.
Writing a memoir was not only an interesting experience for this Professor of Applied Physics at Stanford University, but it also provided him an opportunity to revisit his past with his sons. The author graduated from Cornell in 1953 in Engineering Physics and received his PhD in Physics in 1956 at the University of Illinois. He was then at the General Electric Research Laboratory until 1965, when he moved to Stanford. He has seen his life transform from a physics student to husband, father, author, professor, scoutmaster, von Humboldt scholar, and sometimes musician. His published books include Pseudopotentials, Solid State Theory, Elementary Electronic Structure, and Applied Quantum Mechanics. Here he draws a parallel with the ancient alchemical goal of transforming lead into gold. The reader will find this engaging memoir rich in anecdotes and stories that constitute the various transformations resulting in what may be called a 'golden experience'.
Writing a memoir was not only an interesting experience for this Professor of Applied Physics at Stanford University, but it also provided him an opportunity to revisit his past with his sons. The author graduated from Cornell in 1953 in Engineering Physics and received his PhD in Physics in 1956 at the University of Illinois. He was then at the General Electric Research Laboratory until 1965, when he moved to Stanford. He has seen his life transform from a physics student to husband, father, author, professor, scoutmaster, von Humboldt scholar, and sometimes musician. His published books include Pseudopotentials, Solid State Theory, Elementary Electronic Structure, and Applied Quantum Mechanics. Here he draws a parallel with the ancient alchemical goal of transforming lead into gold. The reader will find this engaging memoir rich in anecdotes and stories that constitute the various transformations resulting in what may be called a 'golden experience'.
Renowned as one of the greatest creative forces in the world of the automobile, Lotus's Colin Chapman (1928-82) left a mixed legacy. Was he an unparalleled innovator or an uninhibited exploiter of the uncredited ideas of others? In this landmark book, celebrated author Karl Ludvigsen gets to grips with the legend, digging deep beneath the skin of Chapman and his cars to explore and expose the motivations that drove this mercurial and controversial genius. Interviews with key figures in the Chapman story mesh with information from the author's extensive archives to make this book a unique and compelling encounter between the engineer-innovator and the historian-investigator. Originally published in 2010, the book has become a standard text, not only on the man but also on the evolution and design of racing cars. Thus it is being reissued to meet continuing popular demand.
First published in 1978. This biography aims solve the problem of the lack of access to information regarding American engineers and technologists of the nineteenth-century, whilst also providing opportunities for scholars to study and assess the work of hitherto little known, potentially important figures. This title will be of interest to scholars and students of science and history.
First published in 1932. The widespread influence of Gregor Johann Mendel's work and his own remarkable destiny combine to arouse interest in the personality and the life of this investigator who, little known in his lifetime, was one of the pioneers of science. This comprehensive biography of the life and work of Mendel will be of great interest to historians and scientists.
First published in 1963. Humphry Davy, knighted by the Prince Regent in 1812 for his contributions to science, and later created baronet for his invention of the miners' safety lamp, was among the foremost European chemists in the early nineteenth century. Anne Treneer tells in full the story of Humphry Davy's life. From letters, journals and memoirs of the time, Davy and his contemporaries come to life. This title will be of great interest to scientists and historians.
This book, first available in 1994, was published to commemorate the one-hundredth anniversary of Heinrich Hertz's death at the terribly young age of thirty-six. The introductory biography together with eleven papers by Hertz and seven about him are intended to highlight the importance of Hertz's contributions to physics and at the same time to serve the needs of anyone interested in doing research on this highly gifted scientist. |
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