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Books > Biography > Science, technology & engineering
Die Polisie se slim en gewilde forensiese deskundige kry skielik 'n openbare skadu toe 'n koerantberig met die ergste naamskending denkbaar verskyn. Volgens oudkaptein Dirk Coetzee van die Polisie se eenheid by Vlakplaas het Neethling middels voorsien om mense aan die slaap te maak of te vermoor. Neethling wen uiteindelik 'n lastersaak, maar die vrae bly spook. Wie was die weeskind wat in September 1948 uit 'n verpletterde Duitsland in Kaapstad aangekom het? Die skrywer en akademikus Annette Jordaan het jare later eers uitgevind dat Lothar nie haar biologiese ouboet is nie. Self het hy min oor sy herkoms vertel, dus steun sy op karige bronne vir die rekonstruksie van sy lewe. Mens lees van Paul Tietz wat in die oorlog geveg het, van Hedwig en haar suster wat met hul kinders voor die Russiese leers uit gevlug het, van aanhoudende honger en ontbering en van die begrafnis van 'n bababoetie in 'n woud. Albei ouers sterf, en in 1948 breek 'n nuwe bedeling vir die Duitse weeskinders en vir Suid-Afrika aan. Lothar is deur 'n vurige Afrikaner-nasionalis en sy vrou aangeneem. Hy het vinnig gepresteer, op 'n jong ouderdom twee doktorsgrade behaal en die Polisie se forensiese laboratorium tot een van die bestes ter wereld ontwikkel - die plek waar gif glo ook vervaardig is. Met sy dood in 2005 stroom boodskappe van meelewing en waardering in. En Dirk Coetzee se dis die beste nuus wat hy in jare gehoor het. Wie was Lothar Neethling dan? Uiteindelik praat 'n lewe self.
James Douglas (1753-1819) was a polymath, well ahead of his time in
both the fields of archaeology and earth-sciences. His examinations
of fossils from the London Clay and other geological formations
caused him to conclude that the Earth was much older than the 4004
BC allotted to it by his contemporaries. He had come to this
conclusion by 1785 and published these findings in that year, long
before other researchers in the same field. His Nenia Britannica,
published in 1793, reveals a remarkably accurate grasp of the
dating of Anglo- Saxon burials; further illuminated by the contents
of his common-place book for 1814-16, discovered by the author in a
second-hand bookshop. This common-place book, correspondence with
his contemporaries and other sources resulted in the present
publication recounting his archaeological and other activities in
Sussex during the first two decades of the 19th century.
Francois Arago, the first to show in 1810 that the surface of the
Sun and stars is made of incandescent gas and not solid or liquid,
was a prominent physicist of the 19th century. He used his
considerable influence to help Fresnel, Ampere and others develop
their ideas and make themselves known. This book covers his
personal contributions to physics, astronomy, geodesy and
oceanography, which are far from negligible, but insufficiently
known. Arago was also an important and influential political man
who, for example, abolished slavery in the French colonies. One of
the last humanists, he had a very broad culture and range of
interests. In parallel to his biography, this title also covers the
spectacular progresses of science at the time of Arago, especially
in France: the birth of physical optics, electromagnetism and
thermodynamics. Francois Arago's life is a fascinating epic tale
that reads as a novel.
Vladimir Maz'ya (born 1937) is an outstanding mathematician who
systematically made fundamental contributions to a wide array of
areas in mathematical analysis and in the theory of partial
differential equations. In this fascinating book he describes the
first thirty years of his life. He starts with the story of his
family, speaks about his childhood, high school and university
years, describe his formative years as a mathematician. Behind the
author's personal recollections, with his own joys, sorrows and
hopes, one sees a vivid picture of the time. He speaks warmly about
his friends, both outside and inside mathematics. The author
describes the awakening of his passion for mathematics and his
early achievements. He mentions a number of mathematicians who
influenced his professional life. The book is written in a readable
and inviting way sometimes with a touch of humor. It can be of
interest for a very broad readership.
This book is a volume in the Penn Press Anniversary Collection. To
mark its 125th anniversary in 2015, the University of Pennsylvania
Press rereleased more than 1,100 titles from Penn Press's
distinguished backlist from 1899-1999 that had fallen out of print.
Spanning an entire century, the Anniversary Collection offers
peer-reviewed scholarship in a wide range of subject areas.
Samuel Smiles published his "Lives of the Engineers" in 1862,
presenting engineers as heroic characters, conquering nature and
often overcoming impossible problems on their way to success. He
also invented much of it, so while an interesting historical
document, it must be taken with a pinch of salt. Anthony Burton has
turned his attention to a new book collating the lives of the great
engineers of the 18th and 19th centuries, the extraordinary men who
made the industrial revolution possible. This definitive study
investigates the common themes that run between each man's story,
and how they learned from one another, truly standing on the
shoulders of giants. This book presents ten incredible engineers:
Jack Metcalf, James Brindley, John Smeaton, William Jessop, John
Rennie, Thomas Telford, James Watt, Richard Trevithick, George and
Robert Stephenson, and Isambard Brunel.
The discovery of insulin at the University of Toronto in 1921-2 was
one of the most dramatic events in the history of the treatment of
disease. Insulin, discovered by the Canadian research team of
Frederick Banting, Charles Best, James Collip, and John Macleod,
was a wonder drug with the ability to bring diabetes patients back
from the brink of death. It was no surprise that in 1923 the Nobel
Prize for Medicine was awarded for its discovery. In this engaging
and award-winning account, historian Michael Bliss draws on
archival records and personal adventures to recount the fascinating
story behind the discovery of insulin - a story as much filled with
fiery confrontation and intense competition as medical dedication
and scientific genius. With a new preface by Michael Bliss and a
foreword by Alison Li, the special centenary edition of The
Discovery of Insulin honours the one hundredth anniversary of
insulin's discovery and its continued significance a century later.
The Finnish mathematician and astronomer Anders Johan Lexell
(1740-1784) was a long-time close collaborator as well as the
academic successor of Leonhard Euler at the Imperial Academy of
Sciences in Saint Petersburg. Lexell was initially invited by Euler
from his native town of Abo (Turku) in Finland to Saint Petersburg
to assist in the mathematical processing of the astronomical data
of the forthcoming transit of Venus of 1769. A few years later he
became an ordinary member of the Academy. This is the first-ever
full-length biography devoted to Lexell and his prolific scientific
output. His rich correspondence especially from his grand tour to
Germany, France and England reveals him as a lucid observer of the
intellectual landscape of enlightened Europe. In the skies, a
comet, a minor planet and a crater on the Moon named after Lexell
also perpetuate his memory.
With a Foreword by Sydney Brenner (Nobel laureate in Physiology or
Medicine, 2002)This biography details the life of Paul Berg
(Emeritus Professor at Stanford University), tracing Berg's life
from birth, in 1926, to the present, with special emphasis on his
enormous scientific contributions, including being the first to
develop technology that led to gene cloning science. In 1980, Berg
received a Nobel Prize in chemistry for this work.In addition to
his contributions in the research laboratory, Berg orchestrated and
oversaw a historic meeting at Asilomar, California that centered on
a threatening controversy surrounding the perception by some of the
harmful potential of recombinant DNA technology. This meeting did
much to forestall this controversy and to put in place the
regulation of recombinant DNA work, thus putting fears to rest.The
recombinant DNA controversy was a historic outcome of the discovery
of gene cloning. Notably, it represented a paramount example of
scientific foresight and due diligence by the scientific community,
rather than by regulatory entities in the United States and many
other countries. The ultimate acceptance of gene/DNA cloning led to
a new era of modern biology that thrives to the present.This book
is aimed primarily at scientists and those in training. The book
strives to simply provide information for the general reader, but
is not specifically tailored for a general reading audience.While
many books cover the recombinant DNA controversy, none have
satisfactorily addressed this historic period and are often
contradictory about the many who's, where's, and why's involved.
Additionally, the great majority of these were written by
non-scientists. This biography of Paul Berg provides access to
numerous archived letters and documents at Stanford University not
previously addressed, and to the chronology of events as recalled
and documented by him, as well as other key personalities, many of
whom were interviewed.
Most people will, at some point or another, either find themselves
dressed in a tiny hospital gown or staring at someone else dressed
in a tiny hospital gown. Whether from the perspective of a patient,
a family member, or a medical professional, we all have a
significant stake in the process of medical education. While
numerous memoirs recount physicians' grueling experiences during
residency, few focus on the even more formative portion of medical
training: the third year of medical school-the clinical year. Short
White Coat: Lessons from Patients on Becoming a Doctor is the
disarmingly honest, yet endearing and sometimes funny account of a
medical student's humbling initiation into the world of patient
care.
Written during his third year of medical school at the
University of Pennsylvania, James Feinstein's Short White Coat uses
a series of engaging narrative essays to illustrate the universal
life lessons that his very first patients teach him. He gracefully
examines some of the most common issues and feelings that medical
students encounter while learning how to meet, talk with, touch,
and care for their patients. Along the way, he learns from his own
mistakes before discovering the answer to the question that plagues
every medical student: "Do I have what it takes to become a
doctor?"
As a practising mortician, Caitlin Doughty has long been fascinated
by our pervasive terror of dead bodies. In From Here to Eternity
she sets out in search of cultures unburdened by such fears. With
curiosity and morbid humour, Doughty introduces us to inspiring
death-care innovators, participates in powerful death practices
almost entirely unknown in the West and explores new spaces for
mourning - including a futuristic glowing-Buddha columbarium in
Japan, a candlelit Mexican cemetery, and America's only open-air
pyre. In doing so she expands our sense of what it means to treat
the dead with 'dignity' and reveals unexpected possibilities for
our own death rituals.
Mohamud Ege grew up in the heat and dust of northern Somalia, the
son of a family of nomads who were kept constantly on the move by
the need to find water and grazing for the camels and sheep which
were their only possessions. When Mohamud was five, his father was
killed by a snake. A wise uncle then suggested that Mohamud, alone
of his family, should go to school - a rare privilege in their
culture. To attend school, Mohamud had to sleep on a rush mat,
survive for long periods on nothing but pancakes and do his
homework by moonlight. The hardships did not prevent him from
discovering the joy of reading books and developing a keen appetite
for learning. By the time he was in his teens he was determined to
break free of the poverty of the nomad life and become a doctor in
the West. Thanks to hard work and help from his friends he managed
to qualify as one of Somalia's first doctors, but he had to battle
the strife and unrest of his native land, as well as prejudice and
red tape from those in authority, for more than twenty years before
he finally managed to qualify as a doctor in the UK. This is his
story.
'This book will stay with me for years.' - Adam Kay, author of This
Is Going to Hurt What happens to pregnant women when a humanitarian
catastrophe strikes? Belly Woman shines a light on a story often
left untold. May, 2014. Sierra Leone is ranked the country with the
highest death rate of pregnant women in the world. The same month,
Ebola crosses in from neighbouring Guinea. Arriving a few weeks
later, Dr Benjamin Black finds himself at the centre of an
exponential Ebola outbreak. From impossible decisions on the
maternity ward to moral dilemmas at the Ebola Treatment Centres.
One mistake, one error of judgment, could spell disaster. An
eye-opening work of reportage and advocacy, Belly Woman chronicles
the inside journey through an unfolding global health crisis and
the struggle to save the lives of young mothers. As Black reckons
with the demons of the past, he must try to learn the lessons for a
different, more resilient, future. 'A must-read for our times -
riveting, illuminating and humbling.' - Aminatta Forna, author of
The Memory of Love and The Devil That Danced on the Water
Lhwyd, the illegitimate son of a father ruined by the Civil War,
had to make his own way in the world. A competent botanist before
going up to Oxford as a student, he spent much time there at the
Botanical Garden before being appointed to the newly established
Ashmolean Museum, where he became its second Keeper. This biography
traces the development of his research interests from botany to
palaeontology - and then to antiquarian studies, which led to him
studying the Celtic languages as a source of linguistic evidence in
historical studies. Thus he became the founder of Celtic Studies.
Lhwyd's diverse research interests were underpinned by an
evidence-led methodology - the collection (by personal observation
where possible) of material, which would then be classified as a
preliminary to drawing conclusions - and, as such, his is a
valuable contribution to the history of science.
This book, for a broad readership, examines the young Einstein from
a variety of perspectives - personal, scientific, historical, and
philosophical.
A New Statesman Book of the Year for 2017
His father conceived of the Brooklyn Bridge, but it was Washington Roebling who built this iconic feat of human engineering after his father's tragic death. It has stood for more than 130 years and is now as much a part of New York as the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building. Yet, as recognisable as the bridge is, its builder is too often forgotten.
The Chief Engineer is a brilliant examination of the life of one of America's most distinguished engineers. Roebling's experience as an engineer building bridges in the Union Army during the civil War has never before been documented, and played a central role in the bridge that links Brooklyn and Manhattan. The Brooklyn Bridge took fourteen dramatic years to complete, and the personal story that lay behind that construction is told here for the first time.
The Chief Engineer is an engaging portrait of a brilliant and driven man, and of the era in which he lived. Meticulously researched, and written with revealing archival material only recently uncovered, including Washington Roebling's own memoir that was previously thought to be lost to history, in The Chief Engineer Erica Wagner relates the fascinating history of the bridge and its maker.
"Transformative...[Taylor's] experience...will shatter [your] own
perception of the world."-ABC News The astonishing New York Times
bestseller that chronicles how a brain scientist's own stroke led
to enlightenment On December 10, 1996, Jill Bolte Taylor, a
thirty-seven- year-old Harvard-trained brain scientist experienced
a massive stroke in the left hemisphere of her brain. As she
observed her mind deteriorate to the point that she could not walk,
talk, read, write, or recall any of her life-all within four
hours-Taylor alternated between the euphoria of the intuitive and
kinesthetic right brain, in which she felt a sense of complete
well-being and peace, and the logical, sequential left brain, which
recognized she was having a stroke and enabled her to seek help
before she was completely lost. It would take her eight years to
fully recover. For Taylor, her stroke was a blessing and a
revelation. It taught her that by "stepping to the right" of our
left brains, we can uncover feelings of well-being that are often
sidelined by "brain chatter." Reaching wide audiences through her
talk at the Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conference and
her appearance on Oprah's online Soul Series, Taylor provides a
valuable recovery guide for those touched by brain injury and an
inspiring testimony that inner peace is accessible to anyone.
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