The Pleasure of Finding Things Out is a magnificent treasury of the best short works of Richard P. Feynman,from interviews and speeches to lectures and printed articles. A sweeping, wide-ranging collection, it presents an intimate and fascinating view of a life in science-a life like no other. From his ruminations on science in our culture to his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, this book will fascinate anyone interested in the world of ideas.

This is the definitive edition of the hugely popular collection of Einstein quotations that has sold tens of thousands of copies worldwide and been translated into twenty-five languages.

"The Ultimate Quotable Einstein" features roughly 1,600 quotes in all. This paperback edition includes sections unique to the ultimate collection--"On and to Children," "On Race and Prejudice," and "Einstein's Verses: A Small Selection"--as well as a chronology of Einstein's life and accomplishments, Freeman Dyson's authoritative foreword, and commentary and descriptive source notes by Alice Calaprice.

How did life on Earth originate? Did replication or metabolism come first in the history of life? In the second edition of the acclaimed Origins of Life, distinguished scientist and science writer Freeman Dyson examines these questions and discusses the two main theories that try to explain how naturally occurring chemicals could organize themselves into living creatures. The majority view is that life began with replicating molecules, the precursors of modern genes. The minority belief is that random populations of molecules evolved metabolic activities before exact replication existed and that natural selection drove the evolution of cells toward greater complexity for a long time without the benefit of genes. Dyson analyzes both of these theories with reference to recent important discoveries by geologists and chemists, aiming to stimulate new experiments that could help decide which theory is correct. This second edition covers the impact revolutionary discoveries such as the existence of ribozymes, enzymes made of RNA; the likelihood that many of the most ancient creatures are thermophilic, living in hot environments; and evidence of life in the most ancient of all terrestrial rocks in Greenland have had on our ideas about how life began. It is a clearly written, fascinating book that will appeal to anyone interested in the origins of life.

Among the many constants that appear in mathematics, ?, e, and i are the most familiar. Following closely behind is ?,, or gamma, a constant that arises in many mathematical areas yet maintains a profound sense of mystery. In a tantalizing blend of history and mathematics, Julian Havil takes the reader on a journey through logarithms and the harmonic series, the two defining elements of gamma, toward the first account of gamma's place in mathematics. Introduced by the Swiss mathematician Leonhard Euler (1707-1783), who figures prominently in this book, gamma is defined as the limit of the sum of 1 + 1/2 + 1/3 + ...Up to 1/n, minus the natural logarithm of n--the numerical value being 0.5772156...But unlike its more celebrated colleagues ? and e, the exact nature of gamma remains a mystery--we don't even know if gamma can be expressed as a fraction. Among the numerous topics that arise during this historical odyssey into fundamental mathematical ideas are the Prime Number Theorem and the most important open problem in mathematics today--the Riemann Hypothesis (though no proof of either is offered!). Sure to be popular with not only students and instructors but all math aficionados, Gamma takes us through countries, centuries, lives, and works, unfolding along the way the stories of some remarkable mathematics from some remarkable mathematicians.

Here is the definitive new edition of the hugely popular collection of Einstein quotations that has sold tens of thousands of copies worldwide and been translated into twenty-five languages.

"The Ultimate Quotable Einstein" features 400 additional quotes, bringing the total to roughly 1,600 in all. This ultimate edition includes new sections--"On and to Children," "On Race and Prejudice," and "Einstein's Verses: A Small Selection"--as well as a chronology of Einstein's life and accomplishments, Freeman Dyson's authoritative foreword, and new commentary by Alice Calaprice.

In "The Ultimate Quotable Einstein," readers will also find quotes by others about Einstein along with quotes attributed to him. Every quotation in this informative and entertaining collection is fully documented, and Calaprice has carefully selected new photographs and cartoons to introduce each section.Features 400 additional quotationsContains roughly 1,600 quotations in allIncludes new sections on children, race and prejudice, and Einstein's poetryProvides new commentaryBeautifully illustratedThe most comprehensive collection of Einstein quotes ever published

"An enchanting history of Japanese geometry--of a time and place where 'geometers did not cede place to poets.' This intersection of science and culture, of the mathematical, the artistic, and the spiritual, is packed, like circles within circles, with rewarding Aha! epiphanies that drive a mathematician's curiosity."--Siobhan Roberts, author of "King of Infinite Space"

"Teachers will welcome this remarkable collection of mathematical problems, history, and art, which will enrich their curriculum and promote both logical thinking and critical evaluation. It is especially important that we maintain an interest in geometry, which needs, and for once gets, more than its share."--Richard Guy, coauthor of "The Book of Numbers"

"This remarkable book provides a novel insight into the Japanese mathematics of the past few hundred years. It is fascinating to see the difference in mathematical style from that which we are used to in the Western world, but the book also elegantly illustrates the cross-cultural Platonic nature and profound beauty of mathematics itself."--Roger Penrose, author of "The Road to Reality"

"A significant contribution to the history of mathematics. The wealth of mathematical problems--from the very simple to quite complex ones--will keep the interested reader busy for years. And the beautiful illustrations make this book a work of art as much as of science. Destined to become a classic!"--Eli Maor, author of "The Pythagorean Theorem: A 4,000-Year History"

"A pleasure to read. "Sacred Mathematics" brings to light the unique style and character of geometry in the traditional Japanese sources--in particular the "sangaku" problems. These problems range from trivialto utterly devilish. I found myself captivated by them, and regularly astounded by the ingenuity and sophistication of many of the traditional solutions."--Glen Van Brummelen, coeditor of "Mathematics and the Historian's Craft"

The twentieth century was a time of unprecedented development in mathematics, as well as in all sciences: more theorems were proved and results found in a hundred years than in all of previous history. In "The Mathematical Century," Piergiorgio Odifreddi distills this unwieldy mass of knowledge into a fascinating and authoritative overview of the subject. He concentrates on thirty highlights of pure and applied mathematics. Each tells the story of an exciting problem, from its historical origins to its modern solution, in lively prose free of technical details.

Odifreddi opens by discussing the four main philosophical foundations of mathematics of the nineteenth century and ends by describing the four most important open mathematical problems of the twenty-first century. In presenting the thirty problems at the heart of the book he devotes equal attention to pure and applied mathematics, with applications ranging from physics and computer science to biology and economics. Special attention is dedicated to the famous "23 problems" outlined by David Hilbert in his address to the International Congress of Mathematicians in 1900 as a research program for the new century, and to the work of the winners of the Fields Medal, the equivalent of a Nobel prize in mathematics.

This eminently readable book will be treasured not only by students and their teachers but also by all those who seek to make sense of the elusive macrocosm of twentieth-century mathematics.

Die beruhmte Vorlesung von Freeman Dyson - nun erstmals auf Deutsch. In den 1940er Jahren zeigte Freeman Dyson die Aquivalenz zwischen den beiden Formulierungen der QED - des Pfadintegralansatzes von Richard Feynman und der Variationsmethoden von Julian Schwinger - und bewies somit die Konsistenz der QED. Dieses Buch beinhaltet die wertvollen - nie zuvor auf Deutsch publizierten - Vorlesungen uber Quantenfeldtheorie, die Dyson an der Cornell Universitat 1951 gehalten hat.

Der Theoretiker Edwin Thompson Jaynes bemerkte dazu: "Fur eine Generation von Physikern waren diese Vorlesungen ein Gewinn: klarer und besser motiviert als Feynmans Vorlesungen, und schneller und kompakter als Schwingers." Zukunftige Leser werden diese Vorlesungen ebenfalls mit grossem Genuss lesen und von dem klaren Stil profitieren, der fur Dyson stets so charakteristisch gewesen ist.

Aus dem Inhaltsverzeichnis: 1 - Die Diracgleichung, 2 - Streuprobleme und die Born-Approximation, 3 - Die klassische und quantenmechanische Feldtheorie, 4 - Beispiele quantisierter Feldtheorien (Maxwellfeld, Diracelektronen), 5 - Streuprobleme freier Teilchen (Paar Annihilation, Moller-Streuung, Klein-Nishina-Formel), 6 - Allgemeine Theorie der Streuung (Feynman-Graphen, Infrarotkatastrophe), 7 - Streuung an einem statischen Potenzial und experimentelle Ergebnisse.

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Written between 1940 and the late 1970s, the postwar recollections of renowned physicist Freeman Dyson have been celebrated as an historic portrait of modern science and its greatest players, including Robert Oppenheimer, Richard Feynman, Stephen Hawking, and Hans Bethe. Chronicling the stories of those who were engaged in solving some of the most challenging quandaries of twentieth-century physics, Dyson lends acute insight and profound observations to a life's work spent chasing what Einstein called those "deep mysteries that Nature intends to keep for herself." Whether reflecting on the drama of World War II, the moral dilemmas of nuclear development, the challenges of the space program, or the demands of raising six children, Dyson's annotated letters reveal the voice of one "more creative than almost anyone else of his generation" (Kip Thorne). An illuminating work in these trying times, Maker of Patterns is an eyewitness account of the scientific discoveries that define our modern age.

Imagine a world where whole epochs will pass, cultures rise and fall, between a telephone call and the reply. Think of the human race multiplying 500-million fold, or evolving new, distinct species. Consider the technology of space colonization, computer-assisted reproduction, the "Martian potato." One hundred years after H. G. Wells visited the future in The Time Machine, Freeman Dyson marshals his uncommon gifts as a scientist and storyteller to take us once more to that ever-closer, ever-receding time to come. Since Disturbing the Universe, the book that first brought him international renown, Freeman Dyson has been helping us see ourselves and our world from a scientist's point of view. In Imagined Worlds he brings this perspective to a speculative future to show us where science and technology, real and imagined, may be taking us. The stories he tells-about "Napoleonic" versus "Tolstoyan" styles of doing science; the coming era of radioneurology and radiotelepathy; the works of writers from Aldous Huxley to Michael Crichton to William Blake; Samuel Gompers and the American labor movement-come from science, science fiction, and history. Sharing in the joy and gloom of these sources, Dyson seeks out the lessons we must learn from all three if we are to understand our future and guide it in hopeful directions. Whether looking at the Gaia theory or the future of nuclear weapons, science fiction or the dangers of "science worship," seagoing kayaks or the Pluto Express, Dyson is concerned with ethics, with how we might mitigate the evil consequences of technology and enhance the good. At the heart of it all is the belief once expressed by the biologist J. B. S. Haldane, that progress in science will bring enormous confusion and misery to humankind unless it is accompanied by progress in ethics.

"Disturbing the Universe is a passionate testament, one of the most remarkable self-portraits of a scientist that have ever read....

"Though this book is meant primarily for non-scientists, to acquaint them with how a scientist looks at the world, one does not have to read far to realize that this is the witness, not of a scientist representing his class, but of a unique kind of scientist, a man endowed with literary skill, with a rare capacity for humor and for introspection, with a sensitive understanding of the language of the humanist. His rich fantasy life is freely communicated in actual dreams, narrated with beautiful simplicity, that may reveal the deepest fonts of his being. Imaginative ventures into the possibilities of exploring and colonizing the universe are interspersed with vignettes of the major physicists of our time, demonstrating once again the truth of the Pascalian reflection that only the great can truly appreciate their peers." -- Frank E. Manuel, The New Republic