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Title: Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy by David Lindley ISBN: 0-309-09073-3 Publisher: Joseph Henry Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 2004 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 5 (3 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Degrees Kelvin: A Tale of Genius, Invention, and Tragedy
Comment: Having achieved some acclaim for The End of Physics, Where Does the Weirdness Go?, The Science of Jurassic Park, and Boltzmann's Atom, Lindley-an astrophysicist by training-will certainly receive more with this latest effort. He takes us into the delightful world of mid-19th-century British academia to the scientific circles of Joule, Stokes, Maxwell, Helmholtz, and, in the middle of it all, Thomson, Lord Kelvin of Largs. William Thomson, whose name (Kelvin) would be assigned as a unit of the absolute temperature scale, investigated thermodynamics, physics, electromagnetism, and mathematics. An innovative instructor (he introduced the hands-on physics lab for students), inventor, researcher, and author of over 600 scientific papers, he was also crucial to the success of the first transatlantic cable, for which he was knighted. Nearly every honor available at the time was bestowed on Lord Kelvin, including his burial beside Sir Isaac Newton in Westminster Abbey. Understandable to the informed reader, this work will deepen science students' appreciation of the individual behind the science they are learning. Suitable for public, school, and academic collections
Rating: 5
Summary: Reads with the smooth expertise of a well crafted novel
Comment: Degrees Kelvin: A Tale Of Genius, Invention, And Tragedy by David Lindley is the remarkable biography of Lord Kelven, a revolutionary thinker who made breakthrough discoveries in the 1800's. Lord Kelven earned immortality for his name when it was adopted for the temperature scale that begins at absolute zero. Yet in Lord Kelven's senior years, he was outspoken against new ideas to such an extent as to be a detriment to the scientific community, publicly proclaiming his doubt of the existence of atoms, vehemently opposing the discussion of Charles Darwin's theories of evolution, and more. Degrees Kelvin is a striking portrayal of human greatness and human limitations, all in one man's lifetime -- and reads with the smooth expertise of a well crafted novel.
Rating: 5
Summary: 19th Century Einstein
Comment: The author has done a fine job in bringing this man, William Thomson (Lord Kelvin) to life. He was one of the primary movers of the scientific world of the Victorian era, and much can be learned of the development of the physical sciences through a study of his methods, personal interactions, and achievements.
Thomson was one of the dozen or so illustrious men, almost entirely British, Scottish, German and French, who developed the central ideas of thermodynamics and electromagnetism in the middle of the 19th century. His particular contribution, among many, was to popularize and further develop the ideas of the Frenchman, Carnot, of the famous reversible heat engine. This was to lead ultimately to the discovery of the absolute temperature scale, now named for him, and to entropy. In electromagnetism, he stood between the non-mathematical insights of Faraday, and the highly mathematical formulation of Maxwell and Heaviside, which has changed little in its fundamental approach, and is still taught to sophomores today. In fact, he and a friend wrote the first recognizable classical physics textbook for undergraduates. And he played a big role as a consultant/inventor for the first transatlantic telegraph cable, a story well told here and in Gordon's recent "Thread Across the Ocean."
Thomson was something of a prodigy, gathering honors and publications at a very young age, but later in life his productivity fell off into an idosyncratic crankiness. His required approach to problems was to devise mechanical analogs for phenomena, which turned out to be too limited to arrive at a full field theory of electromagnetism and atomism, neither of which he ever accepted fully. He was a true believer in the ether, but was never able to use it to produce a fruitful alternative to Maxwell's E&M or kinetic theory.
It was interesting for me to note the obvious parallels between his life-arc and that of Einstein. Einstein was also unable to fully participate in the later scientific developments in quantum mechanics because of a prejudice or block similar to Thomson's requirement for a mechanical model. And then Kelvin spent an inordinate amount of energy in developing an improved ship's compass (a profitable success), while Einstein tried mightily (but unsuccessfully) to improve the refrigerator. Einstein killed Kelvin's ether by ignoring it, but was in turn killed by his insistence that "God doesn't play with dice."
Lindley has written a well-researched but entertaining and well written book. The illustrations are a good addition, not seen before by me. A scientist himself, he is well equipped to understand the science of the times, and is unerring and enthusiastic for his subject. Well done!
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Title: The Man Who Changed Everything : The Life of James Clerk Maxwell by Basil Mahon ISBN: 047086088X Publisher: John Wiley & Sons Pub. Date: 03 October, 2003 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: The Curious Life of Robert Hooke: The Man Who Measured London by Lisa Jardine ISBN: 006053897X Publisher: HarperCollins Publishers Pub. Date: 03 February, 2004 List Price(USD): $27.95 |
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Title: Kepler's Witch : An Astronomer's Discovery of Cosmic Order Amid Religious War, Political Intrigue, and the Heresy Trial of His Mother by James A. Connor ISBN: 0060522550 Publisher: HarperSanFrancisco Pub. Date: 30 March, 2004 List Price(USD): $24.95 |
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Title: The Book Nobody Read: Chasing the Revolutions of Nicolaus Copernicus by Owen Gingerich ISBN: 0802714153 Publisher: Walker & Company Pub. Date: 01 January, 2004 List Price(USD): $25.00 |
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Title: Boltzmanns Atom: The Great Debate That Launched A Revolution In Physics by David Lindley ISBN: 0684851865 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 18 January, 2001 List Price(USD): $24.00 |
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