Description
This fascinating book assembles human stories about physicists and mathematicians. Remarkably, these stories cluster around some general themes having to do with the interaction between scientists, and with the impact of historic events - such as the advent of fascism and communism in the twentieth century - on scientists' behavior. Briefly, but lucidly, some of the beautiful science that brought these scientists together in the first place is explained.Author's webpage: freund9.googlepages.com/peterfreundwritings.
Reviews
"Like the author, these stories are full of wisdom, wit and humor. Sometimes they are hilarious and sometimes tragic. They need to be told, and I suspect that Peter Freund is the only one who can tell them."Leonard SusskindAuthor of The Cosmic Landscape: String Theory and the Illusion of Intelligent Design"Freund is at his best when he focuses on one, perhaps two, scientists in each chapter ... Throughout his long career, Freund has obviously met many influential scientists and collected many fascinating stories about them and their colleagues."CERN Courier"Can there be a common endeavour, whether physics or poetry, that can remain objective when the researchers involved are also people? According to Peter Freund, one of the founding physicists of String Theory, in his book "A Passion for Discovery," the answer is Yes and No ... Poetry esthetics might seem a lot less imposing than theoretical physics, but it isn't. Outlandish humans make both."Andrei CodrescuCommentator National Public Radio, Columnist, Novelist and Poet
Book Information
ISBN 9789812706461
Author Peter G O Freund
Format Hardback
Page Count 240
Imprint World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd
Publisher World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd
Reviews
"Like the author, these stories are full of wisdom, wit and humor. Sometimes they are hilarious and sometimes tragic. They need to be told, and I suspect that Peter Freund is the only one who can tell them."Leonard SusskindAuthor of The Cosmic Landscape: String Theory and the Illusion of Intelligent Design"Freund is at his best when he focuses on one, perhaps two, scientists in each chapter ... Throughout his long career, Freund has obviously met many influential scientists and collected many fascinating stories about them and their colleagues."CERN Courier"Can there be a common endeavour, whether physics or poetry, that can remain objective when the researchers involved are also people? According to Peter Freund, one of the founding physicists of String Theory, in his book "A Passion for Discovery," the answer is Yes and No ... Poetry esthetics might seem a lot less imposing than theoretical physics, but it isn't. Outlandish humans make both."Andrei CodrescuCommentator National Public Radio, Columnist, Novelist and Poet
Book Information
ISBN 9789812706461
Author Peter G O Freund
Format Hardback
Page Count 240
Imprint World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd
Publisher World Scientific Publishing Co Pte Ltd
