Electric Universe by David Bodanis

Electric Universe by David Bodanis

In his bestselling E=mc2, David Bodanis led us, with astonishing ease, through the world's most famous equation. Now, in Electric Universe, he illuminates the wondrous yet invisible force that permeates our universe--and introduces us to the virtuoso scientists who plumbed its secrets.
For centuries, electricity was seen as little more than a curious property of certain substances that sparked when rubbed. Then, in the 1790s, Alessandro Volta began the scientific investigation that ignited an explosion of knowledge and invention. The force that once seemed inconsequential was revealed to be responsible for everything from the structure of the atom to the functioning of our brains. In harnessing its power, we have created a world of wonders--complete with roller coasters and radar, computer networks and psychopharmaceuticals.
A superb storyteller, Bodanis weaves tales of romance, divine inspiration, and fraud through lucid accounts of scientific breakthroughs. The great discoverers come to life in all their brilliance and idiosyncrasy, including the visionary Michael Faraday, who struggled against the prejudices of the British class system, and Samuel Morse, a painter who, before inventing the telegraph, ran for mayor of New York City on a platform of persecuting Catholics. Here too is Alan Turing, whose dream of a marvelous thinking machine--what we know as the computer--was met with indifference, and who ended his life in despair after British authorities forced him to undergo experimental treatments to cure his homosexuality.
From the frigid waters of the Atlantic to the streets of Hamburg during a World War I firestorm to the interior of the human body, ElectricUniverse is a mesmerizing journey of discovery by a master science writer.

From the Hardcover edition.

Bodanis, David: - DAVID BODANIS studied mathematics, physics, and history at the University of Chicago, and for many years taught the Intellectual Tool-Kit course at Oxford University. The author of many books including the New York Times bestseller The Secret House and E=mc2, which was adapted into the PBS NOVA documentary Einstein's Big Idea, he is also a futurist and business advisor who has worked for the Royal Dutch Shell Scenario Prediction unit, modelling economic futures, as well as for the future planning unit at the World Economic Forum. He has been a popular speaker at TED conferences and at Davos, and most recently helped run an international study for the UK Treasury on the future of high-frequency trading. Bodanis's work has been published in the Financial Times, the Guardian, and the New York Times. He lives in London.

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780307335982
ISBN 10	0307335984
Title	Electric Universe
Author	David Bodanis
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Paperback
Publisher	Random House USA Inc
Year published	2006-02-28
Number of pages	320
Prizes	Winner of New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age 2006
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.
Note	Unavailable