Instability Rules
The Ten Most Amazing Ideas of Modern Science
1st Edition
Published on 21. April 2008
228 pages
978-0-470-31254-4 (ISBN)
Description
World-altering discoveries that reveal a universe of uncertainty and constant change
Whether probing the farthest reaches of the vast universe or exploring the microscopic world of genetics and the subatomic world of quantum mechanics, Instability Rules is a remarkably informative and engaging look at ten milestone discoveries and their discoverers-a wide range of very human personalities whose insights have dramatically altered our most basic assumptions about human existence during the last century. The stories include Edwin Hubble and the expanding universe, Alfred Wegener and continental drift, Neils Bohr and quantum mechanics, Alan Turing and artificial intelligence, and James Watson and Francis Crick and DNA. Also covering discoveries of the twenty-first century that are already refining these and other ideas, Instability Rules is an exhilarating, sometimes amusing encounter with the defining scientific discoveries of our age.
Whether probing the farthest reaches of the vast universe or exploring the microscopic world of genetics and the subatomic world of quantum mechanics, Instability Rules is a remarkably informative and engaging look at ten milestone discoveries and their discoverers-a wide range of very human personalities whose insights have dramatically altered our most basic assumptions about human existence during the last century. The stories include Edwin Hubble and the expanding universe, Alfred Wegener and continental drift, Neils Bohr and quantum mechanics, Alan Turing and artificial intelligence, and James Watson and Francis Crick and DNA. Also covering discoveries of the twenty-first century that are already refining these and other ideas, Instability Rules is an exhilarating, sometimes amusing encounter with the defining scientific discoveries of our age.
More details
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
03/2002
1st Edition
Wiley
€24.00
Shipment within 10-20 days
Person
CHARLES FLOWERS is an award-winning author or coauthor of fifty-eight books, most recently Mapping the Stars, The Big Bang (with David Appel), and A Science Odyssey: 100 Years of Discovery, the companion book to the PBS series.
Content
Preface: "It Moves . . . "
1 Hubble and the Expanding Universe.
2 Einstein and the Wonder of Light.
3 Bohr and the Puzzles of the Quantum World.
4 Wegener and the Dance of the Continents.
5 Big Bang, Big Crunch, and Big Bore.
6 Fermat, Godel, and Fuzzy Math.
7 Mendel, Watson, Crick, and the Human Genome.
8 Hominids, Humans, and the Search for Origins.
9 Turing and the Brain as Computer, and Vice Versa.
10 Freud, the Unconscious, and Other Views.
Acknowledgments.
Photo Credits.
Index.
1 Hubble and the Expanding Universe.
2 Einstein and the Wonder of Light.
3 Bohr and the Puzzles of the Quantum World.
4 Wegener and the Dance of the Continents.
5 Big Bang, Big Crunch, and Big Bore.
6 Fermat, Godel, and Fuzzy Math.
7 Mendel, Watson, Crick, and the Human Genome.
8 Hominids, Humans, and the Search for Origins.
9 Turing and the Brain as Computer, and Vice Versa.
10 Freud, the Unconscious, and Other Views.
Acknowledgments.
Photo Credits.
Index.
