Throughout this fascinating book, Clifford Pickover invites us to share
in the amazing adventures of brilliant, quirky, and passionate people
after whom these laws are named. These lawgivers turn out to be a
fascinating, diverse, and sometimes eccentric group of people. Many
were extremely versatile polymaths--human dynamos with a seemingly
infinite supply of curiosity and energy and who worked in many
different areas in science. Others had non-conventional educations and
displayed their unusual talents from an early age. Some experienced
resistance to their ideas, causing significant personal anguish.
Pickover examines more than 40 great laws, providing brief and cogent
introductions to the science behind the laws as well as engaging
biographies of such scientists as Newton, Faraday, Ohm, Curie, and
Planck. Throughout, he includes fascinating, little-known tidbits
relating to the law or lawgiver, and he provides cross-references to
other laws or equations mentioned in the book. For several entries, he
includes simple numerical examples and solved problems so that readers
can have a hands-on understanding of the application of the law.
A
sweeping survey of scientific discovery as well as an intriguing
portrait gallery of some of the greatest minds in history, this superb
volume will engage everyone interested in science and the physical
world or in the dazzling creativity of these brilliant thinkers.