Overview

This fantastic story of one of physics' great riddles takes us through centuries of scientific history (Simon Lamb, author of Devil in the Mountain). Why do compass needles point north--but not quite north? What guides the migration of birds, whales, and fish across the world's oceans? How is Earth able to sustain life under an onslaught of solar wind and cosmic radiation? For centuries, the world's great scientists have grappled with these questions, all rooted in the same phenomenon: Earth's magnetism. Over two thousand years after the invention of the compass, Einstein called the source of Earth's magnetic field one of greatest unsolved mysteries of physics. Here, for the first time, is the complete history of the quest to understand the planet's attractive pull--from the ancient Greeks' fascination with lodestone to the geological discovery that the North Pole has not always been in the North--and to the astonishing modern conclusions that finally revealed the true source. Skillfully told, North Pole, South Pole unfolds the human story behind the science: that of the inquisitive, persevering, and often dissenting thinkers who unlocked the secrets at our planet's core.

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Cat Gould grew up in Sydney, Australia, and after extensive travel moved to the United States in 1990. A classically trained actress with a BFA from Southern Oregon University, she has performed in many regional productions. Gillian Turner is the author of North Pole, South Pole. She is a senior lecturer in physics and geophysics at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand. The winner of numerous awards for excellence in teaching and science communication, Turner has published over fifty articles in scientific journals.

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