Overview

One of the world's finest science journalists tells the story of the ten greatest scientific experiments - which in a moment profoundly changed our understanding of the universe. George Johnson tells the stories of ten beautiful experiments which changed the world. From Galileo singing to mark time as he measured the pull of gravity and Newton carefully inserting a needle behind his own eye, to Joule packing a thermometer on his honeymoon to take the temperature of waterfalls and Michelson recovering from a dark depression to discover that light moves at the same speed in every direction - these ten dedicated men employed diamonds, dogs, frogs and even their own bodies as they worked to discover the laws of nature and of the universe.

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9780099464587

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Reviews

Delightful, succinct, elegant. Roger Penrose Johnson's mix of the personal, the erudite and crystalline prose is -- like the pull of gravity (see beautiful experiment number 1) -- an irresistible force. Scientific American As a science journalist, Mr. Johnson is a seasoned translator of technical jargon. He also has a sharp eye for human plot, both in and out of the laboratory ... a certain spirit of wonder breathes through Mr. Johnson's chapters. New York Sun Johnson has a good feel for detail ... and an easy touch with larger concepts ... Johnson's lively book nicely evokes the lost world of the tabletop experiment . New York Times Book Review Johnson's lively book... finds beauty throughout science - even among dead frogs and drooling dogs Scotsman

Author Information

George Johnson is a science-writer for the New York Times and has also had work published in Scientific America, Time, Slate and Wired and in the collections The Best American Scientific Writing. His blog, The Cancer Chronicles, can be found at www.santafereview.com/chronicle

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