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This warm, anecdotal biography by the Greens' longtime friend, MIT geologist Robert Shrock reveals the human impulses that led to their success, the unique combination of the analytical and the personal that they brought to their business decisions and to their investments in humanity's future.
Thomas Gold (1920-2004) had a curious mind that liked to solve problems. He was one of the most remarkable astrophysicists in the second half of the twentieth century, and he attracted controversy throughout his career. Based on a full-length autobiography left behind by Thomas Gold, this book was edited by the astrophysicist and historian of science, Simon Mitton (University of Cambridge). The book is a retrospective on Gold’s remarkable life. He fled from Vienna in 1933, eventually settling in England and completing an engineering degree at Trinity College in Cambridge. During the war, he worked on naval radar research alongside Fred Hoyle and Hermann Bondi – which, in an unlikely chai...
This is the story of Ray Fryer's 'making something worthwhile' of Urapunga, a run-down property on the Roper River. It is a story of years of rough living and hard work, learning to live in harmony with the tribal Aborigines, of coping with crocodiles, diseases among his stock, being cut off in the Wet and more.
Echoes from the earliest years of the century mingle with the voices of contemporary Australia in this fascinating selection of excerpts from the Oral History Collection of the National Library of Australia. Humour and drama, sport, culture, politics and the media, work and leisure are all represented. There are stories of life from remote properties; there are comments on society and government policies; there are anecdotes and opinions.
"J.E. Moyal has been pronounced 'one of Australia's most remarkable thinkers'. Yet, he was, essentially, a scientific maverick. Educated in a modest high school in Tel Aviv, he took himself to France to train as an engineer, statistician and mathematician and escaped to England as France fell. It was from outside academia that he entered into communication with the 'high priest' of British theoretical physics, P.A.M. Dirac, challenging him with the idea of a statistical basis of quantum mechanics. Their correspondence forms the core of this book and opens up an important and hitherto unknown chapter for physicists, mathematicians and historians of science. Moyal's classic paper, 'A statistical basis for quantum mechanics', also reproduced here in full, has come to underlie an explosion of research and to underpin an array of major technological developments."--Publisher's description.
A highly readable history of the University of Melbourne that examines its growth from a small provincial institution, educating the elite of a relatively narrow society, to a major teaching and research institution - changes of a magnitude which could never have been envisaged in 1935 when the story begins.
Fallout is the strange but true story of a celebrated Australian scientist's involvement in the 1956 British atomic bomb tests. Hedley Marston, an idol with his own feet of clay, was determined not only to reveal official lies and chicanery, but to expose as charlatans the Australian scientists who were appointed to protect the nation from any possible harm. Contrary to official pronouncements, radioactive fallout was blowing across the country and contaminating many towns and communities, including Marston's beloved Adelaide. The dispute that ensued was perhaps the most acrimonious in the history of Australian science. Fallout tells us much about the nature of science and our society. It is about science in service of the bomb, and in service of self. Roger Cross tells a story that must make us ask the alarming question: could we be fooled again?
Beyond Southern Skies tells the story of the planning and construction of the Parkes Telescope in rural New South Wales, Australia and surveys its achievements over the past thirty years. Around this central theme Peter Robertson presents a broader history of radio astronomy, describing its rapid rise to become the respected partner of traditional optical astronomy. The opening up of the radio window on the universe has been one of the most exciting developments in modern science. The technical achievements of the telescope outlined in Peter Robertson's very readable book will be accessible to a general audience. Readers will be fascinated by the lively account of the personalities, politics and controversy that lay behind the decision to build the Parkes Telescope. Since its completion in 1961, the telescope has contributed much to our knowledge of quasars, pulsars, masers, supernova remnants and molecular clouds, as well as the other unusual objects discovered in recent years. During the 1990s the telescope will continue to play a part in our quest to understand the origin and nature of the universe, and our place in it.
Boffin is the highly entertaining story of a man who has lived & breathed science. While entertaining Hanbury Brown is also deeply thoughtful of his profession & concludes with some candid views on the nature & purpose of science.