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This is the story of Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans, whose insights transformed the ancient world and still inspire the realms of science, mathematics, philosophy and the arts. Einstein said that the most incredible thing about our universe was that it was comprehensible at all. As Kitty Ferguson explains, Pythagoras had much the same idea - but 2,500 years earlier. Though known by many only for his famous Theorem, in fact the pillars of our scientific tradition - belief that the universe is rational, that there is unity to all things, and that numbers and mathematics are a powerful guide to truth about nature and the cosmos - hark back to the convictions of this legendary scholar. Kitty Ferguson brilliantly evokes Pythagoras' ancient world of, showing how ideas spread in antiquity, and chronicles the incredible influence he and his followers have had on so many extraordinary people in the history of Western thought and science. 'Pythagoras' influence on the ideas, and therefore on the destiny, of the human race was probably greater than that of any single man before or after him' - Arthur Koestler.
Suppose you and I still wondered whether all of the pinpoints of light in the night sky are the same distance from us. Suppose none of our contemporaries could tell us whether the Sun orbits the Earth, or vice versa, or even how large the Earth is. Suppose no one had guessed there are mathematical laws underlying the motions of the heavens. How would - how did - anyone begin to discover these numbers and these relationships without leaving the Earth? What made anyone even think it was possible to find out “how far,” without going there? In Measuring the Universe we join our ancestors and contemporary scientists as they tease this information out of a sky full of stars. Some of the questi...
In 1963 Stephen Hawking was given two years to live. Defying all the odds, he died in March 2018 at age seventy-six as the most celebrated scientist in the world. This carefully researched, and now newly updated, up-to-the-minute biography and tribute gives a rich picture of Hawking's remarkable life - his childhood, the heart-rending beginning of his struggle with motor neurone disease, his ever-increasing international fame, and his long personal battle for survival in pursuit of a scientific understanding of the universe. From more recent years, Kitty Ferguson describes his inspiring leadership at the London Paralympic Games, the release of the film The Theory of Everything, his continuing work on black holes and the origin of the universe, the discovery of 'supertranslations', and the astounding 'Starshot' program. Here also are his intense concern for the future of the Earth and his use of his celebrity to fight for environmental and humanitarian causes, and, finally, a ground-breaking paper he was working on at the time of his death, in which he took issue with some of his own earlier theories.
What is a black hole? Could we survive a visit to one? Perhaps even venture inside? What would we find? Have we yet discovered any real black holes? And what do black holes teach us about what physicist John Archibald Wheeler called “the deep, happy, mysteries of the universe”? These are just a few of the tantalizing questions examined in this jargon-free review of one of the most fascinating topics in modern science. In search of the answers, we trace a star from its birth to its death throes, take a fabulous hypothetical journey to the border of a black hole and beyond, spend time with some of the world’s leading theoretical physicists and observational astronomers scanning the cosmos for evidence of real black holes, and take a whimsical look at some of the wild ideas black holes have inspired.
In 1963 Stephen Hawking was given a couple of years to live. In January 2017 he celebrates his seventy-fifth birthday. This biography of the brilliant theoretical physicist and inspirational international celebrity, written with the help of Hawking himself and his close associates, now includes- A His leadership at the London Paralympic Games A The release of the film about his life The Theory of Everything A His BBC Reith Lectures in 2016 A His continuing work on black holes, gravitational waves, the new discovery of osupertranslationso A The launch of the astounding oStarshoto programme A The first presentation of the Stephen Hawking Medal for Science Communication at Starmus III in June 2016. Written with the clarity and simplicity for which all Kitty Ferguson's books have been praised, it is a captivating account of an extraordinary life and mind.
The extraordinary, unlikely tale of Tycho Brahe and Johannes Kepler and their enormous contribution to astronomy and understanding of the cosmos is one of the strangest stories in the history of science. Kepler was a poor, devoutly religious teacher with a genius for mathematics. Brahe was an arrogant, extravagant aristocrat who possessed the finest astronomical instruments and observations of the time, before the telescope. Both espoused theories that seem off-the-wall to modern minds, but their fateful meeting in Prague in 1600 was to change the future of science. Set in one of the most turbulent and colourful eras in European history, when medieval was giving way to modern, Tycho and Kepler is a double biography of these two remarkable men.
This Is The Story Of One Of The Most Remarkable Figures Of Our Time - Professor Stephen Hawking, The Cambridge Genius Who Has Earned An International Reputation As The Most Brilliant Theoretical Physicist Since Einstein. When Kitty Ferguson Approached Stephen Hawking With The Idea Of Writing A Book About Him And Asked Him To Help Her Make Certain She Understood His Theories, He Agreed To Do So And Also Supplied Her With Material About His Childhood And Life. This Book Is The Splendid Result. It Is Not A Biography Per Se. It Is Rather The Story Of One Man'S Quest To Find The 'Theory Of Everything'. In These Pages You Will Encounter A Multitude Of Amazing Paradoxes: Beginnings May Be Endings& Two Great Scientific Theories Taken Together Seem To Give Us Nonsense& Empty Space Isn'T Empty& Black Holes Aren'T Black& Cruel Circumstances Can Lead To Happiness, Although Fame And Success May Not& And A Man Whose Appearance Inspires Shock And Pity Takes Us Laughing To Where The Boundaries Of Space And Time Ought To Be - But Are Not.
The enthralling story of Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans, whose insights transformed the ancient world and still inspire the realms of science, mathematics, philosophy, and the arts. "Pythagoras's influence on the ideas, and therefore on the destiny, of the human race was probably greater than that of any single man before or after him," wrote Arthur Koestler. Though most people know of him only for the famous Pythagorean Theorem (a2 +b2=c2), in fact the pillars of our scientific tradition-belief that the universe is rational, that there is unity to all things, and that numbers and mathematics are a powerful guide to truth about nature and the cosmos-hark back to the convictions of this lege...
Popular science writer Kitty Ferguson investigates little-explored byroads in the history of science, from Kepler's nearly disastrous venture into science fiction to a twentieth-century experiment involving cats and rocket fuel. She introduces long-forgotten discoverers and takes us on astounding adventures with the likes of Jesuit astronomer Ferdinand Verbiest, who invented the first automobile and won a bizarre astronomy competition in seventeenth-century China against his former torturer.