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Annotation. For thousands of years mankind has tried to understand nature. Exploring the world on all scales with instruments of ever more ingenuity, we have been able to unravel some of the great mysteries that surround us. While collecting an overwhelming multitude of observational facts, we discovered fundamental laws that govern the structure and evolution of physical reality. We know that nature speaks to us in the language of mathematics. In this language most of our basic understanding of the physical world can be expressed in an unambiguous and concise way. The most artificial language turns out to be the most natural of all. The laws of nature correspond to equations. These equation...
Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity, first published in 1905, radically changed our understanding of the world. Familiar notions of space and time and energy were turned on their head, and our struggle with Einstein's counterintuitive explanation of these concepts was under way. The task is no easier today than it was a hundred years ago, but in this book Sander Bais has found an original and uniquely effective way to convey the fundamental ideas of Einstein's Special Theory. Bais's previous book, The Equations, was widely read and roundly praised for its clear and commonsense explanation of the math in physics. Very Special Relativity brings the same accessible approach to Einstein's th...
A virtuoso introduction to the field of science, the most democratic of human endeavors. In this engaging, lyrical book, physicist Sander Bais shows how science can liberate us from our cultural straitjacket of prejudice and intolerance. We're living in a time in which technology is taken for granted, yet belief in such standard scientific facts as evolution is actually decreasing. How is it possible for cell phones and Creationism to coexist? Science--fundamental, fact-based knowledge, not the latest technological gadget--can give us the global and local perspectives we need to make the world a better place. Bais argues that turning points in the history of science have been accompanied by ...
In this engaging, lyrical book, physicist Sander Bais shows how science can liberate us from our cultural straitjacket of prejudice and intolerance. We're living in a time in which technology is taken for granted, yet belief in such standard scientific facts as evolution is actually decreasing. How is it possible for cell phones and Creationism to coexist? Science-fundamental, fact-based knowledge, not the latest technological gadget-can give us the global and local perspectives we need to make the world a better place. Bais argues that turning points in the history of science have been accompanied by similar milestones in social change, deeply affecting our view of nature, our perception of...
During the 1950s, the United States and the Soviet Union teetered on the brink of nuclear devastation. America's hope for national security relied solely upon aerial reconnaissance. Radar Man is the fascinating memoir of a physicist who, with his colleagues, developed the stealth technology that eventually created radar-invisible aircraft. Edward Lovick shares a compelling story from the perspective of an enthusiastic scientist that highlights his pioneering experiences in an innovative, secret world as he helped create stealth aircraft such as the A-12 OXCART, SR-71 Blackbird, and F-117 Nighthawk. From the moment in 1957 when Lockheed's famous aircraft designer Clarence L. 'Kelly' Johnson i...
The first introductory level textbook that comprehensively covers the psycholinguistic study of bilingualism and multilingualism, including traditional and brain-based approaches. Each chapter covers a key series of topics in clear, accessible language, and includes a description of the relevant methodological issues. It provides a valuable resources for students and researchers in psycholinguistics.
This undergraduate textbook introduces relativity to a non-technical audience. The "thinking tools" approach allows readers to understand at a much deeper level than popular treatments, and end-of-chapter problems (always lacking in popular books) help build and cement that understanding.--
Solitons were discovered by John Scott Russel in 1834, and have interested scientists and mathematicians ever since. They have been the subject of a large body of research in a wide variety of fields of physics and mathematics, not to mention engineering and other branches of science such as biology. This volume comprises the written versions of the talks presented at a workshop held at Queen's University in 1997, an interdisciplinary meeting wherein top researchers from many fields could meet, interact, and exchange ideas. Topics covered include mathematical and numerical aspects of solitons, as well as applications of solitons to nuclear and particle physics, cosmology, and condensed-matter physics. The book should be of interest to researchers in any field in which solitons are encountered.
Films from the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg have long been regarded as isolated texts. The Cinema of the Low Countries points to the interconnectedness between these national cinemas from the point of view of genre, language and format, and their local and international importance by explicitly focusing on 24 key feature films and documentaries from the region. Building on each film's relationship with its particular cultural context, this volume presents twenty-four specially commissioned essays that explore the particular significance and influence of a wide range of exemplary films. Covering the work of internationally acclaimed directors such as Joris Ivens, Henri Stock, Paul Verhoeven and the Dardenne Brothers and featuring the films Turkish Delight, The Vanishing, Daughters of Darkness, Rosetta, Soldiers of Orange and Man Bites Dog, this collection offers an original approach to the appreciation of a diverse and increasingly important regional cinema.
In the first chapters the author describes how our knowledge of the position of Earth in space and time has developed, thanks to the work of many generations of astronomers and physicists. He discusses how our position in the Galaxy was discovered, and how in 1929, Hubble uncovered the fact that the Universe is expanding, leading to the picture of the Big Bang. He then explains how astronomers have found that the laws of physics that were discovered here on Earth and in the Solar System (the laws of mechanics, gravity, atomic physics, electromagnetism, etc.) are valid throughout the Universe. This is illustrated by the fact that all matter in the Universe consists of atoms of the same chemic...