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Aelian's Historical Miscellany is a pleasurable example of light reading for Romans of the early third century. Offering engaging anecdotes about historical figures, retellings of legendary events, and descriptive pieces - in sum: amusement, information, and variety - Aelian's collection of nuggets and narratives could be enjoyed by a wide reading public. A rather similar book had been published in Latin in the previous century by Aulus Gellius; Aelian is a late, perhaps the last, representative of what had been a very popular genre. Here then are anecdotes about the famous Greek philosophers, poets, historians, and playwrights; myths instructively retold; moralizing tales about heroes and rulers, athletes and wise men; reports about styles in dress, foods and drink, lovers, gift-giving practices, entertainments, religious beliefs and death customs; and comments on Greek painting. Some of the information is not preserved in any other source. Underlying it all are Aelian's Stoic ideals as well as this Roman's great admiration for the culture of the Greeks (whose language he borrowed for his writings).
This is the first major history of Imperial College London. The book tells the story of a new type of institution that came into being in 1907 with the federation of three older colleges. Imperial College was founded by the state for advanced university-level training in science and technology, and for the promotion of research in support of industry throughout the British Empire. True to its name the college built a wide number of Imperial links and was an outward looking institution from the start. Today, in the post-colonial world, it retains its outward-looking stance, both in its many international research connections, and with staff and students from around the world. Connections to industry and the state remain important. The College is one of BritainOCOs premier research and teaching institutions, including now medicine alongside science and engineering. This book is an in-depth study of Imperial College; it covers both governance and academic activity within the larger context of political, economic and socio-cultural life in twentieth-century Britain."
This is the first major history of Imperial College London. The book tells the story of a new type of institution that came into being in 1907 with the federation of three older colleges. Imperial College was founded by the state for advanced university-level training in science and technology, and for the promotion of research in support of industry throughout the British Empire. True to its name the college built a wide number of Imperial links and was an outward looking institution from the start. Today, in the post-colonial world, it retains its outward-looking stance, both in its many international research connections, and with staff and students from around the world. Connections to industry and the state remain important. The College is one of Britain's premier research and teaching institutions, including now medicine alongside science and engineering. This book is an in-depth study of Imperial College; it covers both governance and academic activity within the larger context of political, economic and socio-cultural life in twentieth-century Britain./a
Pigment of the Imagination chronicles the story of phytochrome, the bright-blue photoreversible pigment through which plants constantly monitor the quality and presence of light. The book begins with work that led to the discovery of phytochrome and ends with the latest findings in gene regulation and expression. The phytochrome story provides a paradigm for the process of scientific discovery. This book should thus be of interest to scientists who work on phytochrome and related subjects in plant science, as well as to all scientists and science historians interested in how a scientific research field begins, develops, and matures.Documents the science and history of phytochrome research over an 80 year spanCombines information from scientific literature, archival documents, and in-person inteviewsDescribes in scholarly and readable style an elegant example of biological discoveryAccessible to researchers and students in all areas of science and history of science
Sir Arthur Tansley was the leading figure in ecology for the first half of the 20th century, founding the field, and forming its first professional societies. He was the first President of the British Ecological Society and the first chair of the Field Studies Council. His work as a botanist is considered seminal and he is recognized as one of the giants of ecology throughout the world. Ecology underpins the principles and practices of modern conservation and the maintenance of biodiversity. It explains the causes of, and offers solutions to, problems of climate change. Yet ecology is a young science, barely 100 years old. Its origins lie in phytogeography, the naming and mapping of plants. ...
From the award-winning author of The Island of Extraordinary Captives, the riveting, untold true story of the botanists at the world’s first seed bank who faced an impossible choice during the Siege of Leningrad: eat the collection to prevent starvation, or protect their life’s work to help end world hunger? In the summer of 1941, German troops surrounded the Russian city of Leningrad—now St. Petersburg—and began the longest blockade in recorded history, one that would ultimately claim the lives of nearly three-quarters of a million people. At the center of the besieged city stood a converted palace that housed the world’s largest collection of seeds—more than 250,000 samples han...
The global triumph of Mendelian genetics in the twentieth century was not a foregone conclusion, thanks to the existence of graft hybrids. These chimeral plants and animals are created by grafting tissue from one organism to another with the goal of passing the newly hybridized genetic material on to their offspring. But prevailing genetic theory insisted that heredity was confined to the sex cells and there was no inheritance of characteristics acquired during an organism’s lifetime. Under sustained attacks from geneticists, scientific belief in the existence of graft hybrids slowly began to decline. Yet ordinary horticulturalists and breeders continued to believe in the power of grafting...
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This book is a celebration of women in science, technology, medicine and business at Imperial College London. It shows the inspirational role women played in the creation of the legacy of the College since its inception, and represents a guide to their achievements. Biographies and archive material provide an insight into their academic work and social lives, while first-hand information collected for individual cases gives a comprehensive overview of student and professional life in their diverse fields and subjects. Further careers as academics and businesswomen are also documented, demonstrating the importance of and wider social impact of women in the sciences.
Bioelectromagnetism has been gradually developing and expanding into a variety of fields in engineering, biomedical engineering, life science, medicine and biology. Bioelectromagnetism: History, Foundations and Applications provides an overview of the field and its developments; from its inception and growth through the twenty-first century, to the latest advances in electro- and magnetobiology and hazard evaluations of electromagnetic fields. It is organized into three sections, each focusing on specific regions of bioelectromagnetism. It begins with the foundations of the field and its history, with a chronological treatment of the major subjects in bioelectromagnetism. The relationship be...