Product Description From the acclaimed New York Times science writer George Johnson, an irresistible book on the ten most fascinating experiments in the history of science—moments when a curious soul posed a particularly eloquent question to nature and received a crisp, unambiguous reply.
Johnson takes us to those times when the world seemed filled with mysterious forces, when scientists were dazzled by light, by electricity, and by the beating of the hearts they laid bare on the dissecting table.
We see Galileo singing to mark time as he measures the pull of gravity, and Newton carefully inserting a needle behind his eye to learn how light causes vibrations in the retina. William Harvey ties a tourniquet around his arm and watches his arteries throb above and his veins bulge below, proving that blood circulates. Luigi Galvani sparks electrical currents in dissected frog legs, wondering at the twitching muscle fibers, and Ivan Pavlov makes his now-famous dogs salivate at ascending chord progressions.
For all of them, diligence was rewarded. In an instant, confusion was swept aside and something new about nature leaped into view. In bringing us these stories, Johnson restores some of the romance to science, reminding us of the existential excitement of a single soul staring down the unknown.
Beauty of Tabletop ScienceMay 21, 2009 Sam Santhosh(Pleasanton, CA) A great book that brings out the beauty of Science! The author has picked up the ten most beautiful science experiments - starting with Galileo and ending with Milikan. Though one might argue with the selection, the author's excellent descriptions will more than make up for any differences of opinion.
Compared to most of the current scientific experiments which costs millions of dollars and involve the collaborative efforts of many scientists, these are of the earlier age when most scientists were working alone in their labs. Reading this book, one can enjoy the creativity and hands on work of the previous generation of scientists - very inspiring. I would recommend the book to all those interested in the history of science.
Interesting SelectionsMay 20, 2009 C. Knopf 0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book contains an interesting and diverse group of experiments to discuss. You don't need to be a scientist to enjoy it.
Capturing reality with a few courtly lawsFebruary 22, 2009 Linda Bulger(Penn Yan, NY) 3 out of 3 found this review helpful
People love listing things. It narrows our focus to proportions we can deal with, like making binoculars out of our two hands and shutting out everything outside our cupped fingers. Science writer George Johnson acknowledges in his prologue that anyone could come up with a different list, but hopes for "art in the arbitrariness" of his selection.
In this little book (less than 160 pages of text) Johnson selects and discusses The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments. His criteria: "What I was looking for were those rare moments when, using the materials at hand, a curious soul figured out a way to pose a question to the universe and persisted until it replied." He was looking for "the beauty of the design and the execution, the cleanness of the lines of thought." (p.xiii)
In each of the ten chapters Johnson very briefly outlines the life of the experimenter and the scientific lead-ups to the particular experment he is describing. In Chapter One we have Galileo rolling projectiles down inclined planes and producing a formula for acceleration. Chapter Ten gives us Robert Millikan's early-twentieth century work in defining the charge of the electron. Between these two we have William Harvey's discovery of how the body's circulatory system works; Isaac Newton's work in refracting light into its component colors; Ivan Pavlov and his salivating dogs; and five more beautiful moments in science.
This is a small book, but not a slight one. There is probably nothing new in it for the serious scientist, but for anyone else it's food for thought. Johnson's confident sketches give context for the days before particle accelerators and scanning electron microscopes turned science into big business.
Linda Bulger, 2009
Reasonably interesting but short and nothing specialFebruary 15, 2009 T. Burket(Potomac, MD United States) 0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This quick read lacks much detail on the actual science in the selections, with more of a mix of human interest, feature story, and some science. Credit goes to Mr. Johnson for making an accessible book, as almost anything on science told with his sharp writing and wit serves a purpose.
Someone looking for a serious, thorough assessment of top experiments will need to go elsewhere. Perhaps another 25-50 pages would have been sufficient to add more meat and retain his informal approach. Even in its brief content, I enjoyed the book as a refresher on some basics and with additional background, especially for some of the less famous men, such as Michelson.
There is no real reason to quibble over which ten. These are fair enough choices and Johnson admits at the end that there are (obviously) other candidates. Props to him resisting the temptation to add "balance" via Marie Curie or someone else, important as they were. The world was a certain way in the past, and we can't change that, unlike the tipping points represented by several of these fundamental scientific discoveries.
Maybe he should try the ten most impressive engineering feats, such as the Apollo program or some giant dam.
He writes as if the issue is poetry.January 16, 2009 Tor Fridlender(Israel) 0 out of 4 found this review helpful
George Johnson writes this book about scientific experiments as if they were articles of literature. While a non scientific reader could greatly enjoy this text, I won't recommend it for the science enthusiastic. There is interesting information about 10 important experiments, however I think any serious scientist will understand the subjectivity of the decision which experiments were most "beautiful".
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