Engineering Physics

In these brilliant essays, Lightman explores the emotional life of science, the power of imagination, the creative moment, and the alternate ways in which scientists and humanists think about the world. Along the way, he provides in-depth portraits of some of the great geniuses of our time, including Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, Edward Teller, and astronomer Vera Rubin. Thoughtful, beautifully written, and wonderfully original, A Sense of the Mysterious confirms Alan Lightman's unique position at the crossroads of science and art.

Când a descoperit legea gravitației, Newton a unificat regulile care guvernează cerurile și Pământul; de-atunci, fizicienii au tot așezat noi forțe în teorii tot mai cuprinzătoare. Însă provocarea supremă este realizarea unei sinteze monumentale a teoriei relativității și teoriei cuantice. Ar fi realizarea de căpătâi a științei, o fuziune profundă a tuturor forțelor naturii într-o singură ecuație minunată, care să descifreze cele mai profunde mistere ale științei: Ce s-a întâmplat înainte de Big Bang?

De la théorie de la relativité formulée par Albert Einstein, en passant par les recoins et les mécanismes de notre cerveau pour faire fonctionner notre mémoire jusqu’à la découverte des secrets de l'anatomie humaine… la science n’aura plus aucun mystère pour vous. En partenariat avec « L’Éléphant, la revue de culture générale ». Comment est-on parvenu à reconstituer la chronologie de l'histoire de la Terre ? Comment explique t-on le hasard ? Et si modifier de l’ADN était aussi facile qu'un simple copier-coller dans un traitement de texte ?

Can there be freedom and free will in a deterministic world? Renowned philosopher Daniel Dennett emphatically answers "yes!" Using an array of provocative formulations, Dennett sets out to show how we alone among the animals have evolved minds that give us free will and morality. Weaving a richly detailed narrative, Dennett explains in a series of strikingly original arguments - drawing upon evolutionary biology, cognitive neuroscience, economics, and philosophy - that far from being an enemy of traditional explorations of freedom, morality, and meaning, the evolutionary perspective can be an indispensable ally.

For the past 50 years, governments and research teams have tried to bottle the sun with lasers, magnets, sound waves, and particle beams, struggling to harness the power of fusion. Again and again, they have failed, disgracing generations of scientists. Throughout this fascinating journey, Charles Seife introduces us to the daring geniuses, villains, and victims of fusion science.

Most of us don't actually understand quantum physics, and if we understood it we'd probably be rich and beautiful and happy, right? After all, there are plenty of people out there trying to sell you quantum crystals to align your quantum energy with your quantum destiny. Luckily, as pseudo-science takes over the internet and it's getting harder and harder to separate alternative facts from real science, Chris Ferrie (an actual quantum physicist!) is here to explain quantum physics in a way that makes sense, so you can see the hucksters and bullsh*tters coming from a mile away.

Expand Your Horizons: The Mandela Effect takes you on a journey into one of the most captivating mysteries of modern times—shared false memories that challenge our understanding of truth, memory, and reality itself. Why do millions of people vividly recall events that seem to have never happened? Is the Mandela Effect simply a glitch in how our minds reconstruct the past, or does it reveal something deeper—an interconnectedness between consciousness, alternate dimensions, and the very fabric of existence?

Humans have long sought to comprehend the enormities of cosmic space and time. Here, best selling science writer Timothy Ferris tells the story of that quest. He interweaves the majestic themes of astronomy, physics, religion, and philosophy with fresh and lasting portraits of the men and women who created what has been called our society's most precious treasure - its conception of the universe at large.

Victorian era steam engines and particle physics may seem worlds apart, yet a new branch of science, quantum thermodynamics, reenvisions the scientific underpinnings of the Industrial Revolution through the lens of today's roaring quantum information revolution. In her exciting new book, Harvard physicist Dr. Nicole Yunger Halpern introduces these concepts with what she calls "quantum steampunk," after the fantastical genre. Quantum Steampunk explores the field's aesthetic, shares its whimsy, and gazes into the potential of a quantum future.

This audiobook’s content and entertaining style will appeal equally to science-fiction enthusiasts and scholars, including cognitive and neuroscientists, as well as philosophers of mind. It is a refreshing romp through the science and science fiction of consciousness.

On October 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, and the space race was born. Desperate to beat the Russians into space, NASA put together a crew of the nation's most daring test pilots: the seven men who were to lead America to the moon. The first into space was Alan Shepard; the last was Deke Slayton, whose irregular heartbeat kept him grounded until 1975. They spent the 1960s at the forefront of NASA's effort to conquer space, and Moon Shot is their inside account of what many call the 20th century's greatest feat - landing humans on another world.

This short, smart book tells you everything you need to know about "nothing". What remains when you take all the matter away? Can empty space - "nothing" - exist? To answer these questions, eminent scientist Frank Close takes us on a lively and accessible journey that ranges from ancient ideas and cultural superstitions to the frontiers of current research, illuminating the story of how scientists have explored the void and the rich discoveries they have made there.

Curiosity stirs the soul of every human. Who has not wondered about how the human body works? Can we drown from drinking too much water? What is a black hole? Can black holes allow us to time travel? Is spontaneous human combustion possible? Do identical twins have the same fingerprints? How do scientists age dinosaur bones? How does gravity make things fall? Why do sunflowers always face the sun? What about a man flying with wings? How big would those wings have to be? How tall can a human grow? Why are tennis balls fuzzy? What happens to the white when snow melts?

Drawing intriguing parallels between the present era of quantum physics and past episodes of scientific confusion, Beyond the Quantum tells the story of how pilot-wave theory was discovered and abandoned, revived and reconstructed, and how today it can pave the way to a new and radical physics beyond the quantum.

Marc Lachièze-Rey avec la collaboration de Ludovic Ligot (nouvelle édition). Pourquoi et comment les théories d'Einstein ont-elles révolutionné nos conceptions de l'espace, du temps et de la matière ? Installez-vous confortablement dans un transat, puis laissez Marc Lachièze-Rey vous guider sur le chemin menant de la relativité aux modèles de Big Bang et aux trous noirs. Découvrez les mystères de la courbure de l'espace-temps.

Utterly beautiful. Profoundly disconcerting. Quantum theory is quite simply the most successful account of the physical universe ever devised. Its concepts underpin much of the 21st-century technology that we now take for granted. But at the same time it has completely undermined our ability to make sense of the world at its most fundamental level.

An earthquake shatters Haiti and a hurricane slices through Texas. We hear that nature runs rampant, seeking to destroy us through these 'natural disasters'. Science recounts a different story, however: disasters are not the consequence of natural causes; they are the consequence of human choices and decisions. we put ourselves in harm's way; we fail to take measures which we know would prevent disasters, no matter what the environment does.

This bundle of six books includes works covering such varied topics as astrophysics and speculation on matters such as UFOs and time travel.

In 1927, Niels Bohr and Albert Einstein began a debate about the interpretation and meaning of the new quantum theory. This would become one of the most famous debates in the history of science. What (if any) limits should we place on our expectations for what science can tell us about physical reality? As Quantum Drama reveals, science owes a large debt to those who kept the discussions going before definitive experimental inquiries became possible. Although experiment moved the Bohr-Einstein debate to a new level, it has by no means removed or resolved the fundamental question.

The periodic table is one of the most potent icons in science. It lies at the core of chemistry and embodies the most fundamental principles of the field. The one definitive text on the development of the periodic table by van Spronsen (1969), has been out of print for a considerable time. The present book provides a successor to van Spronsen, but goes further in giving an evaluation of the extent to which modern physics has, or has not, explained the periodic system. The book is written in a lively style to appeal to experts and interested lay-persons alike.