Engineering Physics

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.

From the solar system to spinning tops, hurricanes to hula hoops, power plants to pendulums, one mysterious force shapes almost every aspect of our lives: spin. Despite its ubiquity, rotational force continues to baffle and surprise, and few people realize how it makes our planet habitable or how it has been tamed by engineers to make our lives more comfortable. Charting the development of engineering and technology from the earliest prehistoric drills to the gas turbine, Roland Ennos presents a riveting account of human ingenuity and the seemingly infinite ways spin affects our daily lives.

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 ?

Perhaps the greatest physicist of the second half of the 20th century, Richard Feynman changed the way we think about quantum mechanics, the most perplexing of all physical theories. Here Lawrence M. Krauss, himself a theoretical physicist and best-selling author, offers a unique scientific biography: a rollicking narrative coupled with clear and novel expositions of science at the limits.

Buckle up for a joy ride through physics, chemistry, biology, geology, and astronomy. Drawing on conversations with hundreds of the world's top scientists and her own work as an award-winning science writer, Natalie Angier does the impossible: she makes science fascinating and seriously fun, even for those of us who, in Angier's words, "still can't tell the difference between a proton, a photon, and a moron".

Does alien life exist? Is time travel possible? How did the universe begin, and how will it end? Is the future predetermined? These are just some of the fascinating questions posed in this book, which stretches across physics, the life sciences and cosmology. Each chapter considers a separate question and ends with either an answer or, if there is insufficient evidence, a ‘best guess’ answer.

The essential guide to radiation: the good, the bad, and the utterly fascinating, explained with unprecedented clarity. Earth, born in a nuclear explosion, is a radioactive planet; without radiation, life would not exist. And while radiation can be dangerous, it is also deeply misunderstood and often mistakenly feared. Now Robert Peter Gale, M.D. - the doctor to whom concerned governments turned in the wake of the Chernobyl and Fukushima - in collaboration with medical writer Eric Lax draws on an exceptional depth of knowledge to correct myths and establish facts.

Why does a football spiral? How do some athletes jump so high? The answer is science! The Secret Science of Sports helps kids better understand concepts of science, technology, engineering, and math through the sports they love to play and watch.

Jimena Canales desgrana en este libro uno de los aspectos más desconocidos y fascinantes de la historia de la ciencia. Porque son estos siervos imaginarios y ocultos los que han ayudado a desvelar los secretos de la entropía, la herencia, la relatividad, la mecánica cuántica y otras maravillas científicas, y son ellos los que siguen inspirando hoy los avances en los ámbitos de la informática, la física y la inteligencia artificial.

A Degree in a Book: Cosmology is the perfect introduction to cosmology, astronomy, and astrophysics, written by one of NASA's leading astronomers and educators. Filled with helpful diagrams, suggestions for further reading and easily digestible history sections, this audiobook makes it easier than ever to understand the workings of the Universe. Featuring the most important ideas in the field, including the theory of relativity, the standard model, loop quantum gravity, and supersymmetry, it covers the whole breadth of cosmology.

Mistero per profani e scienziati, la natura del tempo è l'oggetto di questo libro sorprendente. Un racconto delle diverse strade intraprese nel corso dei secoli per comprendere ciò di cui tutti facciamo esperienza in ogni istante. Un viaggio illuminante a partire da Anassimandro, passando per Newton e Einstein, fino ad arrivare alle più recenti teorie sulla gravità a loop e ad affacciarsi sul "grande oceano notturno e stellato di quello che ancora non sappiamo".

A series of glasses of transparent liquids is in front of you: but which will quench your thirst and which will kill you? And why? Why does one liquid make us drunk and another power a jumbo jet? Sometimes dangerous, often delightful and always fascinating, discover the secret lives of liquids, from one of our best known scientists. From the best-selling author of Stuff Matters comes a fascinating tour of the world of these surprising or sinister substances - the droplets, heartbeats and ocean waves we encounter day to day.

When leading Princeton physicist Paul Steinhardt began working in the 1980s, scientists thought they knew all the conceivable forms of matter. The Second Kind of Impossible is the story of Steinhardt’s 35-year-long quest to challenge conventional wisdom. It begins with a curious geometric pattern that inspires two theoretical physicists to propose a radically new type of matter - one that raises the possibility of new materials with never-before-seen properties but that violates laws set in stone for centuries.

In this Very Short Introduction audiobook, Richard Earl gives a sense of the more visual elements of topology (looking at surfaces) as well as covering the formal definition of continuity. Considering some of the eye-opening examples that led mathematicians to recognize a need for studying topology, he pays homage to the historical people, problems, and surprises that have propelled the growth of this field.

The justification for the atomic bomb was simple: it would defeat Hitler and end the Second World War faster, saving lives. The reality was different. Fallout dismantles the conventional story of why the atom bomb was built. Peter Watson has found documents showing that long before the Allied bomb was operational, it was clear that Germany had no atomic weapons of its own and was not likely to. The British knew this, but didn't share their knowledge with the Americans, who in turn deceived the British about the extent to which the Soviets had penetrated their plans for the bomb.

A short and entertaining introduction to thermodynamics that uses real-world examples to explain accessibly an important but subtle scientific theory.

Humanity has long looked to the sky and marveled at the world around us. We've wondered why the world is the way it is and whether it has to be that way. And we dream of a time when we have developed a theory of everything—a theory that answers all questions. Einstein's Unfinished Dream explores the cutting-edge research of modern particle physicists that pushes us slowly towards a theory of everything....

Superconductivity is one of the most exciting areas of research in physics today. Outlining the history of its discovery and the race to understand its many mysterious and counterintuitive phenomena, this Very Short Introduction audiobook explains in accessible terms the theories that have been developed and how they have influenced other areas of science, including the Higgs boson of particle physics and ideas about the early universe.

In 1911, a relatively unknown physicist named Albert Einstein published his preliminary theory of gravity. But it hadn't been tested. To do that, he needed a photograph of starlight as it passed the sun during a total solar eclipse. So began a nearly decade-long quest by seven determined astronomers from observatories in four countries, who traveled the world during five eclipses to capture the elusive sight. Over the years, they faced thunderstorms, the ravages of a world war, lost equipment, and local superstitions.

In an age of unprecedented exploration and innovation, our oceans remain largely unknown, and endlessly fascinating: full of mystery, danger, beauty, and inspiration. Bill Streever - a longtime deep-sea diver himself - has masterfully woven together the science and history of Earth's last remaining frontier: the sea.