Inventors Science

David Aguilar was born missing part of one arm, a small detail that seemed to define his life and limit people’s ideas of who he was and who he could be. But in this funny and heartfelt memoir, David proves that he can throw out the rulebook and people’s expectations and maybe even make a difference in the world—and all with a sense of humor.

Throughout history, people have experimented, invented, and created new ways of doing things. Kid Innovators tells the stories of a diverse group of brilliant thinkers in fields like technology, education, business, science, art, and entertainment, reminding us that every innovator started out as a kid. Florence Nightingale rescued baby mice, Alan Turing was a daydreamer with terrible handwriting, and Alvin Ailey felt like a failure at sports.

A worldwide race is on to perfect the next engine of economic growth, the advanced lithium-ion battery. It will power the electric car, relieve global warming, and catapult the winner into a new era of economic and political mastery. Can the United States win? Steve LeVine was granted unprecedented access to a secret federal laboratory outside Chicago, where a group of geniuses is trying to solve this next monumental task of physics. But these scientists - almost all foreign born - are not alone.

Michael Faraday is regarded as one of the founding fathers of modern physics. His work in the field of electromagnetism revolutionized society, leading to new avenues of study and developments of technology that would leave the world changed forever. Without Faraday’s discoveries, there would be no electronics or electrical power. There would be no technology as we recognize it, or at the very least those technologies would have taken much longer to arise, causing our time to look very different.

Innovation starts with a problem whose solution sets in motion all kinds of unexpected discoveries. That's why you can draw a line from pendulums to punching the clock at a factory, from ice blocks to summer movie blockbusters, from clean water to computer chips. In the lively storytelling style that has made him a popular, best-selling author Steven Johnson looks at how accidental genius, brilliant mistakes, and unintended consequences shape the way we live in the modern world.

Estas historias te demostrarán que los errores y los fracasos no tienen por qué significar el fin de tu sueño. De hecho, podrían ser sólo el principio. Inspírate para convertir tus errores en éxitos y encuentra el potencial que hay detrás de cada accidente.

Steam technology and spring-powered engines have evolved since the discovery of Blackrock Steel, which can store vast amounts of energy, but word of this incredible resource has spread far and wide. When a horde of barbarian warriors known as Vangars sweep across the Frigid Sea in massive airships fueled by precious but dwindling supplies of black tar-like oil, they are determined to learn the secrets of Blackrock Steel at any cost. They assault the capital city, slaying King Ryshan and the entire royal family, and then ravage the countryside.

Alexander Graham Bell est né en Écosse, où il enseigne à parler à des sourds. Son intérêt pour l’enseignement le conduit à développer des outils pour faciliter la communication orale. Après la mort de ses deux frères, il suit ses parents en immigrant à l'Ontario. Il s’installe ensuite à Boston, centre de recherche scientifique très vivant à la fin du 19e siècle. L’invention du téléphone lui assure la gloire et la postérité, mais comme tout grand inventeur, il mènera des recherches dans de nombreux domaines : électricité, médecine, aéronautique.

Have you ever wondered what makes a kite fly or a boat float? Have you ever thought about why snowflakes are symmetrical, or why golf balls have dimples? Have you ever tried to make a kaleidoscope or build a pair of stilts? In Calling All Minds, Temple Grandin explores the ideas behind all of those questions and more. She delves into the science behind inventions, the steps various people took to create and improve upon ideas as they evolved, and the ways in which young inventors can continue to think about and understand what it means to tinker, to fiddle, and to innovate.

In this world, sixteen-year-old Charlotte and her fellow refugees have scraped out an existence on the edge of Britain’s industrial empire. Though they live by the skin of their teeth, they have their health (at least when they can find enough food and avoid the Imperial Labor Gatherers) and each other. When a new exile with no memory of his escape or even his own name seeks shelter in their camp he brings new dangers with him and secrets about the terrible future that awaits all those who have struggled has to live free of the bonds of the empire’s Machineworks.

In the late 1950s, NASA and the Department of Defense had a problem. They could not figure out how to make a heat shield for manned spacecraft or ICBMs. The Air Force used heat-sink metals, especially copper, and the Navy, on Polaris, used a beryllium heat sink shield. The Space Task Group, in March 1958, were leaning toward the heat sink method.

Before Isaac Newton became the father of physics, an accomplished mathematician, or a leader of the scientific revolution, he was a boy living in an apothecary's house, observing and experimenting, recording his observations of the world in a tiny notebook. As a young genius living in a time before science as we know it existed, Isaac studied the few books he could get his hands on, built handmade machines, and experimented with alchemy.

Sam’s life is far from ordinary. Living in a high-tech world without arms or legs, she has one special room where she can project herself as a 3D hologram, just like the holodeck from Star Trek. In that room, Sam can be whoever she wants to be—free to explore the world in ways her body can't allow. But when her dad surprises her with a tablet that can transport her hologram anywhere, Sam gets the opportunity of a lifetime: her first picnic—a simple dream come true. But things take a sudden, dangerous turn, and Sam finds herself on an unexpected adventure with no way back.

Brimming with mystery and treasure, this action-packed tale sends a boy in need of luck and a girl in need of a friend on an adventure that will change their lives forever. Meet George, the third Lord of Devonshire and the unluckiest boy in London. Why is George so unlucky? First, he's an orphan. Second, unless he sells everything, he's about to lose his house.

Edwin Grosvenor writes of Bell's other extraordinary inventions: the first transmission of sound over light waves, metal detector, first practical phonograph, and early airplanes, including the first to fly in Canada. He also examines Bell's humanitarian efforts, including support for women's suffrage, civil rights, and speeches about what he warned would be a "greenhouse effect" of pollution causing global warming.

This is a bundle of biographies of scientists and inventors that have paved the way for the technology and society we enjoy today. Their genius ideas and out-of-the-box thinking have been inspiring and courageous, to say the least.

A “lifer” at the secluded Academy of Florence, Leo has never met his parents ... or anyone in his family for that matter. His current “family” is his mechanical monkey and robot lion, who along with his charming best friend and fellow lifer, Savvy, only get him into trouble. But after Leo’s latest experiment goes catastrophically wrong, he finds a mysterious clue that opens an underground maze—one that seems to have been created for him to solve. Leo hopes the tunnels will help him discover the identities of his parents and the reason he’s an orphan in the first place.

Like Michelangelo, Galileo is another Renaissance great known just by his first name - a name that is synonymous with scientific achievement. Born in Pisa, Italy, in the 16th century, Galileo contributed to the era's great rebirth of knowledge. He invented a telescope to observe the heavens. From there, not even the sky was the limit! He turned long-held notions about the universe topsy turvy with his support of a sun-centric solar system.

They never knew how he did it. Few composers write more than one or two symphonies in their lifetimes. Beethoven spent a year on his shorter symphonies but more than six years on his 9th Symphony. The prodigy Mozart finished his last three symphonies (39, 40, and 41) in the span of a few weeks. His 25th Symphony took only two days.

Victor is sceptical when Walter Swizwit comes to the village of Rainwater. He's the latest in a string of inventors passing through and no one wants to buy his cheap magic tricks. But Walter doesn't take rejection well and puts a curse on the village. Only Victor is unaffected, and he must leave Rainwater for the first time in his life if he's to find the cure. Victor's path takes him past other villages that Walter has damaged and he picks up new companions on the way: Elena, handy with bow and arrow, Mo-Lan, a science prodigy and scaredy-cat Mingus.