|
|
|||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||
|
Publishers Weekly® Reviews
- Reviewed in: Publishers Weekly, page 57.
- Review Date: 2007-12-03
- Reviewer: Staff
Award-winning science writer Johnson (A Fire in the Mind; Strange Beauty) calls readers away from the “industrialized” mega-scale of modern science (which requires multimillion-dollar equipment and teams of scientists) to appreciate 10 historic experiments whose elegant simplicity revealed key features of our bodies and our world. Some of the experiments Johnson describes have a sense of whimsy, like Galileo measuring the speed of balls rolling down a ramp to the regular beat of a song, or Isaac Newton cutting holes in window shades and scrambling around with a prism to break light into its component colors. Other experiments—such as William Harvey's use of vivisected animals to demonstrate the circulation of blood, and the “truncated frogs” Luigi Galvani used in his study of the nervous system—remind us of changing attitudes toward animal research. Joule's effort to show that heat and work are related ways of converting energy into motion, Michelson's work to measure the speed of light, Millikan's sensitive apparatus for measuring the charge of an electron: these experiments toppled contemporary dogma with their logic and clear design as much as with their results. With these 10 entertaining histories, Johnson reminds us of a time when all research was hands-on and “the most earthshaking science came from... a single mind confronting the unknown.” 73 b&w illus. (Apr. 9)
Simply elegant experiments
Science writer George Johnson's The 10 Most Beautiful Experiments includes Newton's illuminating splitting of light into colors; Galileo's experiment with gravity; Lavoisier's work with oxygen; Faraday's proof that magnetism, electricity and light are inextricably intertwined; and more. Johnson admits to selecting his top 10 arbitrarily, but they all share the common criterion of being comparatively simple in concept—the sort of experiment that could be set up in a laboratory (or even, in some cases, a home). They also share the distinction of opening fundamental areas of science, from the nature of energy to the inner workings of the mind.
Johnson's book is as elegant as the experiments he features, which are drawn from physics, chemistry, biology and even psychiatry. Johnson acknowledges that the reader might have other experiments to add to the list, and why not? Science is about the fascination of exploring the universe and whatever fascinates the mind, is, like The 10 Most Beautiful Experiments, worth the exploring. The writing here is lively, mixing bits of biography with the experiments themselves, offering the human element that explains the scientists' motivation as well as the science. Johnson shares personal anecdotes as well as theory in an engaging, compelling style. The result is a little gem of a book, enjoyable to read both as history and science.