Download or read book Stephen Hawking written by Leonard Mlodinow and published by Pantheon. This book was released on 2020 with total page 241 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An intimate and inspirational exploration of Stephen Hawking--the man, the friend, and the physicist. Stephen Hawking was one of the most famous and influential physicists in the world. He left a mark in our culture that touched the lives of millions. His books have inspired countless scientists-to-be, and his research on the laws of black holes and the origin of the universe charted new territory. Recalling his nearly two-decades as a friend and collaborator with Stephen Hawking, Leonard Mlodinow brings a complex man into focus like no one has before. He introduces us to Hawking the colleague, for whom no detail is too minor to get right, a challenge for a man who could only type one word per minute. We meet Hawking the friend, who creates such strong connections with those around him that he can communicate powerfully with just the raise of an eyebrow. We witness Hawking the genius, who, against all odds, flourishes after he is diagnosed with ALS and pours his mind into uncovering the mysteries of the universe. Brilliant, impish, and kind, Hawking endeared himself to almost everyone he came into contact with. This beautiful portrait is inpirational and is sure to stick with you long after you've read it.
Download or read book Personal History written by Katharine Graham and published by Hachette UK. This book was released on 2018-03-29 with total page 720 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As seen in the new movie The Post, directed by Steven Spielberg and starring Meryl Streep, here is the captivating, inside story of the woman who piloted the Washington Post during one of the most turbulent periods in the history of American media. In this bestselling and widely acclaimed memoir, Katharine Graham, the woman who piloted the Washington Post through the scandals of the Pentagon Papers and Watergate, tells her story - one that is extraordinary both for the events it encompasses and for the courage, candour and dignity of its telling. Here is the awkward child who grew up amid material wealth and emotional isolation; the young bride who watched her brilliant, charismatic husband - a confidant to John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson - plunge into the mental illness that would culminate in his suicide. And here is the widow who shook off her grief and insecurity to take on a president and a pressman's union as she entered the profane boys' club of the newspaper business. As timely now as ever, Personal History is an exemplary record of our history and of the woman who played such a shaping role within them, discovering her own strength and sense of self as she confronted - and mastered - the personal and professional crises of her fascinating life.
Download or read book Scientific Autobiography and Personal Memoir written by Clifford Ladd Prosser and published by . This book was released on 2001 with total page 128 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:
Download or read book Between Two Worlds written by Mario Bunge and published by Springer. This book was released on 2016-04-29 with total page 505 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: To go through the pages of the Autobiography of Mario Bunge is to accompany him through dozens of countries and examine the intellectual, political, philosophical and scientific spheres of the last hundred years. It is an experience that oscillates between two different worlds: the different and the similar, the professional and the personal. It is an established fact that one of his great loves was, and still is, science. He has always been dedicated to scientific work, teaching, research, and training men and women in multiple disciplines. Life lessons fall like ripe fruit from this book, bringing us closer to a concept, a philosophical idea, a scientific digression, which had since been uncovered in numerous notes, articles or books. Bunge writes about the life experiences in this book with passion, naturalness and with a colloquial frankness, whether they be persecutions, banishment, imprisonment, successes, would-be losses, emotions, relationships, debates, impressions or opinions about people or things. In his pages we pass by the people with whom he shared a fruitful century of achievements and incredible depths of thought. Everything is remembered with sincerity and humor. This autobiography is, in truth, Bunge on Bunge, sharing everything that passes through the sieve of his memory, as he would say. Mario’s many grandchildren are a testament to his proud standing as a family man, and at the age of 96 he gives us a book for everyone: for those who value the memories that hold the trauma of his life as well as for those who share his passion for science and culture. Also, perhaps, for some with whom he has had disagreements or controversy, for he still deserves recognition for being a staunch defender of his convictions.
Download or read book A Scientific Autobiography written by Kameshwar C. Wali and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2010 with total page 296 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: S. Chandrasekhar, popularly known as Chandra, was one of the foremost scientists of the 20th century. The year 2010 marks the birth centenary of Chandra. His unique style of research, inward bound, seeking a personal perspective to master a particular field, and then pass on to another was so unique that it will draw considerable interest and attention among scholars. As Chandra elucidates in the preface, "The various installments describe in detail the evolution of my scientific work during the past forty years and records each investigation, describing the doubts and the successes, the trials and the tribulations. And the parts my various associates and assistants played in the completion of the different investigations are detailed." It is indeed a remarkable and rare document, fascinating to read and experience the joys, frustrations and struggles of a creative mind. In addition, a compilation of selected correspondence, which includes his correspondence with his father, some family members and other well-known scientists of the 20th century, will provide an interesting insight into the life of an extraordinary scientist.
Download or read book Memoirs written by Edward Teller and published by . This book was released on 2009-09-09 with total page 678 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Edward Teller is perhaps best known for his belief in freedom through strong defense. But this extraordinary memoir at last reveals the man behind the headlines--passionate and humorous, devoted and loyal. Never before has Teller told his story as fully as he does here. We learn his true position on everything from the bombing of Japan to the pursuit of weapons research in the post-war years. In clear and compelling prose, Teller chronicles the people and events that shaped him as a scientist, beginning with his early love of music and math, and continuing with his study of quantum physics under Werner Heisenberg. He also describes his relationships with some of the century's greatest minds--Einstein, Bohr, Fermi, Szilard, von Neumann--and offers an honest assessment of the development of the atomic and hydrogen bombs, the founding of Lawrence Livermore Laboratory, and his complicated relationship with J. Robert Oppenheimer.Rich and humanizing, this candid memoir describes the events that led Edward Teller to be honored or abhorred, and provides a fascinating perspective on the ability of a single individual to affect the course of history.
Download or read book The Autobiography of a Transgender Scientist written by Ben Barres and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2018-10-30 with total page 161 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A leading scientist describes his life, his gender transition, his scientific work, and his advocacy for gender equality in science. Ben Barres was known for his groundbreaking scientific work and for his groundbreaking advocacy for gender equality in science. In this book, completed shortly before his death from pancreatic cancer in December 2017, Barres (born in 1954) describes a life full of remarkable accomplishments—from his childhood as a precocious math and science whiz to his experiences as a female student at MIT in the 1970s to his female-to-male transition in his forties, to his scientific work and role as teacher and mentor at Stanford. Barres recounts his early life—his interest in science, first manifested as a fascination with the mad scientist in Superman; his academic successes; and his gender confusion. Barres felt even as a very young child that he was assigned the wrong gender. After years of being acutely uncomfortable in his own skin, Barres transitioned from female to male. He reports he felt nothing but relief on becoming his true self. He was proud to be a role model for transgender scientists. As an undergraduate at MIT, Barres experienced discrimination, but it was after transitioning that he realized how differently male and female scientists are treated. He became an advocate for gender equality in science, and later in life responded pointedly to Larry Summers's speculation that women were innately unsuited to be scientists. Privileged white men, Barres writes, “miss the basic point that in the face of negative stereotyping, talented women will not be recognized.” At Stanford, Barres made important discoveries about glia, the most numerous cells in the brain, and he describes some of his work. “The most rewarding part of his job,” however, was mentoring young scientists. That, and his advocacy for women and transgender scientists, ensures his legacy.
Download or read book Einstein on Einstein written by Hanoch Gutfreund and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2020-05-12 with total page 210 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Einstein begins his Autobiographical Notes with one problem he never quite solved: 'What, precisely, is thinking?' ... In this book, Autobiographical Notes is accompanied by introductions, essays, and commentary by Hanoch Gutfreud and Jèurgen Renn, who draw on biographical information, written correspondence, and their knowledge of Einstein scholarship to render these difficult texts accessible to readers. They have also collected critical writings by Einstein's contemporaries alongside Einstein's own responses to these interlocutors, as well as Einstein's Autobiographical Sketch, composed just before his death in 1955, which is published for the first time in English"--
Download or read book A Lab of One s Own written by Rita Colwell and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-08-04 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A “beautifully written” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review) memoir-manifesto from the first female director of the National Science Foundation about the entrenched sexism in science, the elaborate detours women have take to bypass the problem, and how to fix the system. If you think sexism thrives only on Wall Street or Hollywood, you haven’t visited a lab, a science department, a research foundation, or a biotech firm. Rita Colwell is one of the top scientists in America: the groundbreaking microbiologist who discovered how cholera survives between epidemics and the former head of the National Science Foundation. But when she first applied for a graduate fellowship in bacteriology, she was told, “We don’t waste fellowships on women.” A lack of support from some male superiors would lead her to change her area of study six times before completing her PhD. A Lab of One’s Own is an “engaging” (Booklist) book that documents all Colwell has seen and heard over her six decades in science, from sexual harassment in the lab to obscure systems blocking women from leading professional organizations or publishing their work. Along the way, she encounters other women pushing back against the status quo, including a group at MIT who revolt when they discover their labs are a fraction of the size of their male colleagues. Resistance gave female scientists special gifts: forced to change specialties so many times, they came to see things in a more interdisciplinary way, which turned out to be key to making new discoveries in the 20th and 21st centuries. Colwell would also witness the advances that could be made when men and women worked together—often under her direction, such as when she headed a team that helped to uncover the source of anthrax used in the 2001 letter attacks. A Lab of One’s Own is “an inspiring read for women embarking on a career or experiencing career challenges” (Library Journal, starred review) that shares the sheer joy a scientist feels when moving toward a breakthrough, and the thrill of uncovering a whole new generation of female pioneers. It is the science book for the #MeToo era, offering an astute diagnosis of how to fix the problem of sexism in science—and a celebration of women pushing back.
Download or read book Skunk Works written by Leo Janos and published by Little, Brown. This book was released on 2013-02-26 with total page 273 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This classic history of America's high-stakes quest to dominate the skies is "a gripping technothriller in which the technology is real" (New York Times Book Review). From the development of the U-2 to the Stealth fighter, Skunk Works is the true story of America's most secret and successful aerospace operation. As recounted by Ben Rich, the operation's brilliant boss for nearly two decades, the chronicle of Lockheed's legendary Skunk Works is a drama of Cold War confrontations and Gulf War air combat, of extraordinary feats of engineering and human achievement against fantastic odds. Here are up-close portraits of the maverick band of scientists and engineers who made the Skunk Works so renowned. Filled with telling personal anecdotes and high adventure, with narratives from the CIA and from Air Force pilots who flew the many classified, risky missions, this book is a riveting portrait of the most spectacular aviation triumphs of the twentieth century. "Thoroughly engrossing." --Los Angeles Times Book Review
Download or read book I Asimov written by Isaac Asimov and published by Bantam. This book was released on 2009-12-23 with total page 609 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Arguably the greatest science fiction writer who ever lived, Isaac Asimov also possessed one of the most brilliant and original minds of our time. His accessible style and far-reaching interests in subjects ranging from science to humor to history earned him the nickname “the Great Explainer.” I. Asimov is his personal story—vivid, open, and honest—as only Asimov himself could tell it. Here is the story of the paradoxical genius who wrote of travel to the stars yet refused to fly in airplanes; who imagined alien universes and vast galactic civilizations while staying home to write; who compulsively authored more than 470 books yet still found the time to share his ideas with some of the great minds of our century. Here are his wide-ranging thoughts and sharp-eyed observations on everything from religion to politics, love and divorce, friendship and Hollywood, fame and mortality. Here, too, is a riveting behind-the-scenes look at the varied personalities—Campbell, Ellison, Heinlein, Clarke, del Rey, Silverberg, and others—who along with Asimov helped shape science fiction. As unique and irrepressible as the man himself, I. Asimov is the candid memoir of an incomparable talent who entertained readers for nearly half a century and whose work will surely endure into the future he so vividly envisioned.
Download or read book Maker of Patterns An Autobiography Through Letters written by Freeman Dyson and published by Liveright Publishing. This book was released on 2018-04-10 with total page 506 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A lifetime of candid reflections from physicist Freeman Dyson, “an acute observer of personality and human foibles” (New York Times Book Review). Written between 1940 and the late 1970s, the postwar recollections of renowned physicist Freeman Dyson have been celebrated as an historic portrait of modern science and its greatest players, including Robert Oppenheimer, Richard Feynman, Stephen Hawking, and Hans Bethe. Chronicling the stories of those who were engaged in solving some of the most challenging quandaries of twentieth-century physics, Dyson lends acute insight and profound observations to a life’s work spent chasing what Einstein called those “deep mysteries that Nature intends to keep for herself.” Whether reflecting on the drama of World War II, the moral dilemmas of nuclear development, the challenges of the space program, or the demands of raising six children, Dyson’s annotated letters reveal the voice of one “more creative than almost anyone else of his generation” (Kip Thorne). An illuminating work in these trying times, Maker of Patterns is an eyewitness account of the scientific discoveries that define our modern age.
Download or read book Jumping Over Shadows written by Annette Gendler and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-04-04 with total page 237 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The true story of a German-Jewish love that overcame the burdens of the past. Finalist for the 2017 Book of the Year Award by the Chicago Writers Association “A book that is hard to put down.” —Jerusalem Post “This book confirms Annette Gendler as an indispensable Jewish voice for our time." —Yossi Klein Halevi, author of Like Dreamers "The ghosts of the past haunt a woman’s search for herself in this thoughtful, poignant memoir about the transformative power of love and faith.” —Hillary Jordan, author of Mudbound, now a Netflix movie “An exquisitely written conversion story which expounds upon personal and collective identity.” —Washington Independent Review of Books “A compelling, gracefully written memoir about the impact of the past on the present.” —Michael Steinberg, author of Still Pitching History was repeating itself when Annette fell in love with Harry, a Jewish man, the son of Holocaust survivors, in Germany in 1985. Her Great-Aunt Resi had been married to a Jew in Czechoslovakia before World War II―a marriage that, while happy, put the entire family in mortal danger once the Nazis took over their hometown in 1938. Annette and Harry’s love, meanwhile, was the ultimate nightmare for Harry’s family. Not only was their son considering marrying a non-Jew, but a German. Weighed down by the burdens of their family histories, Annette and Harry kept their relationship secret for three years, until they could forge a path into the future and create a new life in Chicago. Annette found a spiritual home in Judaism―a choice that paved the way toward acceptance by Harry’s family, and redemption for some of the wounds of her own family’s past.
Download or read book Memoir of a Thinking Radish written by Peter Brian Medawar and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 1986 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "He's tart, tough-minded, terribly British...an imposing grand master of aphorism, argument and lightning-bolt one-liners," wrote Newsweek of Sir Peter Medawar, the Nobel Prize-winning immunologist and renowned author. In this incisive and witty memoir, Sir Peter describes his exceptional life -- his early days in Rio de Janiero, Oxford in the 1930s, the rewards and frustrations of his medical career, his musical education, his family, travels, and more. A delight to read, this highly personal account illuminates the life of one of the most engaging and impressive men of our time.
Download or read book A Scientific Autobiography reissue written by Aldo Rossi and published by MIT Press. This book was released on 2010-01-29 with total page 129 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A lyrical memoir by one of the major figures of postmodernist architecture; with drawings of architectural projects prepared especially for the book. This revealing memoir by Aldo Rossi (1937–1997), one of the most visible and controversial figures ever on the international architecture scene, intermingles discussions of Rossi's architectural projects—including the major literary and artistic influences on his work—with his personal history. Drawn from notebooks Rossi kept beginning in 1971, these ruminations and reflections range from his obsession with theater to his concept of architecture as ritual.
Download or read book The Glass Castle written by Jeannette Walls and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2007-01-02 with total page 370 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A triumphant tale of a young woman and her difficult childhood, The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience, redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and wonderfully vibrant. Jeannette Walls was the second of four children raised by anti-institutional parents in a household of extremes.
Download or read book The Situation and the Story written by Vivian Gornick and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2002-10-11 with total page 188 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A guide to the art of personal writing, by the author of Fierce Attachments and The End of the Novel of Love All narrative writing must pull from the raw material of life a tale that will shape experience, transform event, deliver a bit of wisdom. In a story or a novel the "I" who tells this tale can be, and often is, an unreliable narrator but in nonfiction the reader must always be persuaded that the narrator is speaking truth. How does one pull from one's own boring, agitated self the truth-speaker who will tell the story a personal narrative needs to tell? That is the question The Situation and the Story asks--and answers. Taking us on a reading tour of some of the best memoirs and essays of the past hundred years, Gornick traces the changing idea of self that has dominated the century, and demonstrates the enduring truth-speaker to be found in the work of writers as diverse as Edmund Gosse, Joan Didion, Oscar Wilde, James Baldwin, or Marguerite Duras. This book, which grew out of fifteen years teaching in MFA programs, is itself a model of the lucid intelligence that has made Gornick one of our most admired writers of nonfiction. In it, she teaches us to write by teaching us how to read: how to recognize truth when we hear it in the writing of others and in our own.
