God's Universe
Hal Harris | Fri, 07/27/2012 - 15:49
Owen Gingerich is author of The Book Nobody Read, and an article about Kepler in Physics Today that I have recommended in the past.
Physics
Why is Pioneer Slowing?
Hal Harris | Fri, 07/27/2012 - 08:32
The fact that spacecrafts Pioneer 10 and 11 are not moving quite as fast as they were predicted to, has led to speculation that there might be something wrong with general relativity. Einstein may be dead, but his concepts still reign.
A More Perfect Heaven: How Copernicus Revolutionized the Cosmos
Hal Harris | Thu, 12/01/2011 - 00:00
I enjoyed so much Dava Sobel's previous books, "Longitude" and "Galileo's Daughter" (both of which were Hal's Picks), that I was eager to read her latest, which was judged "best science book" for Fall, 2011 by Publisher's Weekly.
The Joy of Teaching and Writing Conceptual Physics
Hal Harris | Tue, 11/01/2011 - 01:00
Paul Hewitt may be the best-known physics teacher in the US. Not only has he written outstanding books for the teaching of physics and physical science, he is also the author of the very popular monthly "Figuring Physics" column of The Physics Teacher.
The Great Martian Catastrophe and How Kepler Fixed It
Hal Harris | Thu, 09/01/2011 - 01:00
Owen Gingerich is the author of one of my favorite books, "The Book Nobody Read", which was my Pick for October 2004 (could it have been that long ago?), which combines astronomy, history research, and bibliophilia.
Nuclear Energy: What Everyone Needs to Know
Hal Harris | Wed, 06/01/2011 - 01:00
Do tsunamis affect global warming? Well, the 2004 Indian Ocean catastrophe probably indirectly decreased the amount of carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere by destroying the lives of 200,000 victims and the livelihoods of probably 250,000 more. Of course, it also negatively affected coral reefs, mangroves and other wetlands, forests, and plant diversity.
The Hidden Reality: Parallel Universes and the Deep Laws of the Cosmos
Hal Harris | Tue, 02/01/2011 - 00:00
Brian Greene has emerged as the most significant spokesperson for modern physics. It isn't just that his two previous best-selling books ("The Elegant Universe" and The "Fabric of the Cosmos") were written to be accessible to the interested non-specialist, but also to excite the imagination of laymen.
On Fact and Fraud: Cautionary Tales from the Front Lines of Science
Hal Harris | Sat, 05/01/2010 - 01:00
David Goodstein has enjoyed a long and productive career at the California Institute of Technology as a professor of physics and as Vice Provost. He brings to this small book on scientific ethics the perspective of an administrator of scientific research, a viewpoint that I have not seen expressed in any other place.
Newton and the Counterfeiter: The Unknown Detective Career of the World's Greatest Scientist
Hal Harris | Tue, 12/01/2009 - 00:00
Isaac Newton was a complex man. Every student learns of (but few master) the laws bearing his name that govern the motion of objects from bullets to planets. Many know that the same great mind invented calculus along the way toward his Principia Mathematica.
Plastic Fantastic: How the Biggest Fraud in Physics Shook the Scientific World
Hal Harris | Mon, 06/01/2009 - 01:00
Jan Hendrik Schön published some of the most exciting and ground-breaking physics of the past decade. He published it in the most prestigious specialty journals such as Physical Review Letters, Nature and Science. He won several important prizes and was being nominated for more of them when a problem came to light. The problem was that Schön had no data to substantiate his discoveries .