Electric universe : the shocking true story of electricity

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Title:

Author:

Bodanis, David.

ISBN:

9781400045501

Personal Author:

Bodanis, David.

Edition:

1st ed.

Publication Information:

New York : Crown Publishers, c2005.

Physical Description:

308 p. ; 20 cm.

Contents:

1. The frontiersman and the dandy : Albany, 1830, and Washington, D.C., 1836 -- 2. Aleck and Mabel : Boston, 1875 -- 3. Thomas and J. J. : New York, 1878 -- 4. Faraday's God : London, 1831 -- 5. Atlantic storms : HMS Agamemnon, 1858, and Scotland, 1861 -- 6. A solitary man : Karlsruhe, Germany, 1877 -- 7. Power in the air : Suffolk coast, 1939, and Bruneval, France, 1942 -- 8. Power unleashed : Hamburg, 1943 -- 9. Turing : Cambridge, 1936, and Bletchley Park, 1942 -- 10. Turing's legacy : New Jersey, 1947 -- 11. Wet electricity : Plymouth, England, 1947 -- 12. Electric moods : Indianapolis, 1972, and today -- Mr. Amp, Mr. Volt, and Mr. Watt.

Abstract:

"Bodanis weaves tales of romance, divine inspiration, and fraud through lucid accounts of scientific breakthroughs. The great discoverers come to life in all their brilliance and idiosyncrasy, including the visionary Michael Faraday, who struggled against the prejudices of the British class system, and Samuel Morse, a painter who, before inventing the telegraph, ran for mayor of New York City on a platform of persecuting Catholics. Here too is Alan Turing, whose dream of a marvelous thinking machine - what we know as the computer - was met with indifference, and who ended his life in despair after British authorities forced him to undergo experimental treatments to "cure" his homosexuality."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject Term:

Electricity.

Force and energy.

Electronic Access:

Contributor biographical information http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0616/2004011275-b.html
Publisher description http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0616/2004011275-d.html
Sample text http://www.loc.gov/catdir/enhancements/fy0616/2004011275-s.html

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Summary

In his bestselling E=mc2, David Bodanis led us, with astonishing ease, through the world's most famous equation. Now, inElectric Universe, he illuminates the wondrous yet invisible force that permeates our universe--and introduces us to the virtuoso scientists who plumbed its secrets. For centuries, electricity was seen as little more than a curious property of certain substances that sparked when rubbed. Then, in the 1790s, Alessandro Volta began the scientific investigation that ignited an explosion of knowledge and invention. The force that once seemed inconsequential was revealed to be responsible for everything from the structure of the atom to the functioning of our brains. In harnessing its power, we have created a world of wonders--complete with roller coasters and radar, computer networks and psychopharmaceuticals. A superb storyteller, Bodanis weaves tales of romance, divine inspiration, and fraud through lucid accounts of scientific breakthroughs. The great discoverers come to life in all their brilliance and idiosyncrasy, including the visionary Michael Faraday, who struggled against the prejudices of the British class system, and Samuel Morse, a painter who, before inventing the telegraph, ran for mayor of New York City on a platform of persecuting Catholics. Here too is Alan Turing, whose dream of a marvelous thinking machine--what we know as the computer--was met with indifference, and who ended his life in despair after British authorities forced him to undergo experimental treatments to "cure" his homosexuality. From the frigid waters of the Atlantic to the streets of Hamburg during a World War II firestorm to the interior of the human body,Electric Universeis a mesmerizing journey of discovery by a master science writer.