Passionate Minds

The Inner World of Scientists
Erscheinungsjahr 1997
ISBN: 978-0-19-854904-8
Verlag: Oxford University Press

Buch, Englisch, 248 Seiten, Format (B × H): 163 mm x 242 mm, Gewicht: 529 g

The popular stereotype of the scientist as mad boffin or weedy nerd has been peddled widely in film and fiction, with the implication that the world of science is far removed from the intellectual and emotional messiness of other human activities. In Passionate Minds, distinguished scientist Lewis Wolpert investigates the style and motivation of some of the most eminent scientists in the world. In this stimulating collection of conversations, scientists in fields as diverse as particle physics and evolutionary biology explore how their backgrounds have shaped their careers and discoveries - how being an outsider or an "innocent" can play an invaluable role in overcoming conventional barriers to new understanding. Being a little crazy does seem to help. As Nobel laureate for physics Sheldon Glashow says, "If you would simply take all the kookiest ideas of the early 1970s and put them together you would have made for yourself the theory which is, in fact, the correct theory of nature, so it was like madness." These personal explorations with individual scientists are not only accessible and truly fascinating in their insights into the minds of some of the greatest men and women of science, but they also provide a strong case that the life and works of our leading scientists are at least as illuminating and interesting as the personalities of the latest literary prizewinners. A sequel to A Passion for Science, this book will delight and intrigue scientists and non-scientists alike.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Wolpert, Lewis

Richards, Alison

Fachgebiete

• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Human- und Sozialwissenschaften
• Naturwissenschaften Physik Physik Allgemein Geschichte der Physik
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik
• Sozialwissenschaften Psychologie Psychologie / Allgemeines & Theorie Geschichte der Psychologie
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wissenschafts- und Universitätsgeschichte
• Naturwissenschaften Chemie Chemie Allgemein Geschichte der Chemie

Inhaltsverzeichnis

- Introduction: More Passion for Science

- Section I: In Two Minds

- Blemished heroes

- Tapeworm quadrilles

- Worlds apart

- Scaling the heights

- Clinical science

- Swimming with the tide

- Section II: Against the Grain

- Freeing the mind

- Gardens of the mind

- Not a company man

- Not all in the genes

- In agreement with nature

- Section III: Eureka

- Daydreaming molecules

- Going into the dark

- Hole in one

- Ways of seeing

- Three quarks for muster mark

- The wierdest of fancies

- Directly to the heart

- Section IV: Reflections

- Other minds

- Asking nature

- A very tidy desk

- Of mice and mothers

- A family affair

- Index

Über Autor(innen)

Lewis Wolpert is Professor of Biology as Applied to Medicine at University College, London. Alison Richards is a producer of science programmes for BBC Radio.