Auckland Council Libraries: Influential scientists of our time

Influential scientists of our time

Some of the most notable scientific discoveries to humankind have been discovered in the last century. This collection of memoirs gives readers a glimpse into the lives of some of the men and women whose work has changed the course of history.



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The physicist & the philosopher

Jimena Canales

Book

The Physicist and the Philosopher tells the remarkable story of how Albert Einstien’s and Henri Bergson’s public debate in 1922 transformed our understanding of time and drove a rift between science and the humanities that persists today.

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True genius

Joel N. Shurkin

Book

This biography of one of America’s great minds includes innovations we take for granted: touch screens, color monitors, laser printers, GPS satellite navigation. The world is a more interesting and safer place because of Garwin's accomplishments.

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Ordinary geniuses

Gino Segrè

Book

This biography tells the tale of two maverick scientists who had a profound influence on how we see the world, both on its largest scale (the universe) and its smallest (genetic code).

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Turing's cathedral

George Dyson

Book

George Dyson focuses on a small group of men and women, led by John von Neumann at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, who built one of the first computers to realize Alan Turing's vision of a Universal Machine.

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Planck

Brandon R. Brown

Book

Max Planck is credited with being the father of quantum theory, and his work laid the foundation for our understanding of matter and energetic processes.

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My father in his suitcase

John K. Corner

Book

This book by John (Kay) Corner tells the tale of his father, Edred John Henry Corner, one of the most colourful and productive biologists and mycologists of the 20th century.

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Man of the hour

Jennet Conant

Book

Best-selling author Jennet Conant tells the tale of her grandfather, James B. Conant, a savvy architect of the nuclear age. This intimate read takes the reader into the most argued cases of modern times.

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Einstein

Andrew Robinson

Book

This definitive illustrated study of one of the foremost icons of the 20th century commemorates the centenary of Albert Einstein's annus mirabilis of 1905, the same year when Einstein published his groundbreaking Special Theory of Relativity.

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Marie Curie and her daughters

Shelley Emling

Book

This biography of Marie Curie plumbs the recesses of her relationships with her two daughters and presents the legendary scientist to us in a fresh way.

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The last man who knew everything

David N. Schwartz

Book

Spanning the ages of physics and quantum mechanics, equally at ease with theory and experiment, Fermi truly was the last man who knew everything - at least about physics.

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Sigmund Freud

Alastair Ross

Book

Sigmund Freud is rightly called the godfather of psychoanalysis. He forever changed the way we view ourselves and developed our understanding of human nature. Freud's work has suffused contemporary Western thought and popular culture.

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Jonas Salk

Charlotte Jacobs

Book

When Jonas Salk successfully created a vaccine to prevent poliomyelitis in 1955, he became a hero overnight. This biography offers the most complete picture of this complicated figure and his role in melding the sciences and humanities.

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