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Quirky sides of scientists : true tales of ingenuity and error from physics and astronomy
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Quirky sides of scientists : true tales of ingenuity and error from physics and astronomy

Author: David Topper
Publisher: New York : Springer, 2007.
Edition/Format:   Book : EnglishView all editions and formats
Summary:

These historical narratives of scientific behavior reveal the often irrational way scientists arrive at and assess their theories. These little-known yet fascinating stories are told in a clear and  Read more...

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Details

Document Type: Book
All Authors / Contributors: David Topper
ISBN: 9780387710181 0387710183 9780387710198 0387710191
OCLC Number: 127107366
Notes: Popular treatment.
Description: xiii, 210 p. : ill ; 25 cm.
Contents: Tenacity and stubbornness: Einstein on theory and experiment --
Convergence or coincidence: ancient measurements of the sun and moon, how far? --
The rationality of simplicity: Copernicus on planetary motion --
A silence of scientists: Venus's brightness, Earth's precession, and the nebula in Orion --
Progress through error: stars and quasars, how big, how far? --
The data fit the model but the model is wrong: Kepler and the structure of the cosmos --
Art illustrates science: Galileo, a blemished moon, and a parabola of blood --
Ensnared in circles: Galileo and the law of projectile motion --
Aesthetics and holism: Newton on light, color, and music --
Missing one's own discovery: Newton and the first idea of an artificial satellite --
A change of mind: Newton and the comet(s?) of 1680 and 1681 --
A well-nigh discovery: Einstein and the expanding universe.
Responsibility: David R. Topper.

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From the reviews: "This is a serious work of historical detection, in which Topper delves into the nitty-gritty of astronomical and cosmological theory production from Aristarchus to Einstein. ! The Read more...

 
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