Gosha, 14, chose George Johnson’s «Ten Most Beautiful Experiments in the History of Science»
“This book talks about scientific experiments in such a fascinating and understandable way that they seem incredibly simple and elegant. Some names turned out to be unknown to me at all, others I heard in passing, but what these geniuses were doing, I had no idea. Here Galileo measures equal intervals of time, performing a rhythmic song, and finds out exactly how the ball rolling down is accelerating. Here Harvey argues with the great Galen, refuting the theory that the liver is the center of blood circulation. How exactly does he argue? Yes, it simply offers to carefully consider how the heart of an animal works. Joule is looking for an opportunity to create an electromagnetic perpetual motion machine, and discovers a fundamental relationship between heat and work. Maxwell and Galvani, the pioneers of electrophysics, explore electricity in living bodies and its relation to magnetism. And all these experiments are so easy (from the point of view of the observer) that the thought involuntarily comes to repeat them …
The author of the book, one of America’s most famous popularizers of science, admires his heroes and believes that the era of great lone scientists has not yet ended. His book is captivating, inspiring hope that the most beautiful experiment has not yet been set. Personally, this idea gave me great pleasure.
Kolibri, 224 p.