Best of
Science

1957

The Immense Journey


Loren Eiseley - 1957
    Anthropologist and naturalist, Dr. Eiseley reveals life's endless mysteries in his own experiences, departing from their immediacy into meditations on the long past, wandering—intimate with nature—along the paths and byways of time, and then returning to the present.

The Copernican Revolution: Planetary Astronomy in the Development of Western Thought


Thomas S. Kuhn - 1957
    Few episodes in the development of scientific theory show so clearly how the solution to a highly technical problem can alter our basic thought processes and attitudes. Understanding the processes which underlay the Revolution gives us a perspective, in this scientific age, from which to evaluate our own beliefs more intelligently. With a constant keen awareness of the inseparable mixture of its technical, philosophical, and humanistic elements, Thomas S. Kuhn displays the full scope of the Copernican Revolution as simultaneously an episode in the internal development of astronomy, a critical turning point in the evolution of scientific thought, and a crisis in Western man's concept of his relation to the universe and to God.The book begins with a description of the first scientific cosmology developed by the Greeks. Mr. Kuhn thus prepares the way for a continuing analysis of the relation between theory and observation and belief. He describes the many functions--astronomical, scientific, and nonscientific--of the Greek concept of the universe, concentrating especially on the religious implications. He then treats the intellectual, social, and economic developments which nurtured Copernicus' break with traditional astronomy. Although many of these developments, including scholastic criticism of Aristotle's theory of motion and the Renaissance revival of Neoplatonism, lie entirely outside of astronomy, they increased the flexibility of the astronomer's imagination. That new flexibility is apparent in the work of Copernicus, whose De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres) is discussed in detail both for its own significance and as a representative scientific innovation.With a final analysis of Copernicus' life work--its reception and its contribution to a new scientific concept of the universe--Mr. Kuhn illuminates both the researches that finally made the heliocentric arrangement work, and the achievements in physics and metaphysics that made the planetary earth an integral part of Newtonian science. These are the developments that once again provided man with a coherent and self-consistent conception of the universe and of his own place in it.This is a book for any reader interested in the evolution of ideas and, in particular, in the curious interplay of hypothesis and experiment which is the essence of modern science. Says James Bryant Conant in his Foreword: "Professor Kuhn's handling of the subject merits attention, for...he points the way to the road which must be followed if science is to be assimilated into the culture of our times."

Zoo Quest for a Dragon


David Attenborough - 1957
    The series called "Zoo Quest" was the start of his long career.

Building Blocks of the Universe


Isaac Asimov - 1957
    From his famous Foundation trilogy to his later stories, Asimov took fiction to new, strange, and often wondrous places.

Cosmic View: The Universe in 40 Jumps


Kees Boeke - 1957
    

The Philosophy of Space and Time


Hans Reichenbach - 1957
    A brilliantly clear and penetrating exposition of developments in physical science and mathematics brought about by the advent of non-Euclidean geometries, including in-depth coverage of the foundations of geometry, the theory of time, Einstein's theory of relativity and its consequences, other key topics.

Atomic Suicide?


Walter Russell - 1957
    This book gives detailed scientific advice as to the WHY and WHAT of radioactivity, and whether it can or cannot be safely used as the next world fuel. Provides an excellent shource on the Russell concepts of the nature of the universe, including a philosophic discussion of the unity of science with the Universal Creative Sourse.

The Effects of Nuclear Weapons


Samuel Glasstone - 1957
    This book is especially important for information services that must be able to provide accurate information in the aftermath of a Nuclear Attack.

The Exact Sciences in Antiquity


Otto Neugebauer - 1957
    Entirely modern in its data and conclusions, it reveals the surprising sophistication of certain areas of early science, particularly Babylonian mathematics.After a discussion of the number systems used in the ancient Near East (contrasting the Egyptian method of additive computations with unit fractions and Babylonian place values), Dr. Neugebauer covers Babylonian tables for numerical computation, approximations of the square root of 2 (with implications that the Pythagorean Theorem was known more than a thousand years before Pythagoras), Pythagorean numbers, quadratic equations with two unknowns, special cases of logarithms and various other algebraic and geometric cases. Babylonian strength in algebraic and numerical work reveals a level of mathematical development in many aspects comparable to the mathematics of the early Renaissance in Europe. This is in contrast to the relatively primitive Egyptian mathematics. In the realm of astronomy, too, Dr. Ncugebauer describes an unexpected sophistication, which is interpreted less as the result of millennia of observations (as used to be the interpretation) than as a competent mathematical apparatus. The transmission of this early science and its further development in Hellenistic times is also described. An Appendix discusses certain aspects of Greek astronomy and the indebtedness of the Copernican system to Ptolemaic and Islamic methods.Dr. Neugebauer has long enjoyed an international reputation as one of the foremost workers ill the area of premodern science. Many of his discoveries have revolutionized earlier understandings. In this volume he presents a non-technical survey, with much material unique on this level, which can be read with great profit by all interested in the history of science or history of culture.Unabridged, slightly corrected reprint of the 2nd, 1957 edition. 14 plates, 52 figures. xvi + 240pp. Paperbound.

Magic House of Numbers


Irving Adler - 1957
    

San Francisco Bay


Harold Gilliam - 1957
    Here, for the first time, is a unique and much-needed contemporary profile of the great bay inside California's Golden Gate.San Francisco Bay profoundly affects the weather, lives, and economy of the two million people living around its hundreds of miles of shoreline. It is one of the world's seven most beautiful harbors, a body of water almost everyone knows but almost no one knows very much about.In San Francisco Bay the reader can learn about every aspect of this great inland sea: how it serves as livelihood for thousands of fishermen, sailors, and longshoremen; as a home for the swarming colonies of marine life in its depths; as the source of most of the salt used in the West and of raw materials for scores of other products; as a giant thermostat affecting not only the climate of the cities around its shore but that of California's great Central Valley as well.What forces of nature created this sometimes gleaming, sometimes misty inner sea? How is the Bay responsible for the waterfall effect of the fog in Sausalito, the T-fog in Berkeley, the glacial effect on San Francisco's peninsula? What unusual stories does it have to tell about sunken treasure ships, historic old ferries, and the world-renowned bridges?

Only A Trillion


Isaac Asimov - 1957
    Subtitled: speculations and explorations on the marvels of science

Great Essays in Science


Martin Gardner - 1957
    "Rather, the purpose of this book is to spread before the reader, whether his or her interest in science be passionate or mild, a sumptuous feast of great writing - absorbing, thought-disturbing pieces that have something to say about science and say it forcibly and well."Gardner's entertaining biographical commentaries make Great Essays in Science a rich store of good reading and an informal history of the people and ideas that have shaped our culture and transformed our everyday lives. This collection includes works by Isaac Asimov, Rachel Carson, Charles Darwin, John Dewey, Albert Einstein, Jean Henri Fabre, Sigmund Freud, Stephen Jay Gould, Aldous Huxley, Julian Huxley, William James, Ernest Nagel, Bertrand Russell, Carl Sagan, Lewis Thomas, H.G. Wells, and others.

Luna, the Story of a Moth


Robert M. McClung - 1957
    

Quantum Mechanics of One- and Two-Electron Atoms


Hans Bethe - 1957
    Students and professionals will find it an essential reference for calculations pertaining to hydrogen-like and helium-like atoms and their comparison with experimental results.In-depth explorations of the Dirac theory of the electron and of radiative effects include brief accounts of relevant experiments. The specific application of general field-theoretic results to atomic systems also receives a thorough examination. Author Hans A. Bethe (1906–2005), Professor of Physics at Cornell University, won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1967. Co-author Edwin E. Salpeter is James Gilbert White Distinguished Professor of the Physical Sciences at Cornell University.

Elements of Classical Thermodynamics: For Advanced Students of Physics


A.B. Pippard - 1957
    They do not pretend to explain any observation in molecular terms but, by showing the necessary relationships between different physical properties, they reduce otherwise disconnected results to compact order, and predict new effects. This classic title, first published in 1957, is a systematic exposition of principles, with examples of applications, especially to changes of places and the conditions for stability. In all this entropy is a key concept.

The Making of a Moon: The Story of the Earth Satellite Program


Arthur C. Clarke - 1957
    

The Rainbow Book of Nature


Donald Culross Peattie - 1957
    

The Scientific American Book of the Cosmos


David H. Levy - 1957
    "Scientific American," the oldest and most popular science magazine in the world, has prepared the most comprehensive and comprehensible book on the subject ever. Under the direction of renowned astronomer David H. Levy, thisspectacular book assembles the best minds in science to give clearand accessible explanations of the nature of the cosmos. Newlycommissioned essays by working scientists at the top of their fieldsand classic writings by such luminaries as Albert Einstein, FrancisCrick, and Carl Sagan take us to the frontiers of space and time-from sub-atomic particles to the edge of the universe. Both thoughtful and provocative, this book asks-and answers-the big questions, such as: o How did our solar system evolve? o What forces lie at the center of the atom? o What is the size of the universe? o What is dark matter? o What is the possibility of extraterrestrial life? o What is the importance of superstrings? o How do galaxies form?Dazzling full-color and black-and-white photographs aid in articulating the latest theories about the size, age, nature, and expansion of the universe, and make this book a delight to behold. Essays are grouped by topic, from the largest phenomena, such as the formation of the universe, down to the smallest detail, such as the makeup of an atom. In addition, each section contains an illuminating introduction by David Levy that binds the essays together and creates a whole picture. "The Scientific American Book of the Cosmos" is a valuable addition to the bookshelf of both professional astronomers and science enthusiasts alike.

Weather, A Guide to Phenomena and Forecasts


Paul E. Lehr - 1957
    

How To Identify Plants


H.D. Harrington - 1957
    Harrington who was Professor of Botany and Curator of the Herbarium at Colorado State University, gives step-by-step instructions and definitions to help readers recognize and classify plants. The new printing has been reset and reformatted, and L.W. Durrell's drawings and glossary—more than 500 images—have been digitally enhanced for clarity.