1 comments about Explorer of the Universe: A Biography of George Ellery Hale (History of Modern Physics and Astronomy).

1. The number of influential astronomers whose last names begin with "h" is truly amazing. Hipparchus, Halley, Herschel (the elder and junior), Humason, and Hubble. Not as well known, though no less important in his many contributions to the science, is the subject of Helen Wright's admirable biography, George Ellery Hale.

   Hale is perhaps justifiably he is remembered as the builder of giant telescopes. He built three of the greatest of all time, and spearheaded a fourth - the Palomar 200 inch - though he did not live to see it completed and named in his honor. However, Hale's considerable life's work goes much further. He was a groundbreaking solar astronomer, inventing new instruments and methods of studying the sun's activity. His invention of the spectroheliograph and subsequent discovery of the magnetic field lines of sunspots nearly earned him a Nobel prize (Hale was nominated for the Nobel prize in physics by many other recipients of that award - including Millikan. Wright repeats the story that Alfred Nobel did not like astronomers and wanted no astronomer to win that award, a bias which was not overcome until the 1970's). The Nobel Prize was the only major scientific honor that eluded Hale. He won the Copley Medal of the Royal Society of London, the Janssen Medal of the Paris Academy of Sciences (twice), the Rumford Medal, the Gold Medal of the RAS, the Draper Medal of the NAS, the Bruce Medal, the list goes on.

   Wright's work is organized by project rather than strictly chronologically. She details the founding of the Astrophysical Journal; his central role in the formation of the International Astronomical Union and the American Astronomical Society. Another chapter is devoted to his vision for the transformation of the Throop Institute of Pasadena into the venerable California Institute of Technology and attracting top-notch talent to its teaching and research staff. She spends considerable time detailing his network of friends and colleagues around the formation of the the National Academy of Sciences and the National Research Council. One comes away with the distinct impression that Hale was a central and essential figure in burgeoning scientific establishment of the first half of the century.

   The degree to which he was esteemed by his colleagues is clear from the fact that he was offered the presidency of MIT and the position of Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution. He turned down both. He also eventually resigned as director of the Mt. Wilson Observatory, both for health reasons and to allow him time to return to his own solar observatory.

   Though her work is perhaps slanted toward Hale's organizational and building activities, she also makes it clear throughout that his true love always remained that of plumbing the depths of stellar evolution, and he was always anxious to return to his own solar research.

   Though Wright does not explicitly point it out, it is implicit that Hale's greatest achievement was bridging the gap between the observational astronomy of the 19th century (and before) to the 20th century study of physics and physical phenomenon. More than any other individual, Hale recognized that astronomy and physics made the perfect marriage, and he pioneered methods to bring the physical laboratory and the astronomer's telescope together.

   As good as it is, and Wright's is one of the best scientific biographies available, she does stand guilty of starting a terrible misconception about Hale's mental state. It is generally well known that Hale suffered from nervous breakdowns that were at times completely incapacitating. Wright gets the credit for starting the story about Hale's supposed little "elf" that visited and talked to him, and who has come to represent his illness. Historians William Sheehan and Donald Osterbrock trace it to a misunderstanding of one of Hale's letters to a friend and note that the "'demon' (the word he actually used) was a metaphor, referring either to his conscience or to his depressed mood (like Winston Churchill's 'black dog'), and certainly not an apparition." ...This book easily earns its five-star rating. It is simply one of the best scientific biographies available.

1 comments about Scientist, Soldier, Statesman, Spy: Count Rumford, the Extrordinary Life of a Scientific Genius.

1. I have not yet read this book; the above star rating is arbitrarily placed to make it possible to post this note and should not be taken seriously. I am sorry to note, however, that the publisher's ignorance of their own product is made evident in the following quote from their review, above: "This is the first book to examine the life of this brilliant but difficult man." That is certainly not so. The late eminent scientist and scholar, Sanborn C. Brown, wrote two biographies of Rumford: "Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford," intended for the serious reader, and "Count Rumford, Physicist Extraordinary," a shorter version intended for the younger reader that, inter alia, omits some of the details of Rumford's extensive sexual adventures. Both are excellent (and the first, at least, is listed by Amazon.) In addition, there are at least half a dozen older biographies of Rumford, ranging from good to boring, and dated beginning about 1845. Rumford's complete works have been published in five volumes. Volume 5 deals with his social innovations, and is fascinating and entertaining reading even for the technically unsophisticated reader.

No comments about Albert Einstein: The Human Side of Genius.

1 comments about Women in Chemistry: Their Changing Roles from Alchemical Times to the Mid-Twentieth Century (History of Modern Chemical Sciences).

1. Marelene and Geoffrey Reyner-Canham's "Women in Chemistry" draws the reader in like a good collection of interwoven short stories, with compelling protagonists who persevere and excel in the face of obstacles that seem --and sometimes are--insurmountable. But of course, the "stories" are true biographies, and the authors' warm style and candid sympathy for their subjects are balanced by meticulous documentation of source material and an attention to historical accuracy and detail that lets the women's personalities shine through in their own deeds and words.
   The book's greatest strength may be the personal and intellectual strengh of the more than 50 women chemists whose lives it portrays, but it is much more than a collection of biographies. Fascinating sections at the beginning and end of each chapter provide historical context, show how the women's lives were linked, and elaborate on factors that affected the success of women chemists in the historical period or chemical field treated by the chapter.
   While supporting readers at many points with an concise background in the historical development of alchemical and chemical thought, the authors never take a condescending tone, and bring enough fresh aspects and details to their discussion (the Chinese women alchemists, the "informal university" provided to upper-class women by the salons of pre-revolutionary France, the birth of popular science writing in the 18th and 19th century as women sought to make science accessible to other women...) to firmly hold the interests of more knowledgable readers as well.
   Unfortunately, the book doesn't get the careful editing, professional layout, and quality binding that it deserves--so five stars for content, four overall.

4 comments about Innocents on the Ice: A Memoir of Antarctic Exploration, 1957.

1. Behrendt's book is an interesting and rewarding read on several levels. At the core of the book are the extremely complete field notes of a 20-something scientist-adventurer on an exploratory journey into an unmapped part of Antarctica during the 1957 International Geophysical Year. Interspersed with this narrative are the reflections of the same man from a vantage point 40 years in the future. Part history, part science, part an examination of expedition psychology, this book will be of interest to a wide audience.



2. The title is very appropriate for Behrendt's diary of events at Ellsworth Station on the Weddell Sea margin of the Filchner Ice Shelf and their long geophysical traverse as far south as the Dufek Massif during IGY (1956-1958). The diary, that of a graduate student geophysicist and neophyte Antarctican, is made much more interesting by the running commentary from one of Antarctica's most accomplished, still active, scientists. The underlying plot describes a group of young scientists trying to cope with a system designed for the Navy and the harsh realities of exploring an unknown part of Antarctica. Many of the stories are amusing and almost unbelievable; they show the stress of wintering over and working in harsh conditions. I am amazed at how much was accomplished by Behrendt and other pioneers in the IGY program who worked with the relatively primitive equipment of the time. We need to hear more of their stories!



3. The book is reasonably well-written although in a strange style: a mixture throughout of diary entries from 1957 and current commentaries. The narrative about the science and logistics is interesting enough, but the real heart of the book is the battle between the scientists and Captain Finn Ronne of the U.S. Navy. Captain Ronne, who wrote his own version of the IGY expedition at Ellsworth Station, appears to have been a completely arbitrary martinet, a self-serving dictator and political string-puller, and a bad-tempered paranoid and coward. He repeatedly put the expedition in danger by his refusal to provide equipment. He censored much of the communication in and out. He insisted that the scientists share dishwashing and other duties even when they were barely able to complete their scientific assignments. He evidently believed that the Navy support team of 30 or so men had more important things to do than assist the scientists, even though the sole purpose of the whole expedition was scientific. The sad tale of how he killed two emperor penguins 'in the most brutal way imaginable' is enough to turn one's stomach.

   There are parallels, as Behrendt notes, with Captain Queeg of the Caine Mutiny. Unfortunately in the nonfictional world of the Navy, Ronne's outrageous behavior, although known to his superiors, apparently went unpunished.

   The characterization of other individuals in the book is rather thin. But I would strongly recommend the book.




4. Behrendt's account of his winterover and subsequent traverse is a very interesting read, and most importantly, a very relevant contribution to the history of Antarctic science. It shows the clash between the old generation of explorers rooted in the "Heroic Age" with the younger generation of scientists, ultimately marking the beginning of the "Scientific Age" in Antarctic exploration.

1 comments about African Americans in Science, Math, and Invention (To Z of African Americans).

1. This biographical profile deals with the lives and scientific pursuits of 160 African-American scientists, mathematicians, and their inventions. It is a very well-done piece of work, and an excellent fact book for libraries both public and private. Individual entries can be read independently, which makes it an easy and suitable source of inspiration for young students seeking role models. Individuals covered go back to the 18th century when Benjamin Banneker was the only recognized African-American scientist/inventor.
   
   What I particularly like about the book is its insightful introductory chapter. From it two things stand out. First, the insights of that chapter and the individual entries I read together paint vividly the difficult path many of those included in the book followed. The path was difficult not only because any scientific activity is a difficult pursuit, but also because these people faced very high artificial barriers-to-entry. Second, denied formal education and training, the scientific endeavors of African Americans progressed in a unique way; they began with invention, then science, and math. This is almost the opposite of what happened elsewhere, where the language of math advanced science and led to inventions.
   
   It is quite clear that success in science, as elsewhere, was a function of political freedom. Many of the early African-American scientists, mathematicians, and inventors were people who somehow gained their freedom from slavery. As political freedom increased so too did the number of scientists, mathematicians, and inventors.
   
   I like this book, I like it very much.
   
   Amavilah, Author
   Modeling Determinants of Income in Embedded Economies
   ISBN: 1600210465

5 comments about In Darwin's Shadow: The Life and Science of Alfred Russel Wallace: A Biographical Study on the Psychology of History.

1. I bought this book rather in spite of than because of the other Amazon reviews, and lugged it with me on a flight out to the West Coast. The book lasted from Boston to Atlanta, and when it was over I closed it with a sigh of relief. While Shermer is certainly at times an engaging writer here he indulges in a rather peculiar form of quantitative psycho-history mixed in with the equally peculiar allocation of behavioural traits to birth order. There MAY be something in this somewhere, but at the same time it smacks of the 19th century Victorian fetish about cranial measurments that Shermer's evident hero-mentor Stephen Gould took to task in THE MISMEASURE OF MAN. That Shermer is so obsessed with his methodologies (he devotes a substantial portion of the book to 'how he did it") is a shame because it lessens and weakens his focus on his putative topic, the fascinating Alfred Wallace. Instead of really delving intoWallace's background and early experiences we get a few pages of quick gloss intertwined with what frankly struck me as mumbo-jumbo about what it means to be a Younger Child. This may be all very new Age & Hip right now, but I strongly doubt it will prove to have much in the way of scholarly legs. Then there is the tedious re-hashing of Gould's speculations which other reviewers have already re-hashed. Yup, they are old, they are trite, and can we please now move on? Perhaps the most interesting part of the book is the discussion of Wallace's involvement with various "Spiritualist" frauds during the second half of his career. Here the writing really picks up & one has the sense that "aha, now we are going to get somewhere". Alas, the excitement soon fades & the book itself fades out to a gentle glow at the end. i really don't know how to categorize this text. It is far too incomplete for someone unfamiliar with Wallace's life & work to get a real sense of the man and it offers such an odd view on Wallace's relationships with friends, family, colleagues & rivals that one is left wondering just what was intended. A footnote to a more general study? Maybe, but i agree with the reviewer who calls for the need of a REAL biography that puts Wallace AND his science in proper context.



2. A nice story of the scientist who came to a similar conclusion about natural history as his elder and more famous colleague, Darwin. I enjoyed reading about Wallace's background (quite different than Darwin's), his world travels, and the ways in which his theories differed from Darwin's. The author uses multivariate analysis on personality traits to attempt to explain some of these differences; I'm not fully convinced of the validity of that (for every statistical rule there are exceptions, and as Mark Twain colorfully observed, "there are lies ..."), but it's an interesting possibility.



3. Alfred Russel Wallace seems to rate hardly more than a footnote in the history of the theory of evolution. Like most who have studied this subject, I knew of Wallace's mutual discovery of the theory and evidence in support of it. I knew too of Darwin's generous introduction of the man as a co-discoverer, and even of the theory that that introduction might have been more premeditated and less generous that it appears. In some of my reading I had even learned of Wallace's "defection" to spiritualism. However, where Darwin's life is everywhere paraphrased and his thoughts on the subject of evolution almost subject to canonization, Wallace's life and thoughts seemed just to have "fallen out" of the picture. Michael Shermer's book, In Darwin's Shadow, The Life and Science of Alfred Russel Wallace, provides a more detailed look at Wallace the man and scientist. It also looks at the subject of how history and biography reflects the psychology of their time-in some ways, he does so unintentionally.

   In many ways A. R. Wallace, though not a formally educated man, was more of a research scientist than Darwin. He apparently plunged into the pursuit of regional studies with a vengeance for most of his youth, some twelve years abroad, studying natural subjects in their native habitat. Whether it was beetles in the tropics, indigenous people in their native and in their European dominated settings, the communities of animals characteristic of different regions in Southeast Asia, or the geology of various regions, etc, his studies were extensive and detailed. According to Shermer, he logged in over 20,000 miles on various collecting trips, and just on his Malay trip collected almost 125,000 specimens, over a thousand of which were new species (p. 14).

   His reputation for openness and exposure to new experiences was amazing, especially for the day, and recognized even by those who did not necessarily agree with his opinions. His written output was prolific and varied, with topics ranging from ancient history, animal behavior, botany, ethics, history of science, linguistics, plurality of worlds, phrenology, spirtualism, taxonomy, womens rights, agricultural economics, literature and poetry, poor laws, and trade regulation (p. 15). Shermer indicates that even into old age Wallace wrote on a variety of subjects and had a life-time average output that ranks high, even when compared to modern writers like Gould, Sagan, and Ernst Mayr.

   While I found Shermer's historical matrix model interesting, I felt that I learned more about how history and biography are created in our own time and what it says about us than I did about Wallace or his contemporaries. The matrix model seems to smack of psychobabble and Oprah "awarenesses" and introduces a lot of introspection into the possible effects of birth order, etc. on behavior. It tries to hard to get at the "whys?" of human behavior and motivation for which there is little proof for or against. It was only once the author got into the life and times of the man himself that I could more easily settle into Wallace's world. For one thing, I understood better what the flap about the man's delving into spiritualism was all about. I also learned where Wallace and Darwin differed, even from the beginning, in their own individual approach to evolution, and why Darwinian evolution is the model that gained the greatest respect and serves as the foundation of modern theories.

   I think more than anything, the book introduces the reader to the fact that science is a communal thing, a human thing, and is subject to the vicissitudes of other human endeavors: chance, political and social prejudices, personalities and egos, readiness for new ideas, plain old mistakes, etc. I learned again that scientific discoveries occur in tandem, when the world is ready to receive them, that they're sort of "in the air." I learned that more than one person can come up with the same or similar idea, putting their own personal stamp on the concept, thereby forwarding human knowledge just a little bit more. I learned that scientists can be wrong or partly wrong about their topic and can be wrong or partly wrong about topics outside their expertise, and most importantly, that reputation should not be given total credence without proper thought. Because a person is famous does not mean that their opinions are any more valid than anyone else's.

   An enlightening biography of an interesting man. While I think that Darwin's is the more carefully thought out and supported theory of evolution, I think that Wallace was the more interesting and happier person. I suspect it would have been more fun to have known him than to have known Darwin.




4. After reading a review in NY review of books of Shermer's book I snapped out of my previous opinion and decided to revise my previous review here. Distracted by the issues raised in A. Brackman's book, A Delicate Arrangement, 'rebutted' by Shermer, I wavered wrongly in my original view at what appears now as a clever whitewash of Darwin.
   Putting Brackman's arguments to one side for the nonce, the plain fact of the matter is that Darwin was, and has been ever since, engineered by Big Science propaganda into the exclusive icon for the discovery of evolution. And is Shermer just the fellow for this displacement job on Wallace. Wallace confuses people because they think that Darwin on the descent of man is established science, when the reality is that an immense con job has always finessed the fact that science has no conclusive theory here, and Wallace honestly pointed it out. Period.
   As to the rest of Shermer's arguments in his book, viz. on the 'science' of history, they are without merit and constitute another of the 'bilge and balderdash' necessary to cover up the fact that there is no science of history, also.
   The whole Darwin field is addicted to a pack of lies and it seems all parties have lost the ability to distinguish truth from distortion. Reviewing the details of the Ternate affair, we seem to see the ambitious Darwin concerned to rescue his priority, after years of so doubting his theory he couldn't publish it, and getting his priority by rigging the priority list and rushing into print. We have spent over a century beholden to this farce. Time for a little skepticism.



5. I felt I got a well-rounded view of Wallace as a person from this book. And I felt the treatment was fair, fairer than I expected from an arch-skeptic of and enemy of anything spiritual, Wallace's "weakness." Omitted, though, was adequate coverage of some of Wallace's strongest arguments against natural selection. As I understand it, Wallace said that the talents induced in us by civilization must have been built into our species at inception, but through not being useful prior to civilization should have been lost through disuse, here following Darwin's terminology. A good argument. Just as the author gets here the discussion shifts onto sexual selection and "the problem of incipient stages," as if the author's nerve failed. Otherwise I thought this a good "life."

No comments about Copernico (Grandes biografias series).

5 comments about A Smile as Big as the Moon: A Teacher, His Class, and Their Unforgettable Journey.

1. a wonderful read... a triumph of heart, mind and human spirit. great job mike, robynn and students. The movie will be a must see on my list.
   maj. davie a megahan, usa-ret, huntsville al.



2. a wonderful read... a triumph of heart, mind and human spirit. great job mike, robynn and students. The movie will be a must see on my list.
   maj. davie a megahan, usa-ret, huntsville al.



3. I usually prefer fiction books, however, this true story of a teacher so dedicated to his students was too hard to resist. It is uplifting and motivating to see that there are others in education who will put their heart and soul into helping their students succeed! So many children need teachers like Mike and Robynn.



4. A Smile as Big as the Moon, by Mike Kersjes, is a very inspiring and encouraging book. Personally, I was happy to see a teacher who took risks to make those children with disabilities feel proud of themslves. Personally, as an employee at a school with disabled children, I know what it takes to make those children happy. I can call Kersjes a gifted teacher who devoted his time, energy, and money to help those children in special education. Based on a true story, it is very interesting and keeps the reader eager to know what happened next. I would reommed this book to teachers, parents and older children.



5. This is a very inspirational book. Great for in-service teachers. I loved their dedication and devotion to their students' success and belief that they are "human."
   Wonderful.

No comments about Of Firebirds & Moonmen: A Designer's Story From The Golden Age.