No comments about John James Audubon: A Biography.

No comments about Wernher Von Braun: Crusader for Space : An Illustrated Memoir.

3 comments about Charles Babbage: Pioneer of the Computer.

1. In the early 19th century, a moderately well-off and very well educated Englishman dreams up an elaborate calculating machine for doing log and trig tables. When he begins this project, the railroad and the telegraph do not yet exist. The machine tools and manufacturing methods of the day are not up to the task, so the Englishman pushes out the envelope. He more or less succeeds in building his machine, but the British government is not interested.
   
   The inventor goes back to the drawing board, and dreams up a much more elaborate machine, still all mechanical and steam driven, that essentially embodies all the abstractions of a von Neumann machine. Data and instructions are fed to it via punched cards. His collaborator for a number of years, and the author of the best description of the machine and what it can do, is Byron's daughter. The inventor is well known to all intellectual Britons of his day, including Charles Dickens. The inventor even realises that Boolean algebra may prove important for the sort of machine he is struggling to build. The Italian government is fascinated. But the British government again cannot be bothered, and thus refuses to fund the first computer. And so all that we have are hundreds of detailed blueprints.
   
   The above, and more, is a true story, told in this remarkable book. After this book was printed, IBM paid to have Babbage's machine built by a Swedish team. It works as Babbage expected it to, and is exhibited in the IBM museum in Armonk NY.



2. I read this book last year (2000) after reading a book of Ada Lovelace's letters (mostly to Babbage). I had purchased my hardcover copy at the Computer Museum in Boston MA back in the late 80's or early 90's, but had not read it because it looked daunting and dry. Was I wrong! This book is very readable and utterly fascinating; in fact a page turner that I could hardly put down. I've been looking for a softcover (or even another hardcover) for some time, so I could loan to friends. How delighted I am to find one! Babbage was a fascinating character and this book not only illuminates the man but also the times and the politics and the other fascinating technological events and efforts of the day. The discussion of the "great gauge wars" (the fight for the "ideal" width for railroad tracks) and Babbage's involvement was delightful. It appears he may have invented the first working strip chart recorder. This book was delightful and I got so involved with Babbage that I cried when his death occurred and the book ended. He was a giant among scientists and yet was frustrated all his life, by petty politics and short-sighted politicians, in the effort to build his stupendous and wondrous machines. A wonderful story, full of technological history. Other highlights: descriptions and pictures of the machines (of course); description of the effort to build a tunnel under the Thames river (by the the Jr and Sr Brunels); Babbage's methods (at times he did all phases of the work for his projects) and his workshop; his notes on working out the operation of the machines; family life; involvement in the technical societies of the day. (The book of Ada Lovelace's letters is also highly recommended if this is an interesting area for you.)...



3. While Babbage is rightly mentioned in any book covering the history of the computer, he is often wrongly presented as somewhat of a crank. His life is generally described as that of a genius whose ideas were far ahead of the times and as a person who spent enormous amounts of personal and public funds in single-minded attempts to build machines that never worked. In fact, he was a man of extraordinary breadth and depth of interest, and his original difference engine worked very well. Furthermore, it can be strongly argued that the economic gains due to the fast and precise computations performed by his difference engine and the improvements in machining accuracy more than returned the public investment in the project.
   Hyman does an excellent job in describing the totality of the life of Babbage. Even though I have read a great deal about the history of computing, until I encountered this book I had no idea that he was also a talented commentator on the social, economic and political changes taking place in England at that time. The industrial revolution was in high gear and Babbage was one of the leaders. His interests in all things mechanical are well documented as well as his numerous writings.
   Babbage was also an experimental scientist who constantly discussed improvements with those who were making them. At the time, most of the mechanical improvements were being made by people with little formal education, but with a great deal of practical experience. The majority of the members of the scientific establishment were reluctant to get their hands and bodies dirty by entering the factories, but Babbage never hesitated. He was also very instrumental in the creation and expansion of scientific societies, although he also wielded a very caustic pen in describing the pompous irrelevance of some of the members.
   Babbage also commented extensively about the relationship between the owners of the factories and the workers. His approach was to examine the problem in a scientific manner, largely refusing to take any side based on emotion. Many of his comments emphasize cooperation between the two groups and one can see some of the modern concepts of revenue sharing, worker ownership of stock, employee training and benefits. Babbage's writings were very influential and controversial, they were a strong influence on Karl Marx and Frederich Engels, who took a quite different approach. He was also an advocate of free trade and foresaw much of what went wrong in the British Empire.
   Charles Babbage has always had a place on my list of technological heroes, but after reading this book, he has been allocated a higher rank. He was a man with a great deal of understanding of how English and western societies were changing and many of his fundamental ideas of computing were over a century ahead of his time. Given the enormous economic benefits of the computer, had all of his projects been funded to completion, England may have remained an industrial powerhouse well into the twentieth century.

   Published in the recreational mathematics e-mail newsletter, reprinted with permission.

No comments about The World of Andrei Sakharov: A Russian Physicist's Path to Freedom.

5 comments about The Northern Lights.

1. This book documents the life story of Kristian Birkeland, a Norwegian genius scientist at a time when Norwegian scientists were rarely taken seriously. Birkeland spared no cost and no risk to explore and document the phenomena known as Aurora or Nothern Lights. He was the first person to really understand and explain auroras. His theories of space which developed from studying auroras have been proven true long after his death�he was well ahead of his time.
   Birkeland was an inventor, often distracted from what he loved best to work on projects that might help him to fund his expensive study of space and northern lights, as well as zodiacal lights near the equator. He pursued his varied projects with such single-mindedness that all else in his life went on the chopping block, including ultimately, his life itself.
   The book is well-written and as readable as a scientific novel. Lucy Jago has previously worked on documentaries, and her research sometimes verges on the overly-detailed. Her hard work is obvious. The story in itself is a fascinating history of scientific study and the many obstacles that present along the way.



2. I didn't hold out hope for this one - surprise! It was a fascinating blend of biography and the historical events involved in explaining the Northern Lights. Yet more amazing were some of the historical elements that gave background. Jago does a nice job on magnetism as well as on reflecting back on Birkeland's forsightedness in terms of modern physics. This man is truly an unsung hero of physics.

   If you teach science you will find many exerpts to share with your classes...especially about weather instruments and magnets. As a biography of a scientist/explorer it is equally rich for pulling out portions to share with classes.




3. This novel describes the man who unraveled mysteries of the brilliant Aurora Borealis and his challenging journeys against both society, and forces of nature. This Norwegian scientist by the name of Kristian Birkeland traveled through the harsh winter weathers of the mountains in Norway, to discover the secrets within the Northern Lights.
   Inspired by the beautiful moving curtains in the sky, Birkeland became set on researching the Lights, whether it meant risking his own life or even leaving his peaceful love life for work. Unfortunately, his devotion to the Research became his first priority, instead of his own health.
   Throughout the novel, Birkeland is chased by the large amount of funding that he needs, in order to set up his laboratory and his equipment for his Northern Lights Project. The government of Norway is constantly having tensions with its neighbor: Sweden, always with the apprehension of war. Therefore, the government is never willing to give enough funding to support the scientist's project.
   Lucy Jago takes us through Birkeland's adventures as if we were there with him through the harsh blizzards and storms. Jago paints the story with real events that happened during Birkeland's unfortunate, yet successful, life time.
   Through reading this novel, I was truly inspired and was impressed by his work ethics. I realized that he put lots of effort into his career, and contributed so much to our scientific knowledge of our world. After reading this, I felt like a larger person at heart, because I was able to become aquainted with someone so skilled and intelligent.



4. The book describes of the life of a quite remarkable Norwegian scientist who discovered the cause of the Aurora Borealis, invented the electro-magnetic canon, and created the process for synthesizing fertilizer.
   
   The book is an entertaining account, that falls short in its discussion of his science. As a personal account, his scientific journeys to Finmark in the heart of winter are an incredible demonstration of dedication to science.



5. Science is oftentimes taught today as if it has been a linear process, and students are rarely asked to consider putting themselves into the shoes of a particular time period or to think about the theories and experiments that actually did not go so well. The end result is that few science students understand the simple process of science, and increasingly believe that mainstream science is always correct. They fail to realize that it is a fact that certain fringe scientific concepts today will end up mainstream within a few decades. Kristian Birkeland was in fact one of the scientific heretics of his day (from the perspective of the British at least), and much of what he said in his time has turned out to be true. People studying the history or philosophy of science, electromagnetism or space plasmas will appreciate the background that this material provides.
   
   I've been told by an advocate of mainstream astrophysics that the book gets some details "wrong". I can only imagine now that they were referring to the epilogue, and specifically the disparaging statements regarding Sydney Chapman and Birkeland's treatment by establishment science. If I am right in this regard, I would have to take Lucy Jago's side on the debate. I would like to mention that Chapman had an opportunity to observe Kristian Birkeland's terrella experiment as recreated by Hannes Alfven. From what I understand, from other sources, Sydney Chapman refused to observe the terrella in operation when he was given the chance. This is a very important detail that I hope she decides to include in any future revisions as it perfectly replicates the way in which modern mainstream astrophysicists treat theories which they do not like. Rather than disproving them, they will refuse to read about them.
   
   I found no serious faults with the book other than that though. The book would especially make a great read for an aspiring electrical engineer.

No comments about Isaac Newton (Grandes biografias series).

No comments about F. G. A. Stone: Leaving No Stone Unturned: Pathways in Organometallic Chemistry (Profiles, Pathways, and Dreams).

No comments about Blackett: Physics, War, and Politics in the Twentieth Century.

No comments about Curt Richter: A Life in the Laboratory.

No comments about American Environmental Leaders: From Colonial Times to the Present.