Writing Worth Reading
Writing Worth Reading
Who is Joachim Sauer, husband of the German Chancellor? Important sounding-board, who stays resolutely out of the spotlight. Dedicates himself to career in theoretical chemistry. Cracked at least one known joke, although few got it
James Watson's "Double Helix" was a fine science book when published in 1968. Time has turned it into a work of literature. "Now, of course, I can see what I couldn’t then: An epic of the loss of innocence, writ small and large"
Margie Profet was a maverick thinker in evolutionary biology, possibly a genius, but never settled down in academia. Won a MacArthur grant, published three landmark papers while still in her thirties—and then vanished, in 2004
Edison's researchers "happily toiled through 90-hour work weeks, drawn by the allure of the future. But they also faced the perils of the unknown – exposure to chemicals, acids, electricity and light." One unwittingly gave his life
Ninety years ago a young Russian scientist changed music forever with one magical invention, The Theremin. A small wooden cabinet with glass tube oscillators and dual antennae, it was the world's first electric musical instrument
Conservationist known as "the elephant whisperer". Went to Iraq to rescue collapsed zoo. "We had Republican Guard soldiers working with American troops in the zoo two weeks after they were killing each other on the battlefield"
Conversation with Lisa Randall, professor of theoretical physics at Harvard. Whose startling research on multiple dimensions has suggested that we live in an isolated region of three dimensions. Within a wider universe of many
Heartbreaking letter from Richard Feynman to his late wife, penned two years after her death. "I have met many girls and I don't want to remain alone—but in two or three meetings they all seem ashes. You only are left to me"
"Liberals need to be shaken. They simply misunderstand conservatives far more than the other way around." Enjoyable profile of moral psychologist Haidt. Turns out he praises Sarah Palin. Enjoys Glenn Beck. Even reads National Review
Utterly gripping account of Douglas Mawson's 1912-13 Antarctic expedition. Unimaginable hardship in the cause of science. Mawson's hair fell out, skin peeled off. He survived only by bathing his eyes in cocaine and eating his dogs
Jon Driver, who's taken his own life aged 49, was one of the world's leading neuroscientists. His research included a study of what goes on in your brain when you see an image of Marilyn Monroe morph into Margaret Thatcher
Profile of Neil deGrasse Tyson, "rock-star scientist". Astrophysicist, TV pundit, author, educator. New generation's Carl Sagan. Struggling to persuade America's politicians that it's still worth funding space exploration
