The Northern Lights [Paperback]

Lucy Jago (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 29, 2002

  Science, biography, and arctic exploration coverage in this extraordinary true story of the life and work of Norwegian scientist Kristian Birkeland, the troubled genius who solved the mysteries of one of nature’s most spectacular displays.  
   Captivated by the otherworldly lights of the aurora borealis, Birkeland embarked on a lifelong quest to discover their cause.  His pursuit took him to some of the most forbidding landscapes on earth, from the remote snowcapped mountains of Norway to the war-torn deserts of Africa.  In the face of rebuke by the scientific establishment, sabotage by a jealous rival, and his own battles with depression and paranoia, Birkeland remained steadfast.  Although ultimately vindicated, his theories were unheralded—and his hopes for the Nobel Prize scuttled—at the time of his suspicious death in 1917.
   The Northern Lights offers a brilliant account of the physics behind the aurora borealis and a rare look inside the mind of one of history's most visionary scientists.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"As gripping as a Conan Doyle adventure." –Harper's Magazine

"Fascinating... evokes the manic, punishing era of polar exploration."– The New York Times Book Review

"A fascinating nugget of history... Jago charts her course unerringly."–Chicago Tribune

"Jago deftly paints a historical background for some of the most important concepts in electromagnetic theory today, breathing life into [her] subject."–Scientific American

"Thrilling... if you like a Faustian fable, war, and weird science, then this is for you."-Conde Nast Traveler

From the Inside Flap

Combining popular science, biography, and arctic adventure in a book that reads lika a cross between Longitude, A Beautiful Mind, and Into Thin Air, Lucy Jago presents a riveting acount of the life and work of Norwegian scientist Kristian Birkeland, the visioinary who solved the mysteries of the aurora borealis.

Here is the true story of an eccentric genius held captive by the allure of celestial splendor; of brushes with death on the remote snowcapped mountains of Norway and in the unforgiving, wartorn deserts of Africa; of the rival who cheated Birkeland of a Nobel Prize; and of the brilliant discoveries Birkeland made before his suspicious death in Japan in 1917. Meticulously researched and passionately wrought, The Northern Lights offers an enlightening account of the science behind one of nature's most spectacular displays and a revealing glimpse into the mind of one of history's most passionate and ill-fated scientists.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 320 pages
• Publisher: Vintage (October 29, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0375708820
• ISBN-13: 978-0375708824
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.7 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #383,012 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A Single-Minded Pursuit of Truth, April 1, 2003

By 

Heidi M. Hawkins "heidimo" (Bellingham, WA: City of Subdued Excitement) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Northern Lights (Paperback)

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 deathhe 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.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating - I was surprised!, February 16, 2004

By 

Teacher Detective (State College, PA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Northern Lights (Paperback)

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.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Material for History of Science, October 31, 2007

By 

Chris Reeve "pln2bz" (San Francisco, CA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Northern Lights (Paperback)

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.