Einstein's Heroes: Imagining the World through the Language of Mathematics (Hardcover)

~ (Author) "In David Malouf's classic novel, Remembering Babylon - a rather unsettling picture of Australian colonial life - a young Englishman, Gemmy, has spent sixteen years..." (more)
Key Phrases: Big Bang, Second Law, Royal Society (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Booklist

Einstein respected Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday, and James Clerk Maxwell more than all the rest of his scientific forebears. They discovered and formulated the physical theories that enabled his theories of relativity. They communicated directly to Einstein, for despite being Anglophone while he was Germanophone, they shared the language of mathematics (though the largely self-taught Faraday ruefully confessed knowing only the dialect, so to speak, of geometry). That common language is Arianrhod's ground theme as she recaps the work of Einstein's heroes, and the story behind their stories is the development of mathematics into a means not just of accurate physical description of known reality but also of finding further reality. Newton "found" gravity by means of analytical geometry, Faraday "found" electrical fields by noting the behavior of magnetized iron filings, and Maxwell created the laws of thermodynamics by "flipping" Newton's method (from integral to differential calculus) to describe Faraday's fields. Arianrhod's achievement is to so masterfully combine history, biography, and mathematics as to absorb and enlighten even the mathematically maladroit. Ray Olson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Review

"'Einstein's Heroes reads like a good novel... a remarkable, accessible, inspiring book' Sydney Morning Herald; 'Robyn Arianrhod's passion for mathematics is so infectious, you'll scream "Eureka!" when you read her book.' Herald-Sun; 'Surprising and satisfying - your IQ has risen twenty points by the final chapter.' Australian Book Review; 'Shows how vital the work of scientists is.' Daily Telegraph (Australia)" --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA (June 23, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0195183703
• ISBN-13: 978-0195183702
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.7 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,202,331 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #95 in

  Books > Biographies & Memoirs > People, A-Z > ( E ) > Einstein, Albert

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Clear Exposition of Mathematics and its Use in Science, February 23, 2007

By	G. Poirier (Orleans, ON, Canada) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Einstein's Heroes: Imagining the World through the Language of Mathematics (Paperback)

Despite its title, this book's central themes are: the work of James Clerk Maxwell and the expression of scientific principles in the language of mathematics. In discussing Maxwell's life and work, the author allows a few excursions mainly into the work of Newton and Faraday - work related to that of Maxwell. In addition, the book contains a few digressions on some extremely basic mathematical principles, e.g., basic geometry, basic algebra, elementary graphs, etc. - material that is likely covered at the junior high school level if not earlier. Other material is presented on more advanced concepts such as vectors and vector spaces. The explanations are so clear, basic and painless that this book should be very popular among those who are mathematically challenged but who would like to know more about important scientific developments that have a mathematical flavor. As stated, the prose is quite clear, friendly and engaging. Science buffs that are better versed in mathematics should also enjoy this book because of its fascinating historical and biographical information.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great overview of the influences on Einstein, February 20, 2006

By	Rocco (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews

This book gave a valuable overview of the influences of Newton, Faraday, and Maxwell, and how their discoveries led from Newton's inverse square law of gravitation, Faraday's electric and magnetic fields, and to Maxwell's work that mathematically described electromagnetic waves are the same as light waves. The book contains a few equations, but those do not need to be understood to appreciate the discoveries and contributions of the scientists who contributed to our current knowledge.

I will further my knowledge by digging deeper into the mathematics of these scientist to further my knowledge, but this book was a great start for me.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Power of mathematics in physics, October 29, 2006

By	C. Griffith - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Einstein's Heroes: Imagining the World through the Language of Mathematics (Paperback)

The earlier reviews of this book give a good idea of its contents, but I would add that the author's larger point is that the greammer of mathematics can lead scientists to come to conclusions that would be by no means obvious. For example, James Clerk Maxwell did not expect his mathematical formulation of Faraday's idea of electrical and magnetic fields to indicate that these fields propagate at the speed of light. This result lead Maxwell to hypothesize that light was electromagnetic radiation, and that it should come in forms other than familiar, visible light.