Share <Embed>

Buy New

$27.00

Only 1 left in stock (more on the way).

Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

This item ships to France. Want it Thursday, Feb. 1? Order within and choose AmazonGlobal Priority Shipping at checkout. Learn more

Ship to:

Select a shipping address:

Buy Used

$2.98

+ $3.98 shipping

Used: Good | Details

Sold by glenthebookseller

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Added to

Unable to add item to List. Please try again.

<span class='a-text-bold'>Save <span class='a-color-price'>$17.21 (64%)</span>. Buy Kindle eBook.</span>

Save $17.21 (64%). Buy Kindle eBook.

View Kindle eBook: $9.79

Read on any device with the free Kindle app

Have one to sell? Sell on Amazon

Flip to back Flip to front

Listen Playing... Paused You're listening to a sample of the Audible audio edition.
Learn more

See all 2 images

The Newton Awards: A History of Genius in Science and Technology Paperback – September 4, 2013

by Michael H. Hart (Author),‎ Claire L. Parkinson (Author)

5 customer reviews

See all 4 formats and editions Hide other formats and editions

Price

New from

Used from

Kindle

"Please retry"

$9.79

—

Paperback

"Please retry"

$27.00

$25.90

$2.15

Michael Hart and Claire Parkinson present a series of awards to individuals who have been indispensable in the development of knowledge and its practical applications The Newton Awards, named after the world's greatest scientist. In so doing, the authors craft a concise and lively history of science and technology since 1600, offering insights into the lives and accomplishments of the men and women who revolutionized society and human thought.

Special offers and product promotions

Editorial Reviews

Review

The Newton Awards should be widely read and liked by high school and college students wanting a taste of past great moments in science and math. --James D. Watson, Awarded the 1962 Noble Prize for the co-discovery of the structure of DNA

Enabled by the cosmic insights of Professor Michael Hart (Ph.D., Astronomy, Princeton) and Claire Parkinson (Ph.D., Climatology, Ohio State University), The Newton Awards produces a unique understanding of the most stunning scientific and technological achievements of mankind s history, as well as promising inspiration to the upcoming future generation of young scientists that can see firsthand the thrill of discovery that The Newton Awards makes explicit. --Raymond Damadian, Inventor of the first Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) machine

In this edifying tour of the great scientific achievements of the Western world, Hart (The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History) and Parkinson (Breakthroughs: A Chronology of Great Achievements in Science and Mathematics) canvass the history of science from Johannes Kepler s discovery of the laws of planetary motion at the beginning of the 17th century to the cloning of Dolly in 1996. Imagining a more expansive version of the Nobel Prizes, the authors have given out 140 awards to worthy recipients in all branches of mathematics and the natural sciences. The chronologically arranged entries each average three pages in length and highlight a winner by providing biographical material as well as scientific background and the legacy of the person s innovation. Criteria for selection included the importance of the achievement, its practical applications, and the degree to which the innovation struck the authors as a brilliant achievement. Award winners are primarily the usual suspects, including Isaac Newton, Antoine Lavoisier, Michael Faraday, Charles Darwin, Thomas Edison, Albert Einstein, and Wernher von Braun, though others are less well known, such as the discoverer of the cholera vaccine, Waldemar Haffkine, and the inventor of the piano, Bartolomeo Cristofori.... Novel in theme, packed with interesting details, and written in engaging prose, this volume is recommended for readers working on reports and those who have a general interest in the history of science. --Library Journal (September 1, 2013); Brian Odom

About the Author

Michael H. Hart earned a Ph.D. in astronomy from Princeton University; he also holds advanced degrees in physics and in computer science, as well as a law degree. He is best known as the author of The 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History, which has been translated into 15 foreign languages. He has also the author of A View from the Year 3000 and Understanding Human History. Claire L. Parkinson received a bachelor s degree from Wellesley College and a Ph.D. from Ohio State University. For the past 34 years, she has been a climate scientist at NASA s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. She has written books on satellite imagery, climate change, and the history of science, including Breakthroughs: A Chronology of Great Achievements in Science and Mathematics.

Paperback: 524 pages
Publisher: Washington Summit Publishers; 1st edition (September 4, 2013)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1593680120
ISBN-13: 978-1593680121
Package Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.3 inches
Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
Average Customer Review: 5 customer reviews
Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,688,931 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #6796 in Books > Science & Math > Technology > History of Technology
- #15504 in Books > Science & Math > History & Philosophy

Would you like to tell us about a lower price?
If you are a seller for this product, would you like to suggest updates through seller support?

If you buy a new print edition of this book (or purchased one in the past), you can buy the Kindle edition for only $2.99 (Save 70%). Print edition purchase must be sold by Amazon. .

Customer reviews

3.9 out of 5 stars

5 star

4 star

3 star (0%)

2 star (0%)

1 star

Write a customer review

See all 5 customer reviews

Rated by customers interested in

What's this?

Politics & Government Books

5.0 out of 5 stars

Business & Economics Books

5.0 out of 5 stars

European History

5.0 out of 5 stars

Is this feature helpful?

Thank you for your feedback.

Top customer reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

questions

Great short descriptions of key scientific concepts

September 2, 2017

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

I bought a copy of The Newton Awards despite reviewer Aaron Levy’s snarky remark and was not at all disappointed. Hart and Parkinson’s book contains really great short descriptions of the contributions of the key scientists and engineers over the four hundred year period of 1600-2000. The individuals selected by Hart and Parkinson for profiling are roughly comparable to, and overlap substantially, other similar compilations, such as, Encyclopedia Britannia’s “Greatest Inventions of All Time” lists, and numerous books, such as, L. Sprague de Camp’s “Heroes of American Invention;” and Ernest Heyn’s “Fire of Genius.” Another great book along the same lines, but narrower in scope, is Kenneth Brown’s “Inventors at Work,” which consists of a collection of interviews with important inventors of the last half of the twentieth century. Hart’s and Parkinson’s short descriptions of the scientific concepts are really top notch.

0CommentWas this review helpful to you?

Yes

Radial Symmetry

Should be a textbook in all schools.

April 26, 2014

Format: Kindle EditionVerified Purchase

Living in our comfortably developed modern world, it's easy to take for granted the accomplishments of men from less scientifically advanced ages since we have since built upon their work so much, but Hart & Parkinson adequately emphasize the creative and intellectual power required to draw from the darkness new, shining scientific truth. They explain the importance of each recipient's seminal contributions to scientific understanding in terms the average person can understand.

But these men are not presented as islands in and of themselves, and their accomplishments are properly qualified with either references to the work of their predecessors and colleagues.

I like how each entry humanizes the recipients by listing information about their family background. I also like that William Shockley's interest in hereditarian ideas receives mention.

I'm not so keen on the inclusion of the piano inventor, however, because I like the harpsichord better and wish it were still the primary keyboard instrument of the day.

Anyway, also revealed is the tragic nature of many of these men's accomplishments: many died in poverty or missed out on proper accolades during their lives. These true originators sacrificed their lives to improve the lives of countless souls who came after them. We cannot thank them personally now, but we can pay tribute to them in small way in the Newton Awards.

This is a perfect gift for a young person to give him true heroes above the sports stars whose ephemeral exploits are commonly ranked on television shows today. The Newton Awards reminds us of the real heroes who don't receive due thanks for allowing us to enjoy our present standard of living today.

0Comment 5 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

John Derbyshire

A masterful survey of science and technology

September 28, 2013

Format: Kindle Edition

From my review titled "A Requiem for Science" at Taki's Magazine:

The original idea of the authors was to expand the concept of Nobel Prizes to all areas of science, technology, and math, and to award once prize per year from 1600 to 2000 AD for achievement in those fields. This couldn't be made to work exactly as planned. For the first 275 years of the period there weren't enough advances for one prize a year; for 1976-2000 there isn't yet enough perspective for good judgment. So only for 1876-1975 is there one Newton Award per year; elsewhere the awards are for 5- or 10-year periods.

The authors end up with 140 Newton Awards for the 400-year span, to 172 named awardees. Some awards go to more than one person (e.g., the Wright brothers); some persons get more than one award (e.g., Edison for the phonograph, light bulb, and distributed electricity).

The selections seem to me to be pretty good, though as a gun enthusiast I thought there should have been a mention for small-arms technology--the Minié ball, perhaps, or breech loading. (Military inventions aren't ignored: Nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles get awards.) . . . .

Reading through these achievements, a number of things come to mind. For example: What part is played by luck in these greatest discoveries and inventions? Practically none, is the overall impression. Some breakthroughs were achieved when the scientist was looking for something else or for nothing in particular; but the confirmation, elaboration, and explanation of what had been found was still creative intellectual work of the first order.

The discovery of cosmic background radiation by Penzias and Wilson in 1965, for example, was certainly fortuitous: They weren't looking for it, only trying to calibrate an antenna. Their diligence in isolating the unexpected phenomenon, though, and their collegiality in bringing in astrophysicists to provide theory, got them a well-deserved Nobel Prize . . . .

0Comment 8 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

John harland

Newton awards

September 29, 2013

Format: Paperback

This is an excellent book on what is essentially a history of science and technology over the years 1600-2000. The authors give "Newton Awards" to the 140 individuals that they consider have made the most important contributions. I cannot make any serious objections to their selection, although I would have liked to see their time frame extended back by a century so that they could have included Copernicus for his discovery of the heliocentic theory.

0Comment 3 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Aron Levy

Conflict of Interest

November 1, 2013

Format: Paperback

Two of the three reviewers of this book are Hart's colleagues at the white nationalist HL Mencken Society ([...] None of them, including Hart have any background in the History of Technology.

0Comment 2 people found this helpful. Was this review helpful to you?

Yes

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Amazon Giveaway allows you to run promotional giveaways in order to create buzz, reward your audience, and attract new followers and customers. Learn more about Amazon Giveaway

This item: The Newton Awards: A History of Genius in Science and Technology

Set up a giveaway

Pages with related products. See and discover other items: history science and technology

Buy New $27.00

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

or

or

Buy Used $2.98

Turn on 1-Click ordering for this browser

Sorry, there was a problem.

Sorry, there was a problem.

The Newton Awards: A History of Genius in Science and Technology Paperback – September 4, 2013

Special offers and product promotions

Editorial Reviews

Review

About the Author

Product details

Customer reviews

Top customer reviews

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Set up an Amazon Giveaway

Buy New

$27.00

Buy Used

$2.98