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If one asked a group of scientists to list the most significant scientific experiments of all time, a number of the experiments in this book would no doubt make the list. But that's not what the author is saying here. He might have as easily titled his book "The Ten Most Elegant Scientific Experiments," and that's how I see it. Today, when many of the most important scientific questions are being investigated via apparatus that costs millions or even billions of dollars ($2.5+ Billion for the Hubble, and $9 billion for the Large Hadron collider, for example) it is both instructive and fascinating to see how some of the most puzzling questions of the past were answered through the use of very simple apparatus. Gallileo used nothing more than (it is conjectured) a slanted track and a small ball to derive the basic equations of gravity: Distance traveled equals the square of the time elapsed multiplied by a constant. Newton solved the problem of the composition of light using a pair of prisms.
Not all of the experiments described here were that simple. Michelson and Morley's investigation into the ether required the construction of a precise optical apparatus requiring the skills of a machinist and an optician, though it certainly cost far less than a space telescope. What underlies all the experiments Johnson describes is a certain simplicity, an elegance in the way the question was asked or tested. Michelson's interferometer experiment started with the realization that if we are in fact traveling through the "luminiferous ether", then light should travel faster when measured in one direction than in another. While his actual experimental trials were painstakingly precise and numerous, they amounted to something very simple: Look at the interference patterns, rotate the device, and look again. EIther you see a change- or you don't. He didn't, and that sealed the end of the ether hypothesis.
Miliken's experiment- which also required a bit of laboratory apparatus- was deceptively simple: Measure the electrostatic charge needed to support a tiny drop of oil against the force of gravity. You had no way of actually knowing the number of atoms in an oil drop, and while the size of a drop could be measured, and the number of atoms estimated, Miliken had an insight: The charge would always be a multiple of the charge needed to suspend one atom, and form that, he could take a large number of trials and find the lowest common multiplier, as it were. SImple. Elegant. And, if you like, beautiful.
George Johnson is one of the best popular science writers on the modern era, a man who can present some of the most cutting edge ideas- quantum computing, for example- in a way that goes beyond the metaphors used by most popular science writers- the "gravity is like a BB on a rubber sheet" school of science writing Part of that is his ability to bring the reader along on the same line of reasoning and insight that led him to understand a topic, and I think he's done an excellent job of that here. Each experiment is discussed both in the context of the history of the idea, and how the scientist in question came to design his experiment. The result is clear, thought-rpovoking reading for anyone with a basic understanding of science.
Like some reviewers, I would have liked to see more contemporary illustrations, in addition to the contemporary illustrations that accompany each experiment. The reader familiar with interference patterns might not have trouble understanding the discussion of the Michelson interferometer, but someone less well read in physics might benefit from a clearer diagram of what's going on. Still, this is a very enjoyable and informative book, and even those who are familiar with all the experiments discussed will, like this reader, learn quite a bit more about each of them.
- Paperback: 208 pages
- Publisher: Vintage; Reprint edition (March 10, 2009)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 140003423X
- ISBN-13: 978-1400034239
- Product Dimensions: 5.1 x 0.6 x 8 inches
- Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
- Average Customer Review: 41 customer reviews
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Amazon Best Sellers Rank:
#869,599 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1907 in Scientist Biographies
- #4722 in History & Philosophy of Science
- #318 in Scientific Experiments & Projects
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