Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein - Colossal Mistakes by Great Scientists That Changed Our Understanding of Life and the Universe [Unabridged] [Audible Audio Edition] Author: | Language: English | ISBN:
B00CLED1UY | Format: PDF, EPUB
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We all make mistakes. Nobody's perfect. Not even some of the greatest geniuses in history, as Mario Livio tells us in this marvelous story of scientific error and breakthrough.
Charles Darwin, William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), Linus Pauling, Fred Hoyle, and Albert Einstein were all brilliant scientists. Each made groundbreaking contributions to his field - but each also stumbled badly. Darwin's theory of natural selection shouldn't have worked, according to the prevailing beliefs of his time. Not until Gregor Mendel's work was known would there be a mechanism to explain natural selection. How could Darwin be both wrong and right? Lord Kelvin, Britain's leading scientific intellect at the time, gravely miscalculated the age of the Earth. Linus Pauling, the world's premier chemist (who would win the Nobel Prize in chemistry) constructed an erroneous model for DNA in his haste to beat the competition to publication. Astrophysicist Fred Hoyle dismissed the idea of a "Big Bang" origin to the universe (ironically, the caustic name he gave to this event endured long after his erroneous objections were disproven). And Albert Einstein, whose name is synonymous with genius, speculated incorrectly about the forces that hold the universe in equilibrium - and that speculation opened the door to brilliant conceptual leaps.
These five scientists expanded our knowledge of life on Earth, the evolution of the Earth itself, and the evolution of the universe, despite and because of their errors. As Mario Livio luminously explains, the scientific process advances through error. Mistakes are essential to progress.
Brilliant Blunders is a singular tour through the world of science and scientific achievement - and a wonderfully insightful examination of the psychology of five fascinating scientists.
Direct download links available for Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein - Colossal Mistakes by Great Scientists That Changed Our Understanding of Life and the Universe [Unabridged] [Audible Audio Edition] Free Download
- Audible Audio Edition
- Listening Length: 9 hours and 46 minutes
- Program Type: Audiobook
- Version: Unabridged
- Publisher: Brilliance Audio
- Audible.com Release Date: May 14, 2013
- Language: English
- ASIN: B00CLED1UY
Science, at its best, is a systematic and unrelenting search for understanding about reality. However, since it is conducted by human beings, the path to that understanding can take twists and turns and even the best scientists can get tripped up along the way. This book examines five of the greatest scientists of the past century and a half and how, despite their brilliance and success, they stumbled a bit. And each in his own way.
I think this is a valuable book because the author, Mario Livio, is telling serious stories about real science but keeps everything fresh, interesting, and moving along. The stories never pander to the reader or become so laden with jargon that we general readers become lost. This is a very tricky problem for a science author. How to write for the general public in ways that are inviting without being superficial. How can a real scientist provide a book that is both inviting and informative without being too heavy so that the book ends up being something only a specialist can enjoy. This author seems to be blessed with that wonderful and rare mix of scientific expertise, broad scientific and historical knowledge, and the ability to tell stories that make the reader want to keep turning the pages without even suspecting he or she is learning something quite valuable. You know, like a great cook that can make kids want to eat their vegetables.
This terrific book introduces us to many of the towering scientific figures of the past two centuries by focusing on the work and lives of five particularly important pillars of science: Darwin, Lord Kelvin, Linus Pauling, Fred Hoyle, and Albert Einstein. Each triumphed in his own unique way, and each stumbled for a different reason.
Pierre-Simon Laplace (1749-1827) was a French astronomer and mathematician, widely viewed today as one of the greatest scientists of all time. What intrigues me most about him are his mistakes from which he and others learned valuable lessons. There is a brief reference to him in Brilliant Blunders (on Page 74) as Mario Livio discusses research by William Thomas (Lord Kelvin): To calculate the Sun's age, "he borrowed elements from theories for the formulation of the solar system proposed by the French physicist Pierre-Simon Laplace and the German philosopher Immanuel Kant." Livio's purpose in the book is to cite various "momentous blunders in a wide range of disciplines" that proved "brilliant" because they helped to advance substantially the progress of scientific knowledge. As Livio explains, "I hope to demonstrate that the road to discovery and innovation can be constructed even through the unlikely path of blunders made by Lord Kelvin as well as by Charles Darwin, Linus Pauling, Fred Hoyle, and Albert Einstein.
What we have in this immensely entertaining as well as informative book is a rigorous examination of various "colossal mistakes by great scientists that changed our understanding of life and the universe...As I hope to show, the analysis of these blunders forms a living body of knowledge that is not only captivating in its own right but also can guide actions in domains ranging from scientific practices to ethical behavior. The second reason is simple: The topics of life, of the Earth, and of the universe have intrigued humans -- not just scientists -- since the dawn of civilization, and have inspired tireless quests to uncover their origins and out past.
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