Blending science, history and biography, Einstein's Heroes takes you on a journey of discovery about the phenomenon of mathematics - humanity's universal language and one of our most amazing accomplishments. At the book's centre are the brilliant scientists who inspired Einstein, particularly James Clerk Maxwell, Michael Faraday and Isaac Newton. Together Maxwell and Faraday settled a centuries-old physical dispute, which Newton had left in his wake, establishing mathematics as the ultimate arbiter of physical reality. With the talent of a great storyteller, Arianrhod weaves warmly observed biographies into a passionate argument for the beauty and universality of the language of maths. Einstein's Heroes is an enthralling exploration of the special magic of science, and the lives of some of its most brilliant exemplars.

By:   Robyn Arianrhod
Imprint:   Icon Books Ltd
Country of Publication:   United Kingdom
Dimensions:   Height: 205mm,  Width: 205mm,  Spine: 135mm
Weight:   400g
ISBN:  

9781840466102

ISBN 10:   1840466103
Pages:   342
Publication Date:   September 2004
Audience:   General/trade ,  ELT Advanced
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Out of stock  
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Robyn Arianrhod is an Australian writer, journalist and academic who has taught mathematics for over ten years to university and college students. She also works in arts-based community projects and lives in the hills outside her home in the town of Melbourne. This is her first book.

The hero whose picture Albert Einstein had hanging in his office was James Clerk Maxwell, and it is the life and work of this immortal Scot that acts to tie together a book allowing refreshingly more free association than the usual tightly structured (and male) example. Maxwell in turn was responding largely to previous great (and British) scientists: Newton and Faraday. Though like Faraday he did marriy, none of the three had children; the earlier two both had nervous breakdowns of the life-changing kind and Maxwell did not reach fifty. Their lives were their spell-binding scientific achievements, which only a more advanced posterity could fully appreciate. Robyn Arianrhod is excellent at taking time, when introducing material that the nonscientific educated layperson might find too technical, to explain carefully. The lesser dramatis personae include many more characters than the three Brits named above (she is Australian herself). The maths is the particular strength but there are no apparent errors in her own understanding of a wide sweep of science centred on Maxwell's equations for electromagnetism. These were what demonstrated the unity, not only of electricity and magnetism, but light (including ultra-violet), heat radiation in the infra-red part of the spectrum of wave frequencies, the waves that carry broadcast tv and radio and X-rays, not to mention microwaves and gamma rays. (Kirkus UK)

'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)

The hero whose picture Albert Einstein had hanging in his office was James Clerk Maxwell, and it is the life and work of this immortal Scot that acts to tie together a book allowing refreshingly more free association than the usual tightly structured (and male) example. Maxwell in turn was responding largely to previous great (and British) scientists: Newton and Faraday. Though like Faraday he did marriy, none of the three had children; the earlier two both had nervous breakdowns of the life-changing kind and Maxwell did not reach fifty. Their lives were their spell-binding scientific achievements, which only a more advanced posterity could fully appreciate. Robyn Arianrhod is excellent at taking time, when introducing material that the nonscientific educated layperson might find too technical, to explain carefully. The lesser dramatis personae include many more characters than the three Brits named above (she is Australian herself). The maths is the particular strength but there are no apparent errors in her own understanding of a wide sweep of science centred on Maxwell's equations for electromagnetism. These were what demonstrated the unity, not only of electricity and magnetism, but light (including ultra-violet), heat radiation in the infra-red part of the spectrum of wave frequencies, the waves that carry broadcast tv and radio and X-rays, not to mention microwaves and gamma rays. (Kirkus UK)