Search results for ""Author Adam Hart-Davis""

talking SCIENCE TV personality Adam Hart-Davis meets 14 of the world’s leading scientists to discuss their work, their passions, and those elusive ground-breaking moments in their lives. This is a book that shows how science can explain the world that we inherited and shape the world that we would like to leave for future generations. Jocelyn Bell Burnell (Bath, UK) tells her personal story of the discovery of the first pulsar. Sir Michael Berry (Bristol, UK) ties knots in nothing. Richard Dawkins (Oxford, UK) explains what Darwinism means today. Loren Graham (MIT, US) explains why Stalin’s top-down policy meant that no Russian engineering project would ever work properly. Richard Gregory (Bristol, UK) explores some of the visual illusions that so easily fool us. Eric Lander (MIT, US) discusses the excitement of the human genome project. Lord May of Oxford (UK) President of the Royal Society talks about chaos, ecology and HIV. John Maynard Smith (Sussex, UK) discusses why we bother with sex. Rosalind Picard (MIT, US) believes in wearable computers that understand our emotions. Sir Martin Rees (Cambridge, UK), Astronomer Royal, discusses the big bang, black holes and the end of the universe. Eugenie Scott (Oakland, US) is a leading campaigner for the teaching in schools of evolution rather than creationism. Lewis Wolpert (UCL, UK) speaks on the ethics and practicality of cloning and on his own depression. Colleen Cavanaugh (Harvard, US) describes the excitement and discomfort of exploring the deep ocean. Peter Raven (St Louis, US) is a leading advocate of biodiversity – described by Time magazine as a hero for the planet.

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‘I have been ill and frightfully bored and the one thing I have wanted is a big album of your absurd beautiful drawings to turn over. You give me a peculiar pleasure of the mind like nothing else in the world.’ – H. G. Wells to W. Heath Robinson (1914) This book takes a nostalgic look back to the imaginative and often frivolous world of William Heath Robinson, one of the few artists to have given his name to the English language. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the expression Heath Robinson is used to describe ‘any absurdly ingenious and impracticable device of the kind illustrated by this artist’. Yet his elaborate drawings of contraptions are not the only thing to make this book very Heath Robinson. Full of quirky images from Romans wearing polka dots to balding men seducing mermaids, Very Heath Robinson presents an unconventional history of the world in which technology and its social setting get equal billing.

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Explore the science innovations as you have never seen them with this visual guide. From the humble beginnings of science, right through to today's information age - go on a journey through the history of science through its people, inventions, and discoveries. This updated 3rd edition explores astronomy, biology, geology, mathematics, and more in stunning visual detail. Inside the pages of Science: The Definitive Visual History, you'll find: - The most recent scientific discoveries across a variety of fields, from astronomy to genetics - Scientific concepts explained using clear, instantly understandable text combined with informative diagrams and CGIs- Feature spreads that illuminate the breakthroughs that changed the world - "Before" and "After" panels allow the reader to follow a particular theme throughout the bookThis fully comprehensive visual guide delves into the groundbreaking moments in science that changed the world. Explore the experiments, theories, and individuals and why each is so significant to developing scientific thought from Greek geometry to quantum physics. This science book also includes great scientists such as Zhang Heng, Isaac Newton, and Marie Curie and gives you more information about the people behind each discovery. Updated to include the latest scientific developments, from recent advances in genetic engineering to the detection of gravitational waves 100 years after Einstein predicted their existence, Science is the ultimate gift for any science or history enthusiasts!

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‘An extraordinary history’ PETER ACKROYD, The Times‘A lively account of (Bazalgette’s) magnificent achievements. . . graphically illustrated’ HERMIONE HOBHOUSE‘Halliday is good on sanitary engineering and even better on cloaca, crud and putrefaction . . . (he) writes with the relish of one who savours his subject and has deeply researched it. . . splendidly illustrated’ RUTH RENDELLIn the sweltering summer of 1858, sewage generated by over two million Londoners was pouring into the Thames, producing a stink so offensive that it drove Members of Parliament from the chamber of the House of Commons.The Times called the crisis ‘The Great Stink’. Parliament had to act – drastic measures were required to clean the Thames and to improve London’s primitive system of sanitation. The great engineer entrusted with this enormous task was Sir Joseph Bazalgette, who rose to the challenge and built the system of intercepting sewers, pumping stations and treatment works that serves London to this day. In the process, he cleansed the Thames and helped banish cholera.The Great Stink of London offers a vivid insight into Bazalgette’s achievements and the era in which he worked and lived, including his heroic battles with politicians and bureaucrats that would transform the face and health of the world’s then largest city.

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This lavishly illustrated visual encyclopedia tells the story of our world in depth and detail from the dawn of civilization to the present day.Charting human endeavour from every angle, History chronicles the significant events, ground-breaking ideas, political forces, and technological advances that have shaped our planet. Every historical episode is explored and explained with the help of stunning images that bring the authoritative text to life. Important points in history, from the battle of Hastings and the storming of the Bastille to D-Day and 9/11, have clear but concise coverage, together with profiles of influential figures, such as Julius Caesar, Cleopatra, and Nelson Mandela. It's time to head back in time and explore the past with this striking history book, which features: - Profiles of key people who have made history- Features on inventions, discoveries, and ideas that changed the world- Graphics lend immediacy and impact to key statistics- National Histories section separately chronicles key events of every countryAs each moment in history is defined and detailed, supporting panels note the causes and consequences, providing wider context and broadening our horizons. New and enhanced coverage of recent events - such as the Arab Spring - and contemporary issues such as climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, bring the book firmly into the present. With its broad-themed approach to important historical events, this book shows that ours is a history with genes and viruses, not just battle and treaties - and the stories and biographies of men and women from every corner of the globe who have shaped today's world reaffirm that History is the story of humankind in which everyone has a part to play.

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Full of incredible tales of achievement and ingenuity, Engineers celebrates the greatest engineers that ever lived and the stamp they have left on our world. Learn all about how engineering projects have changed the course of history and added to human progress, from those who built the Great Pyramid in Egypt to the Industrial Revolution and beyond. Discover the impressive structures of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, the first forays into space travel, and the pioneering computer scientists of today.From initial concepts to prototypes and finished designs, Engineers is full to bursting with technical drawings, specially commissioned artworks, blueprints and virtual tours that help bring engineering's greatest structures, inventions and technological breakthroughs to life.

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‘An extraordinary history’ PETER ACKROYD, The Times‘A lively account of (Bazalgette’s) magnificent achievements. . . graphically illustrated’ HERMIONE HOBHOUSE‘Halliday is good on sanitary engineering and even better on cloaca, crud and putrefaction . . . (he) writes with the relish of one who savours his subject and has deeply researched it. . . splendidly illustrated’ RUTH RENDELLIn the sweltering summer of 1858, sewage generated by over two million Londoners was pouring into the Thames, producing a stink so offensive that it drove Members of Parliament from the chamber of the House of Commons.The Times called the crisis ‘The Great Stink’. Parliament had to act – drastic measures were required to clean the Thames and to improve London’s primitive system of sanitation. The great engineer entrusted with this enormous task was Sir Joseph Bazalgette, who rose to the challenge and built the system of intercepting sewers, pumping stations and treatment works that serves London to this day. In the process, he cleansed the Thames and helped banish cholera.The Great Stink of London offers a vivid insight into Bazalgette’s achievements and the era in which he worked and lived, including his heroic battles with politicians and bureaucrats that would transform the face and health of the world’s then largest city.

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