Euclid's Window: The Story of Geometry from Parallel Lines to Hyperspace - Couverture souple

Mlodinow, Leonard

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0141009098 ISBN 13 : 9780141009094

Editeur : Penguin, 2003

Synopsis

Euclid's Window Ever since Pythagoras hatched a 'little scheme' to invent a set of rules describing the entire universe, scientists and mathematicians have tried to seek order in the cosmos. In this title, the author takes us on a journey through 3,000 years of genius and geometry, introducing the people who revolutionized the way we see the world around us. Full description

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

In Euclid's Window, Leonard Mlondinow takes us on a brilliantly entertaining journey through 3,000 years of genius and geometry, introducing the people who revolutionized the way we see the world around us. Ever since Pythagoras hatched a 'little scheme' to invent a set of rules describing the entire universe, scientists and mathematicians have tried to seek order in the cosmos: Euclid, who in 300BC defined the nature of space; Descartes, a fourteenth-century gambler and idler who invented the graph; Gauss, the fifteen-year-old genius who discovered that space is curved; Einstein, who added time to the equation; and Witten, who ushered in today's weird new world of extra, twisted dimensions. They all show how geometry is the key to understanding the universe. Once you have viewed life through Euclid's Window, it will never be the same again... 'Elegant, attractive and concise ... also very readable. Buy it'
  Ian Stewart, New Scientist 'This is an exhilarating book ... an important book ... and finally, a lovely book, one that reflects the radiance of its subject'
  David Berlinski 'Reader-friendly, high-spirited, splendidly lucid and often hilarious'
  Washington Post 'Mlodinow has a talent for lively and clear exposition ... Pythagoras' proof has lost none of its capacity to astonish and delight'
  Edward Skidelsky, Daily Telegraph Leonard Mlodinow was a member of the faculty of the Californian Institute of Technology before moving to Hollywood to become a writer for television. He has developed many best selling and award-winning CD-ROMs and is currently Vice President, Emerging Technologies and R&D at Scholastic Inc. He lives in New York City. His other books include The Drunkard's Walk and Subliminal.

Extrait

Chapter One: The First Revolution

Euclid was a man who possibly did not discover even one significant law of geometry. Yet he is the most famous geometer ever known and for good reason: for millennia it has been his window that people first look through when they view geometry. Here and now, he is our poster boy for the first great revolution in the concept of space -- the birth of abstraction, and the idea of proof.

The concept of space began, naturally enough, as a concept of place, our place, earth. It began with a development the Egyptians and Babylonians called "earth measurement." The Greek word for that is geometry, but the subjects are not at all alike. The Greeks were the first to realize that nature could be understood employing mathematics -- that geometry could be applied to reveal, not merely to describe. Evolving geometry from simple descriptions of stone and sand, the Greeks extracted the ideals of point, line, and plane. Stripping away the window-dressing of matter, they uncovered a structure possessing a beauty civilization had never before seen. At the climax of this struggle to invent mathematics stands Euclid. The story of Euclid is a story of revolution. It is the story of the axiom, the theorem, the proof, the story of the birth of reason itself.

Copyright © 2001 by Leonard Mlodinow

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Penguin
• Date d'édition: 2003
• ISBN 10: 0141009098
• ISBN 13: 9780141009094
• Reliure: Broché
• Langue: anglais
• Nombre de pages: 320