I Wish I'D Made You Angry Earlier. Essays On Science And Scientists - Couverture rigide

Perutz, Max

Couverture rigide

ISBN 10 : 0198505310 ISBN 13 : 9780198505310

Editeur : Oxford University Press, 1999

Synopsis

Science is no quiet life. Imagination, creativity, ambition, and conflict are as vital and abundant in science as in artistic endeavours. In this collection of essays, the Nobel Prize-winning protein chemist Max Perutz writes about the pursuit of scientific knowledge, which he sees as an enterprise providing not just a few facts but cause for reflection and revelation, as in a poem or painting. His book includes detective stories, tales of conflict and battle, a woman's love affair with crystals, a man's gruesome fascination with poison gas, Nobel Laureates' geriatric illusions about cancer cures, an onslaught on social relativists, the anticlimactic homecoming of a war hero that led to a Nobel Prize, phantom perils that threaten us, and real perils that have been conquered by silent heroes. Perutz seeks to convince us that science is a passionate enterprise and the pursuit of knowledge a sortie into the unknown. There is no more persuasive advocate. These pages are filled with portraits of twentieth-century giants, Pauling, Meitner, Bragg, Haber, Medawar, Szilard, Jacob, Krebs, and others. There are entertaining glimpses of Perutz's own long and exceptional life : his flight from Vienna in the 30's and internment in Britain as an enemy alien in World War II, rescue from the sea after a U-boat attack, involvement in a scheme to make ships of ice for re-fuelling aircraft in the North Atlantic and, after the war, his intense, ten-year struggle to perfect a new way of understanding protein structure and function. Perutz is an eloquent spokesman for humanitarian causes, and his observations on abortion issues, nuclear fuel reprocessing, and human rights reflect a lifelong concern for both social justice and scientific integrity. Max Perutz's essays explore a remarkable range of scientific topics with the lucidity and precision Perutz brought to his own pioneering work in protein crystallography. He has been hailed as an author who'makes difficult subjects intelligible and writes with the warmth, humanity, and broad culture which has always characterized the great men of science.' Of his previous collection of essays, a reviewer said'They turn the world of science and medicine into a marvellous land of adventure which I was thrilled to explore in the company of this wise and humane [writer].' Readers of this volume can journey to the same land with the same delight.

A propos du livre

À propos de l'auteur

Max F. Perutz, FAS., was Director of the Medical Research Council Laboratory for Molecular Biology from its foundation in 1962 until 1979, and remains a member of the Laboratory's scientific staff. He is a member of numerous scientific honour societies including the Royal Society and the U.S. National Academy of Sciences. In addition to many other awards and honours, he received, with John Kendrew, the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 1972 for the first solution of the structures of proteins. He lives in Cambridge.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Oxford University Press
• Date d'édition: 1999
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0198505310
• ISBN 13: 9780198505310
• Reliure: Relié
• Nombre de pages: 370
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: Ufficio Anagrafiche Messaggerie; ufficio.anagrafiche@meli.it; ; Via Verdi, 8; Assago Milano; 20090; Italie