Tales of Mathematicians and Physicists [Paperback]

This revised and greatly expanded second edition of the Russian text contains a wealth of new information about the lives and accomplishments of more than a dozen scientists throughout five centuries of history: from the first steps in algebra up to new achievements in geometry in connection with physics. The heroes of the book are renowned figures from early eras, as well some scientists of last century. A unique mixture of mathematics, physics, and history, this volume provides biographical glimpses of scientists and their contributions in the context of the social and political background of their times.

This revised edition contains a wealth of new information about the lives and accomplishments of over a dozen scientists throughout five centuries. What emerges are intriguing, multifaceted studies of a number of remarkable intellectuals and their scientific legacy.

Ars Magna (The Great Art).- Two Tales of Galileo.- Christiaan Huygens and Pendulum Clocks.- Secrets of the Cycloid.- Blaise Pascal.- The Beginnings of Higher Geometry.- Leonhard Euler.- Joseph Louis Lagrange.- Pierre-Simon Laplace.- Prince of Mathematicians.- Felix Klein.- The Magic World of Henri Poincar?.- The Enigma of Ramanujan.- On the Advantages of Coordinates and the Art of Chaining Hyperboloids.- The Complex World of Roger Penrose.

From the reviews:

This lively and entertaining book tells tales'' of Cardano, Galileo, Huygens, Pascal, Gauss.... The reasoning of the scientists discussed is modernized so as to ease the reader's path; thus this book is not a scholarly discussion of the history of science readable only by experts, but a far more valuable work: a readable introduction to the scientific work discussed and the historical context (both scientific and social) in which it took place. Addressed to a general audience, it deserves to have a wide one.... The author's own lucid style and accurate presentation translated into a lÓ+