A Force of Nature by Richard Reeves
I finished this book on Wednesday 20 August and it was fantastic.
Richard Reeves, best known for his acclaimed trilogy on the presidencies of John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, moved in a different direction on November 5, 2007 with his publication of "A Force of Nature: The Frontier Genius of Ernest Rutherford," a short biography of the physicist born on the frontier of New Zealand, in 1871, who became, along with Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr, one of the most famous scientists of the "heroic age of physics."
This is a fantastic read about a real person who cast a huge shadow over all those with whom he worked. Brilliant and affable an larger than life and most definitely 'a force of nature'.
As a B.Sc who majored in Physics, he was always high on my list of the gods of science.
I picked this up for $5 at a book sale in Lygon St, Carlton, and it is a worthy addition to the library. Sometimes you just get lucky!
Rutherford was to practical physics what Einstein was to theoretical physics and, from his Cavendish research laboratories in England, came a succession of Nobel Laureates in Physics and Chemistry. So many of the great names of those golden years of physics studied under him at Cavendish
As a couple of asides:
- My son Paul has his books on the US presidents, quoted above, so perhaps one day I might branch out in that direction.
- I can see a blog page coming up on my favourite biographies - I have some beauties in the library. For starters, I must reread my biographies of Einstein and Richard Feynman and my books on the Manhattan project which directly came out of his later work in splitting the atom.
I finished this book on Wednesday 20 August and it was fantastic.
Richard Reeves, best known for his acclaimed trilogy on the presidencies of John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan, moved in a different direction on November 5, 2007 with his publication of "A Force of Nature: The Frontier Genius of Ernest Rutherford," a short biography of the physicist born on the frontier of New Zealand, in 1871, who became, along with Albert Einstein and Niels Bohr, one of the most famous scientists of the "heroic age of physics."
This is a fantastic read about a real person who cast a huge shadow over all those with whom he worked. Brilliant and affable an larger than life and most definitely 'a force of nature'.
As a B.Sc who majored in Physics, he was always high on my list of the gods of science.
I picked this up for $5 at a book sale in Lygon St, Carlton, and it is a worthy addition to the library. Sometimes you just get lucky!
Rutherford was to practical physics what Einstein was to theoretical physics and, from his Cavendish research laboratories in England, came a succession of Nobel Laureates in Physics and Chemistry. So many of the great names of those golden years of physics studied under him at Cavendish
As a couple of asides:
- My son Paul has his books on the US presidents, quoted above, so perhaps one day I might branch out in that direction.
- I can see a blog page coming up on my favourite biographies - I have some beauties in the library. For starters, I must reread my biographies of Einstein and Richard Feynman and my books on the Manhattan project which directly came out of his later work in splitting the atom.
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