Biographies
Alan Turing: life and legacy of a great thinker by
Written by a distinguished cast of contributors, Alan Turing: Life and Legacy of a Great Thinker is the definitive collection of essays in commemoration of the 90th birthday of Alan Turing. This fascinating text covers the rich facets of his life, thoughts, and legacy, but also sheds some light on the future of computing science with a chapter contributed by visionary Ray Kurzweil, winner of the 1999 National Medal of Technology. Further, important contributions come from the philosopher Daniel Dennett, the Turing biographer Andrew Hodges, and from the distinguished logician Martin Davis, who provides a first critical essay on an emerging and controversial field termed "hypercomputation".
Call Number: QA29.T8 A57 2004ISBN: 9783540200208Publication Date: 2005-03-29
Alan Turing: the enigma by
****Cited in Books for College Libraries, 3d ed. Hodges (mathematics, Wadham College, Oxford) examines both the heroic and tragic sides of Turing's life, from his decryption of the German U- boat Enigma cipher, to his tragic suicide (caused in part by his detection as a homosexual and subsequent mandatory hormone therapy to suppress his libido). Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
Call Number: QA29.T8 H63 1983aISBN: 9780671492076Publication Date: 1983-11-01
Apostle of Progress by
From the late nineteenth century to the middle of the twentieth century, Mexico experienced major transformations influenced by a global progressive movement that thrived during the Mexican Revolution and influenced Mexico's development during subsequent governments. Engineers and other revolutionary technocrats were the system builders who drew up the blueprints, printed newspapers, implemented reforms, and constructed complexity--people who built modern Mexico with an eye on remedying long-standing problems through social, material, and infrastructural development during a period of revolutionary change. In Apostle of Progress J. Justin Castro examines the life of Modesto C. Rolland, a revolutionary propagandist and a prominent figure in the development of Mexico, to gain a better understanding of the role engineers played in creating revolution-era policies and the reconstruction of the Mexican nation. Rolland influenced Mexican land reform, petroleum development, stadium construction, port advancements, radio broadcasting, and experiments in political economy. In the telling of Rolland's story, Castro offers a captivating account of the Mexican Revolution and the influence of global progressivism on the development of twentieth-century Mexico.
Call Number: TA140.R83 C37 2019ISBN: 9781496211736Publication Date: 2019-01-01
Bridging Deep South Rivers: the life and legend of Horace King by
Horace King (1807-1885) built covered bridges over every large river in the Gulf South from Georgia through Alabama to eastern Mississippi. That King, who began life as a slave in Cheraw, South Carolina, received no formal training makes his story all the more remarkable. This is the first major biography of the gifted architect and engineer who used his skills to transcend the limits of slavery and segregation and become a successful entrepreneur and builder. John S. Lupold and Thomas L. French Jr. add considerably to our knowledge of a man whose accomplishments demand wider recognition. As a slave and then as a freedman, King built bridges, courthouses, warehouses, factories, and houses in the three-state area. The authors separate legend from facts as they carefully document King's life in the Chattahoochee Valley on the Georgia-Alabama border. We learn about King's freedom from slavery in 1846, his reluctant support of the Confederacy, and his two terms in the Alabama Reconstruction legislature. In addition, the biography reveals King's relationship with his fellow (white) contractors and investors, especially John Godwin, his master and business partner, and Robert Jemison Jr.
Call Number: E185.97.K49 L87 2004ISBN: 9780820326269Publication Date: 2004-08-31
Carbon Queen by
The life of trailblazing physicist Mildred Dresselhaus, who expanded our understanding of the physical world. As a girl in New York City in the 1940s, Mildred "Millie" Dresselhaus was taught that there were only three career options open to women- secretary, nurse, or teacher. But sneaking into museums, purchasing three-cent copies of National Geographic, and devouring books on the history of science ignited in Dresselhaus (1930-2017) a passion for inquiry. In Carbon Queen, science writer Maia Weinstock describes how, with curiosity and drive, Dresselhaus defied expectations and forged a career as a pioneering scientist and engineer. Dresselhaus made highly influential discoveries about the properties of carbon and other materials and helped reshape our world in countless ways-from electronics to aviation to medicine to energy. She was also a trailblazer for women in STEM and a beloved educator, mentor, and colleague. Her path wasn't easy. Dresselhaus's Bronx childhood was impoverished. Her graduate adviser felt educating women was a waste of time. But Dresselhaus persisted, finding mentors in Nobel Prize-winning physicists Rosalyn Yalow and Enrico Fermi. Eventually, Dresselhaus became one of the first female professors at MIT, where she would spend nearly six decades. Weinstock explores the basics of Dresselhaus's work in carbon nanoscience accessibly and engagingly, describing how she identified key properties of carbon forms, including graphite, buckyballs, nanotubes, and graphene, leading to applications that range from lighter, stronger aircraft to more energy-efficient and flexible electronics.
Call Number: TA455.C3 W45 2022ISBN: 9780262046435Publication Date: 2022-03-01
The Comet Sweeper: Caroline Herschel's astronomical ambition by
"The Comet Sweeper" is the incredible story of Britain's first female professional scientist, Caroline Herschel - a true Enlightenment celebrity whose rediscovery is long overdue. Such was Herschel's reputation that a congratulatory letter in 1790 from the director of the Paris Observatory was simply addressed to 'Mlle Caroline Herschel, Astronome Celebre, Slough.' Having escaped domestic servitude in Germany by teaching herself to sing and establishing a career in England, Herschel learned astronomy while helping her brother William, then Astronomer Royal. Soon she was making scientific discoveries in her own right, and she swept to international scientific and popular fame. She was awarded a salary by George III in 1787, becoming the first woman in Britain ever to make her living from science. But, as a woman in a male-dominated world, Herschel's great success was achieved despite constant frustration of her ambitions. Assisting her brother had to take priority over her own work, and his marriage separated her from the instruments of her trade, stalling her career. Drawing on original sources - including Herschel's diaries and her fiery letters - Claire Brock tells the story of a woman so determined to win independence and satisfy her ambition that she moved careers and countries while chasing success.
Call Number: QB36.H58 B76 2007ISBN: 9781840467208Publication Date: 2008-02-07
The Fossil Hunter: dinosaurs, evolution, and the woman whose discoveries changed the world by
Mary Anning was only twelve years old when, in 1811, she discovered the first dinosaur skeleton--of an ichthyosaur--while fossil hunting on the cliffs of Lyme Regis, England. Until Mary's incredible discovery, it was widely believed that animals did not become extinct. The child of a poor family, Mary became a fossil hunter, inspiring the tongue-twister, "She Sells Sea Shells by the Seashore." She attracted the attention of fossil collectors and eventually the scientific world. Once news of the fossils reached the halls of academia, it became impossible to ignore the truth. Mary's peculiar finds helped lay the groundwork for Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, laid out in his On the Origin of Species. Darwin drew on Mary's fossilized creatures as irrefutable evidence that life in the past was nothing like life in the present. A story worthy of Dickens, The Fossil Hunter chronicles the life of this young girl, with dirt under her fingernails and not a shilling to buy dinner, who became a world-renowned paleontologist. Dickens himself said of Mary: "The carpenter's daughter has won a name for herself, and deserved to win it." Here at last, Shelley Emling returns Mary Anning, of whom Stephen J. Gould remarked, is "probably the most important unsung (or inadequately sung) collecting force in the history of paleontology," to her deserved place in history.
Call Number: QE707.A56 E46 2009ISBN: 9780230103429Publication Date: 2011-01-04
Half Life by
The USA Today bestselling author of In Another Time reimagines the pioneering, passionate life of Marie Curie using a parallel structure to create two alternative timelines, one that mirrors her real life, one that explores the consequences for Marie and for science if she'd made a different choice. In Poland in 1891, Marie Curie (then Marya Sklodowska) was engaged to a budding mathematician, Kazimierz Zorawski. But when his mother insisted she was too poor and not good enough, he broke off the engagement. A heartbroken Marya left Poland for Paris, where she would attend the Sorbonne to study chemistry and physics. Eventually Marie Curie would go on to change the course of science forever and be the first woman to win a Nobel Prize.But what if she had made a different choice? What if she had stayed in Poland, married Kazimierz at the age of twenty-four, and never attended the Sorbonne or discovered radium? What if she had chosen a life of domesticity with a constant hunger for knowledge in Russian Poland where education for women was restricted, instead of studying science in Paris and meeting Pierre Curie? Entwining Marie Curie's real story with Marya Zorawska's fictional one, Half Life explores loves lost and destinies unfulfilled--and probes issues of loyalty and identity, gender and class, motherhood and sisterhood, fame and anonymity, scholarship and knowledge. Through parallel contrasting versions of Marya's life, Jillian Cantor's unique historical novel asks what would have happened if a great scientific mind was denied opportunity and access to education. It examines how the lives of one remarkable woman and the people she loved - as well as the world at large and course of science and history--might have been irrevocably changed in ways both great and small.
Call Number: PS3603.A5722 H35 2021ISBN: 9780062969873Publication Date: 2021-03-23
Harriet Quimby by
One of the first women to fly, the fashionable Harriet Quimby (1875-1912) came of age in the fading years of a gilded era, determined to have more than the life of a farmer's wife. Beautiful, intelligent, and forever seeking the next adventure when her life ended tragically at age thirty-seven, this extraordinary pioneer had accomplished what most--women or men--only dream about. Here is the remarkable story of Quimby's groundbreaking work in aviation, photojournalism, fashion design, script writing, and advertising. As a celebrity journalist in New York, she was also a mouthpiece for women, minorities, and social justice issues. "I think I shall do something someday," she once remarked. This recognition of her legacy is long overdue.
Call Number: TL540.Q496 K47 2016ISBN: 9780764350672Publication Date: 2016-01-28
Hawking by
From his early days at Oxford, Stephen Hawking's brilliance and good humor were obvious to everyone he met. At twenty-one he was diagnosed with ALS, a disease that limited his ability to move and speak, though it did nothing to limit his mind. He went on to do groundbreaking work in cosmology and theoretical physics for decades after being told he had only a few years to live. Through his 1988 bestseller, A Brief History of Time, and his appearances on shows like Star Trek and The Big Bang Theory, Hawking became a household name and a pop-culture icon. In Hawking, Jim Ottaviani and Leland Myrick have crafted an intricate portrait of the great thinker, the public figure, and the man behind both identities.
Call Number: QC16.H33 O88 2019ISBN: 1626720258Publication Date: 2019-07-02
Hedy's Folly: the life and breakthrough inventions of Hedy Lamarr, the most beautiful woman in the world by
What do Hedy Lamarr, avant-garde composer George Antheil, and your cell phone have in common? The answer is spread-spectrum radio: a revolutionary invention based on the rapid switching of communications signals among a spread of different frequencies. Without this technology, we would not have the digital comforts that we take for granted today. Only a writer of Richard Rhodes's caliber could do justice to this remarkable story. Unhappily married to a Nazi arms dealer, Lamarr fled to America at the start of World War II; she brought with her not only her theatrical talent but also a gift for technical innovation. An introduction to Antheil at a Hollywood dinner table culminated in a U.S. patent for a jam- proof radio guidance system for torpedoes--the unlikely duo's gift to the U.S. war effort. What other book brings together 1920s Paris, player pianos, Nazi weaponry, and digital wireless into one satisfying whole? In its juxtaposition of Hollywood glamour with the reality of a brutal war, Hedy's Folly is a riveting book about unlikely amateur inventors collaborating to change the world.
Call Number: PN2287.L24 R54 2011ISBN: 9780385534383Publication Date: 2011-11-29
Hedy Lamarr's Double Life by
"Revelatory to young audiences in more ways than one." --Kirkus "Many STEM-for-girls biographies fan excitement over women's achievements, but this title actually brings the central scientific concept within middle-grade reach." --The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books Selected for the New York Public Library Best of 2019 List! Movie star by day, ace inventor at night: learn about the hidden life of actress Hedy Lamarr! To her adoring public, Hedy Lamarr was a glamorous movie star, widely considered the most beautiful woman in the world. But in private, she was something more: a brilliant inventor. And for many years only her closest friends knew her secret. Now Laurie Wallmark and Katy Wu, who collaborated on Sterling's critically acclaimed picture-book biography Grace Hopper: Queen of Computer Code, tell the inspiring story of how, during World War Two, Lamarr developed a groundbreaking communications system that still remains essential to the security of today's technology. Selected for the 2020 Outstanding Science Trade Books for Students K-12 list, compiled by the National Science Teachers Association (NSTA) and the Children's Book Council (CBC).
Call Number: FOLIO PZ9.W355 Hed 2019ISBN: 9781454926917Publication Date: 2019-02-05
Lucean Arthur Headen: the making of a Black inventor and entrepreneur by
Born in Carthage, North Carolina, Lucean Arthur Headen (1879-1957) grew up amid former slave artisans. Inspired by his grandfather, a wheelwright, and great-uncle, a toolmaker, he dreamed as a child of becoming an inventor. His ambitions suffered the menace of Jim Crow and the reality of a new inventive landscape in which investment was shifting from lone inventors to the new "industrial scientists." But determined and ambitious, Headen left the South, and after toiling for a decade as a Pullman porter, risked everything to pursue his dream. He eventually earned eleven patents, most for innovative engine designs and anti-icing methods for aircraft. An equally capable entrepreneur and sportsman, Headen learned to fly in 1911, manufactured his own "Pace Setter" and "Headen Special" cars in the early 1920s, and founded the first national black auto racing association in 1924, all establishing him as an important authority on transportation technologies among African Americans. Emigrating to England in 1931, Headen also proved a successful manufacturer, operating engineering firms in Surrey that distributed his motor and other products worldwide for twenty-five years. Though Headen left few personal records, Jill D. Snider recreates the life of this extraordinary man through historical detective work in newspapers, business and trade publications, genealogical databases, and scholarly works. Mapping the social networks his family built within the Presbyterian church and other organizations (networks on which Headen often relied), she also reveals the legacy of Carthage's, and the South's, black artisans. Their story shows us that, despite our worship of personal triumph, success is often a communal as well as an individual achievement.
Call Number: TL140.H425 S65 2020ISBN: 9781469654355Publication Date: 2020-02-17
The Man Called Brown Condor by
How did a black child, growing up in segregationist Mississippi during the early 1900s, become the commander of the Imperial Ethiopian Air Corps during the brutal Italo-Ethiopian War of 1935? In this gripping, never-before-told tale, biographer Thoma
Call Number: TL540.R57 S57 2013ISBN: 9781620872178Publication Date: 2013-02-07
Native American Scientists: Fred Begay, Wilfred F. Denetclaw Jr., Frank C. Dukepoo, Clifton Poodry, Jerrel Yakel by
Presents five brief biographies of Native Americans who have pursued careers in various scientific fields, including Wilfred Denetclaw Jr., Frank Dukepoo, Fred Begay, Clifton Poodry, and Jerrel Yakel.
Call Number: Q141 .S7 1996ISBN: 9781560653592Publication Date: 1996-01-01
Sally Ride by
The definitive biography of Sally Ride, America's first woman in space, with exclusive insights from Ride's family and partner, by the ABC reporter who covered NASA during its transformation from a test-pilot boys' club to a more inclusive elite. Sally Ride made history as the first American woman in space. A member of the first astronaut class to include women, she broke through a quarter-century of white male fighter jocks when NASA chose her for the seventh shuttle mission, cracking the celestial ceiling and inspiring several generations of women. After a second flight, Ride served on the panels investigating the Challenger explosion and the Columbia disintegration that killed all aboard. In both instances she faulted NASA's rush to meet mission deadlines and its organizational failures. She cofounded a company promoting science and education for children, especially girls. Sherr also writes about Ride's scrupulously guarded personal life--she kept her sexual orientation private--with exclusive access to Ride's partner, her former husband, her family, and countless friends and colleagues. Sherr draws from Ride's diaries, files, and letters. This is a rich biography of a fascinating woman whose life intersected with revolutionary social and scientific changes in America. Sherr's revealing portrait is warm and admiring but unsparing. It makes this extraordinarily talented and bold woman, an inspiration to millions, come alive.
Call Number: TL789.85.R53 S54 2014ISBN: 9781476725765Publication Date: 2014-06-03
Stephen Hawking: a life in science by
Originally published in 1992 to great acclaim, this updated edition traces the course of Hawking (TM)s life and science, successfully marrying biography and physics to tell the story of a remarkable man. Stephen Hawking is no ordinary scientist. With a career that began over thirty years ago at Cambridge University, he has managed to do more than perhaps any other scientist to broaden our basic understanding of the universe. His theoretical work on black holes and his progress in advancing our knowledge of the origin and nature of the cosmos have been groundbreaking "if not downright revolutionary. Stephen Hawking has also spent much of his adult life confined to a wheelchair, a victim of ALS, a degenerative motor neuron disease. Clearly his physical limitations have done nothing to confine him intellectually. He simply never allowed his illness to hinder his scientific development. In fact, many would argue that his liberation from the routine chores of life has allowed him to focus his efforts more keenly on his science. Hawking certainly would have been remarkable for his cutting edge work in theoretical physics alone. However, he has also managed to popularize science in a way unparalleled by other scientists of his stature. He became a household name, achieving almost cult-like fame, with the release of his best-selling book, A Brief History of Time. Although steeped in the potentially overwhelming complexities of cosmology, he succeeded in selling millions of copies to audiences eager to learn even some of what he has to offer. Science writers White and Gribbin have skillfully painted a portrait of an indefatigable genius and a scientific mind that seemingly knows no bounds. Knitting together clear explanations of Hawking (TM)s science with a detailed personal history that is both balanced as well as sensitive, we come to know "and appreciate "both. As Stephen Hawking (TM)s new book, The Universe in a Nutshell, hits the best-seller lists, it is the ideal time for readers to learn more about this remarkable man and his vast body of accomplishments.
Call Number: QC16.H33 W45 2002ISBN: 9780309084109Publication Date: 2002-08-16
Stephen Hawking: an unfettered mind by
Kitty Ferguson, the award-winning and international bestselling author of Stephen Hawking's biography, presents an even deeper portrait of the legendary physicist's life and scientific theories. Stephen Hawking: An Unfettered Mind looks at one of the most remarkable figures of our age: the bestselling author ofA Brief History of Time, celebrated theoretical physicist, and an inspiration to millions around the world. Ferguson offers fresh insights into the way Hawking thinks and works, his ever-more-imaginative adventures in science at the "flaming ramparts of the world," the discovery of gravity waves, the blockbuster proposal for "Starshot" to explore the cosmos, and his powerful use of his celebrity on behalf of human rights and survival on earth and beyond. With rare access to Hawking, including childhood photos and in-depth research, Ferguson creates a rich and comprehensive picture of his life: his childhood; the heartbreaking ALS diagnosis when he was a first-year graduate student; his long personal battle for survival in pursuit of a scientific understanding of the universe; and his rise to international fame. She also uses her gift for translating the language of theoretical physics into the language of the rest of us to make Hawking's scientific work accessible.
Call Number: QC16.H33 F465 1991ISBN: 9780230340602Publication Date: 2012-01-03
Stringing Together a Nation: Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon and the construction of a modern Brazil, 1906-1930 by
Focusing on one of the most fascinating and debated figures in the history of modern Brazil, Stringing Together a Nation is the first full-length study of the life and career of Cândido Mariano da Silva Rondon (1865-1958) to be published in English. In the early twentieth century, Rondon, a military engineer, led what became known as the Rondon Commission in a massive undertaking: the building of telegraph lines and roads connecting Brazil's vast interior with its coast. Todd A. Diacon describes how, in stringing together a nation with telegraph wire, Rondon attempted to create a unified community of "Brazilians" from a population whose loyalties and identities were much more local and regional in scope. He reveals the work of the Rondon Commission as a crucial exemplar of the issues and intricacies involved in the expansion of central state authority in Brazil and in the construction of a particular kind of Brazilian nation. Using an impressive array of archival and documentary sources, Diacon chronicles the Rondon Commission's arduous construction of telegraph lines across more than eight hundred miles of the Amazon Basin; its exploration, surveying, and mapping of vast areas of northwest Brazil; and its implementation of policies governing relations between the Brazilian state and indigenous groups. He considers the importance of Positivist philosophy to Rondon's thought, and he highlights the Rondon Commission's significant public relations work on behalf of nation-building efforts. He reflects on the discussions--both contemporaneous and historiographical--that have made Rondon such a fundamental and controversial figure in Brazilian cultural history.
Call Number: F2537.R66 D53 2004ISBN: 9780822332107Publication Date: 2004-02-04
What Stars Are Made Of: the life of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin by
A New Scientist Book of the Year A Physics Today Book of the Year A Science News Book of the Year The history of science is replete with women getting little notice for their groundbreaking discoveries. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, a tireless innovator who correctly theorized the substance of stars, was one of them. It was not easy being a woman of ambition in early twentieth-century England, much less one who wished to be a scientist. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin overcame prodigious obstacles to become a woman of many firsts: the first to receive a PhD in astronomy from Radcliffe College, the first promoted to full professor at Harvard, the first to head a department there. And, in what has been called "the most brilliant PhD thesis ever written in astronomy," she was the first to describe what stars are made of. Payne-Gaposchkin lived in a society that did not know what to make of a determined schoolgirl who wanted to know everything. She was derided in college and refused a degree. As a graduate student, she faced formidable skepticism. Revolutionary ideas rarely enjoy instantaneous acceptance, but the learned men of the astronomical community found hers especially hard to take seriously. Though welcomed at the Harvard College Observatory, she worked for years without recognition or status. Still, she accomplished what every scientist yearns for: discovery. She revealed the atomic composition of stars--only to be told that her conclusions were wrong by the very man who would later show her to be correct. In What Stars Are Made Of, Donovan Moore brings this remarkable woman to life through extensive archival research, family interviews, and photographs. Moore retraces Payne-Gaposchkin's steps with visits to cramped observatories and nighttime bicycle rides through the streets of Cambridge, England. The result is a story of devotion and tenacity that speaks powerfully to our own time.
Call Number: QB36.G37 M66 2020ISBN: 9780674237377Publication Date: 2020-03-03
