New Releases by Dava Sobel

Dava Sobel erzählt die Geschichte der berühmten Naturwissenschaftlerin und der 45 Frauen, die sie in ihrem Labor ausgebildet hat. Wie Marie Curie auch, waren sie fasziniert von der rätselhaften Radioaktivität und erforschten die Struktur der Atome als grenzenlose Energiequelle. Sie kamen aus aller Welt. Viele wurden später in ihrer Heimat einflussreiche Pionierinnen an Universitäten und in ihren Forschungsgebieten. Andere gaben unterm gesellschaftlichen Druck auf und heirateten. Einigen gelang es, Forschung und Ehe zu kombinieren. Viele blieben lange miteinander in Freundschaft verbunden und gründeten eine Gesellschaft zur Förderung von Frauen in der Forschung. In Paris trafen sie sich lange nach Mme Curies Tod, um ihrer Mentorin zu gedenken.

Península recupera la obra de una gran divulgadora científicas de nuestra época. Un viaje al corazón del Sistema Solar. Desde hace siglos, los planetas que orbitan alrededor del Sol han cautivado la imaginería del ser humano. Dava Sobel desvela a través de las anécdotas de ilustres astrónomos y físicos como Copérnico, Galileo o Kepler, los avances que han permitido comprender los planetas y su lugar en el cosmos a lo largo de los siglos. Explorando así, sus orígenes mediante la óptica de la cultura popular que abarca desde la astrología y la mitología hasta el arte y la historia. Una obra que nos invita a reflexionar sobre la relación de la humanidad con el universo y su significado.

The acclaimed Pulitzer Prize finalist and #1 New York Times bestselling author of Galileo’s Daughter crafts a luminous chronicle of the life and work of the most famous woman in the history of science, and the untold story of the many young women trained in her laboratory who were launched into stellar scientific careers of their own “Even now, nearly a century after her death, Marie Curie remains the only female scientist most people can name,” writes Dava Sobel at the opening of her shining portrait of the sole Nobel laureate decorated in two separate fields of science—Physics in 1903 with her husband Pierre and Chemistry by herself in 1911. And yet, Sobel makes clear, as brilliant and creative as she was in the laboratory, Marie Curie was equally passionate outside it. Grieving Pierre’s untimely death in 1906, she took his place as professor of physics at the Sorbonne; devotedly raised two brilliant daughters; drove a van she outfitted with x-ray equipment to the front lines of World War I; befriended Albert Einstein and other luminaries of twentieth-century physics; won support from two U.S. presidents; and inspired generations of young women the world over to pursue science as a way of life. As Sobel did so memorably in her portrait of Galileo through the prism of his daughter, she approaches Marie Curie from a unique angle, narrating her remarkable life of discovery and fame alongside the women who became her legacy—from France’s Marguerite Perey, who discovered the element francium, and Norway’s Ellen Gleditsch, to Mme. Curie’s elder daughter, Irène, winner of the 1935 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. For decades the only woman in the room at international scientific gatherings that probed new theories about the interior of the atom, Marie Curie traveled far and wide, despite constant illness, to share the secrets of radioactivity, a term she coined. Her two triumphant tours of the United States won her admirers for her modesty even as she was mobbed at every stop; her daughters, in Ève’s later recollection, “discovered all at once what the retiring woman with whom they had always lived meant to the world.” With the consummate skill that made bestsellers of Longitude and Galileo’s Daughter, and the appreciation for women in science at the heart of her most recent The Glass Universe, Dava Sobel has crafted a radiant biography and a masterpiece of storytelling, illuminating the life and enduring influence of one of the most consequential figures of our time.

Es war die Zeit, in der Edison mit seiner elektrischen Glühbirne für Aufsehen sorgte, als Frauen an der amerikanischen Ostküste erstmals die Gestirne erkundeten. Ein Professor der Harvard University engagierte sie Anfang der 1880er-Jahre zunächst als »Computer« – als Rechnerinnen – am Observatorium. Darunter nicht nur Familienmitglieder von Astronomen, sondern auch Absolventinnen der neuen Frauen-Colleges und begeisterte Sternbeobachterinnen. Und sie leisteten wahrlich Erstaunliches: Die ledige Mutter und ehemalige Haushälterin Williamina Fleming etwa machte durch ihre Berechnungen allein schon an die 300 Sterne ausfindig. Die Pfarrerstochter Antonia Maury entwickelte eine eigene Klassifikation der Planeten, die heute als Grundstein der modernen Astrophysik gelten kann. Doch wenige der Harvard-Frauen fanden später die verdiente Anerkennung auf einer eigenen Forschungsstelle. Dem Wirken der ambitionierten Wissenschaftlerinnen ein Denkmal zu setzen ist daher Dava Sobels Anliegen mit ihrem neuen, spannend erzählten Buch.

Dall'autrice premio Pulitzer

#1 New York Times bestselling author Dava Sobel returns with a captivating, little-known true storyof women in science In the mid-nineteenth century, the Harvard College Observatory began employing women as calculators, or ¿human computers,¿ to interpret the observations their male counterparts made via telescope each night. As photography transformed the practice of astronomy, the women turned to studying images of the stars captured on glass photographic plates, making extraordinary discoveries that attracted worldwide acclaim. They helped discern what the stars were made of, divided them into meaningful categories for further research, and even found a way to measure distances across space by starlight .Elegantly written and enriched by excerpts from letters, diaries,and memoirs, The Glass Universe is the hidden history of a group of remarkable women whose vital contributions to the burgeoning field of astronomy forever changed our understanding of the stars and our place in the universe.

Using her deep knowledge, her skills as a storyteller, and her imagination, Dava Sobel illuminates one of history's most significant and far-reaching meetings. In the spring of 1539, a young German mathematician--Georg Joachim Rheticus--journeyed hundreds of miles to northern Poland to meet the legendary, elderly cleric and reluctant astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. Some two decades earlier, Copernicus had floated the mind-boggling theory that the Sun, not the Earth, was stationary at the center of the universe, and he was rumored to have crafted a book that could prove it. Though exactly what happened between them can never be known, Rheticus shepherded Copernicus's great work into production and De revolutionibus orbium coelestium ultimately changed the course of human understanding. Dava Sobel imagines their dramatic encounter, and with wit and erudition gives them personality. Through clever and dramatic dialogue, she brings alive the months Rheticus and Copernicus spent together--the one a heretical Lutheran, the other a free-thinking Catholic--and in the process illuminates the historic tension between science and religion. An introduction by Dava Sobel will set the stage, putting the scenes in historical context, and an afterword will describe what happened after Copernicus's book was published detailing the impact it had on science and on civilization.

Um elegante e primoroso relato sobre a vida do homem que transformou nossa concepção da vida no universo. Em 1514, Nicolau Copérnico desenvolveu o esboço da teoria que desafiava as crenças da época, colocando o Sol, e não a Terra, no centro do universo. Ao longo das duas décadas seguintes, ele compilou seu trabalho num manuscrito secreto, o qual se recusava a publicar. Em 1539, o alemão Georg Joachim Rheticus, atraído pelos rumores de uma revolução científica, viajou à Polônia para procurar Copérnico. Dois anos depois, o jovem publicou As revoluções dos orbes celestes, com os trabalhos que transformaram o lugar do homem no Universo. Com elegância, Dava Sobel descreve as personalidades conflitantes dos dois e cria uma peça teatral que imagina a luta de Rheticus para convencer o mestre a publicar seu manuscrito.

During the 1530s, rumours of a potentially revolutionary theory of how the heavens worked emanating from a small city in Poland began to spread throughout Europe. The architect of this theory was a Polish cleric named Nicolaus Copernicus. In around 1514 Copernicus had written and hand-copied an initial outline of his heliocentric theory, in which he placed the Sun, not the Earth, at the centre of our universe, with the planets, including the Earth, revolving about it. Titled his Commentariolus, it circulated among a very few astronomers. Over the next two decades Copernicus expanded his theory through hundreds of sightings, leading to a secretive manuscript whose existence tantalised mathematicians and scientists all over the world. In 1539 a young German mathematician, Georg Joachim Rheticus, travelled to Frombork to meet Copernicus; months later he departed with the manuscript for the book that would change the way we understand our place in the universe. Rheticus arranged for the publication of De Revolutionibus Orbium Coelestium (On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres) - legend has it Copernicus received a copy on his deathbed. This book would forever change the way we thought about our place in the universe.In her compelling style, Dava Sobel chronicles the history of the Copernican Revolution, relating the story of astronomy from Aristotle to the Middle Ages. And as she achieved with her international bestsellers Longitude and Galileo's Daughter, in A More Perfect Heaven, Sobel expands the bounds of popular science writing, giving us an unforgettable portrait of a major step forward in the human knowledge of our universe.

Presents a biography of the scientist through the surviving letters of his illegitimate daughter Maria Celeste, who wrote him from the Florence convent where she lived from the age of thirteen.

Longitude is the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest and of Harrison's forty-year obsession with building his perfect timekeeper, known today as the chronometer.

Dava Sobel's The Glass Universe will be available from Viking in December 2016 With her bestsellers Longitude and Galileo's Daughter, Dava Sobel introduced readers to her rare gift for weaving complex scientific concepts into a compelling narrative. Now Sobel brings her full talents to bear on what is perhaps her most ambitious topic to date-the planets of our solar system. Sobel explores the origins and oddities of the planets through the lens of popular culture, from astrology, mythology, and science fiction to art, music, poetry, biography, and history. Written in her characteristically graceful prose, The Planets is a stunningly original celebration of our solar system and offers a distinctive view of our place in the universe. * A New York Times extended bestseller * A Featured Alternate of the Book-of-the-Month Club, History Book Club, Scientific American Book Club, and Natural Science Book Club * Includes 11 full-color illustrations by artist Lynette R. Cook "[The Planets] lets us fall in love with the heavens all over again." -The New York Times Book Review "Playful . . . lyrical . . . a guided tour so imaginative that we forget we're being educated as we're being entertained." -Newsweek " [Sobel] has outdone her extraordinary talent for keeping readers enthralled. . . . Longitude and Galileo's Daughter were exciting enough, but The Planets has a charm of its own . . . . A splendid and enticing book." -San Francisco Chronicle "A sublime journey. [Sobel's] writing . . . is as bright as the sun and its thinking as star-studded as the cosmos." -The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "An incantatory serenade to the Solar System. Grade A-" -Entertainment Weekly "Like Sobel's [Longitude and Galileo's Daughter] . . . [The Planets] combines masterful storytelling with clear, engaging explanations of the essential scientific facts." -Physics World

本书荣获《洛山矶时报》书卷奖

Une biographie de celui qu'Albert Einstein appela le père de la science moderne. Fils de musicien, Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) tenta d'abord de se faire moine avant de se lancer dans les travaux qui firent de lui l'un des plus grands savants de son temps. Jamais il ne quitta l'Italie, et pourtant ses inventions et ses découvertes se diffusèrent dans le monde entier.

Galileu Galilei, o pai da ciência moderna- nasceu em Pisa, na Itália, em 1564. Viveu quase oitenta anos. Teve três filhos, nunca se casou. Foi físico, matemático e astrônomo. Inventou o telescópio. Demonstrou que a Terra se move em torno do Sol. Foi condenado pela Inquisição a passar o resto da vida em prisão domiciliar. Através do papa João Paulo II, a Igreja católica recentemente revogou a condenação- mais de 350 anos depois. Virginia, a filha mais velha de Galileu- Aos treze anos, foi enclausurada num convento. Adotou o nome religioso de Maria Celeste, em homenagem à paixão do pai pelos mistérios do céu. Durante vinte anos correspondeu-se com Galileu. Suas cartas são pouco conhecidas. Foi nelas que Dava Sobel se baseou para reconstituir a vida daquele que, para Einstein, é 'o pai de toda a ciência moderna'.

Longitude, Dava Sobel's no.1 bestseller, is the elegant biography of the lone genius who solved the greatest scientific problem of his times. With new material from Dava Sobel and William Andrewes, and illustrated with over 200 integrated photographs, The Illustrated Longitude is the essential book for everyone who fell in love with John Harrison's story and wants to know more. Anyone alive in the 18th century would have known that 'the longitude problem' was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day -- and had been for centuries. Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailors throughout the great ages of exploration had been literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land. The scientific establishment throughout Europe -- from Galileo to Sir Isaac Newton -- had mapped the heavens in its certain pursuit of a celestial answer. In stark contrast, one man, John Harrison, dared to imagine a mechanical solution. The Illustrated Longitude is a fascinating history of astronomy, navigation and clockmaking. Lavishly produced with over 200 illustrations, The Illustrated Longitude has much new material to help the reader learn more of John Harrison's extraordinary story an

This guide to treating arthritis combines two bestsellers in one, Arthritis: What Really Works and Arthritis: What Exercises Really Work. Together they attempt to provide answers for every arthritis problem: conventional medicine, drugs, alternative therapies, surgery, self-help techniques, diet and 200 pages of illustrated exercise plans.

Internationally known astronomer, Professor Frank Drake, has been scanning deepest space for more than 30 years, hoping to tune into an alien radio signal that could only come from an extraterrestrial intelligence. This book chronicles his work and discoveries.