Synopses & Reviews
In a sweeping yet marvelously concise history, Tom Shachtman ushers us into a world in which scientists tease apart the all-important secrets of cold. Readers take an extraordinary trip, starting in the 1600s with an alchemist's air conditioning of Westminster Abbey and scientists' creation of thermometers. Later, while entrepreneurs sold Walden Pond ice to tropical countries -- packed in "high-tech" sawdust -- researchers pursued absolute zero and interpreted their work as romantically as did adventurers to remote regions. Today, playing with ultracold temperatures is one of the hottest frontiers in physics, with scientists creating useful particles Einstein only dreamed of. Tom Shachtman shares a great scientific adventure story and its characters' rich lives in a book that has won a grant from the prestigious Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. Absolute Zero is for everyone who loves history and science history stories, who's eager to explore Nobel Prize-winning physics today, or who has ever sighed with pleasure on encountering air conditioning.
Review
"Tom Shachtman's done to ABSOLUTE ZERO AND THE CONQUEST OF COLD what Dava Sobel did to LONGITUDE."--Jerry E. Bishop, former science editor, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
Review
"Just plain fascinating ... tells in extraordinary detail the history of the search for absolute zero--which, amazingly, involves everyone from Galileo to Einstein!" -- Bradford Washburn, founding director, Boston's Museum of Science, and recipient, Centennial Award of the National Geographic Society
Review
"Tom Shachtman's done to ABSOLUTE ZERO AND THE CONQUEST OF COLD what Dava Sobel did to LONGITUDE."--Jerry E. Bishop, former science editor, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
"Just plain fascinating ... tells in extraordinary detail the history of the search for absolute zero--which, amazingly, involves everyone from Galileo to Einstein!" -- Bradford Washburn, founding director, Boston's Museum of Science, and recipient, Centennial Award of the National Geographic Society
"It's a lovely, fascinating book, which brings science to life." -- Alan Lightman, author of GOOD BENITO and EINSTEIN'S DREAMS
Review
"A lovely, fascinating book, which brings science to life." --Alan Lightman
"Schachtman . . . holds the reader's attention with the skill of a novelist." --SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN
Synopsis
In this engrossing scientific chronicle, a perennial paperback favorite, Tom Shachtman combines science, history, and adventure in the story of our four-centuries-long quest to master the secrets of cold. Now a documentary based largely on Shachtmans acclaimed book promises to bring these exhilarating scientific accomplishments to a new audience. Underwritten by the National Science Foundation and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and set to air on PBS and the BBC, the documentary was produced by British Emmy Award winner David Dugan, in collaboration with Meredith Burch of Meridian Productions in Washington, D.C.
Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold demonstrates how temperature science produced astonishing scientific insights and applications that have revolutionized civilization. It also illustrates how scientific advancement, fueled by fortuitous discoveries and the determination of individuals, shapes our understanding of and relation to the world.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. [244]-249) and index.
About the Author
Tom Shachtman has written 25 books, including the acclaimed Around the Block and Skyscraper Dreams. He has also written documentary films and tapes, which have won many awards. He lives with his wife in New York City.