Most Popular Books by Dava Sobel

Inspired by a long fascination with Galileo, and by the remarkable surviving letters of Galileo''s daughter, a cloistered nun, Dava Sobel has written a biography unlike any other of the man Albert Einstein called "the father of modern physics- indeed of modern science altogether." Galileo''s Daughter also presents a stunning portrait of a person hitherto lost to history, described by her father as "a woman of exquisite mind, singular goodness, and most tenderly attached to me." Galileo''s Daughter dramatically recolors the personality and accomplishment of a mythic figure whose seventeenth-century clash with Catholic doctrine continues to define the schism between science and religion. Moving between Galileo''s grand public life and Maria Celeste''s sequestered world, Sobel illuminates the Florence of the Medicis and the papal court in Rome during the pivotal era when humanity''s perception of its place in the cosmos was about to be overturned. In that same time, while the bubonic plague wreaked its terrible devastation and the Thirty Years'' War tipped fortunes across Europe, one man sought to reconcile the Heaven he revered as a good Catholic with the heavens he revealed through his telescope. With all the human drama and scientific adventure that distinguished Dava Sobel''s previous book Longitude, Galileo''s Daughter is an unforgettable story

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

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

From #1 New York Times bestselling author Dava Sobel, the "inspiring" (People), little-known true story of women''s landmark contributions to astronomy A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2017 Named one of the best books of the year by NPR, The Economist, Smithsonian, Nature, and NPR''s Science Friday Nominated for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award "A joy to read.” —The Wall Street Journal 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. At the outset this group included the wives, sisters, and daughters of the resident astronomers, but soon the female corps included graduates of the new women''s colleges—Vassar, Wellesley, and Smith. As photography transformed the practice of astronomy, the ladies turned from computation to studying the stars captured nightly on glass photographic plates. The “glass universe” of half a million plates that Harvard amassed over the ensuing decades—through the generous support of Mrs. Anna Palmer Draper, the widow of a pioneer in stellar photography—enabled the women to make extraordinary discoveries that attracted worldwide acclaim. They helped discern what stars were made of, divided the stars into meaningful categories for further research, and found a way to measure distances across space by starlight. Their ranks included Williamina Fleming, a Scottish woman originally hired as a maid who went on to identify ten novae and more than three hundred variable stars; Annie Jump Cannon, who designed a stellar classification system that was adopted by astronomers the world over and is still in use; and Dr. Cecilia Helena Payne, who in 1956 became the first ever woman professor of astronomy at Harvard—and Harvard’s first female department chair. Elegantly written and enriched by excerpts from letters, diaries, and memoirs, The Glass Universe is the hidden history of the women whose 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.

An introduction to helpful exercises to perform to help find relief from backache.

The bestselling author of Longitude and Galileo''s Daughter tells the story of Nicolaus Copernicus and the revolution in astronomy that changed the world.

Drake''s narrative account discusses the observatories around the world dedicated to detect extraterrestrial intelligence.

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.

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.

A mediados del siglo XIX, el Observatorio de Harvard comenzó a emplear a mujeres como calculadoras o "computadoras humanas" para interpretar las observaciones que sus contrapartes masculinas realizaban por telescopio cada noche. Al principio este grupo incluía a las esposas, hermanas e hijas de los astrónomos residentes, pero pronto incluyó a graduadas de las nuevas universidades de mujeres Vassar, Wellesley y Smith. A medida que la fotografía transformaba la práctica de la astronomía, las damas pasaban de la computación a estudiar las estrellas capturadas en placas fotográficas de vidrio. El universo de cristal del medio millón de placas que Harvard acumuló durante las décadas siguientes permitió a las mujeres hacer descubrimientos extraordinarios: ayudaron a identificar de qué estaban hechas las estrellas, las dividieron en categorías significativas y encontraron una manera de medir distancias en el espacio por la luz que emiten. Entre estas mujeres destacaban Williamina Fleming, una escocesa contratada originalmente como criada que identificó diez novas y más de trescientas estrellas variables; Annie Jump Cannon, que diseñó un sistema de clasificación estelar adoptado por los astrónomos de todo el mundo y que sigue vigente; y la doctora Cecilia Helena Payne, que en 1956 se convirtió en la primera profesora titular de astronomía, y la primera mujer jefa de departamento de Harvard.

Per secoli, fino al Settecento, il “problema della longitudine” fu una delle questioni più sentite e discusse nel mondo scientifico e non solo: nell’epoca delle grandi esplorazioni moltissime navi, incapaci di misurare la loro posizione, si smarrivano nell’oceano perdendo in mare il loro carico di uomini, merci, tesori. Anche astronomi del calibro di Galileo, Cassini, Huygens, Newton e Halley avevano cercato invano una soluzione basandosi sulla Luna e le stelle. Finché, nel 1714, il Parlamento inglese offrì una ricompensa di ventimila sterline in oro (l’equivalente di dieci milioni di euro oggi) a chi avesse scoperto come determinare la longitudine di una nave nell’oceano. La posta in palio stimolò una sfida tra gli scienziati del tempo, ma a trovare la soluzione fu un orologiaio autodidatta inglese, John Harrison, che ebbe il coraggio di sfidare la comunità scientifica con il suo “cronometro marino” in grado di segnare sempre l’ora “esatta” anche in mare. In un libro bestseller considerato un classico della divulgazione scientifica, Dava Sobel ripercorre la storia avventurosa dei quarant’anni di sforzi che furono necessari a Harrison non solo per costruire e perfezionare il suo cronometro, ma anche per dimostrare la validità e l’efficacia del suo metodo. Resoconto di una straordinaria vicenda scientifica e umana, Longitudine spazia tra astronomia, navigazione e matematica per offrirci l’entusiasmante racconto di una tappa decisiva nel percorso verso la modernità.

Dava Sobel, autora del best-seller de culto Longitud, recrea la vida de Copérnico, el hombre que se atrevió a decir, hace casi quinientos años, que la Tierra no era el centro del universo. Cómo lo supo, cómo lo intentó demostrar, cómo lo escribió... es una historia que Sobel convierte en una narración llena de encanto, la crónica de un hombre enfrentado a la ciencia, la religión y la sociedad de su época. Pero entonces aparece un segundo personaje, un joven admirador, aspirante a científico y astrónomo amateur, que oye aquella extraña teoría, lee lo que Copérnico ha escrito casi avergonzado de su idea, y decide que aquello debe ver la luz. Rético, ese joven, cambia completamente el curso de los acontecimientos; y un descubrimiento se convierte en una revolución, aún hoy una de las más asombrosas del intelecto humano.

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.

A Verdadeira História de Um Génio Solitário Que Resolveu o Maior Problema Científico do Seu Tempo

Ud fra datteren Virginias breve til sin far tegner forfatteren et portræt af Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) som videnskabsmand, troende katolik og familiemenneske og giver et billede af den tids dramatiske kollision mellem religion og videnskab.

由William Morris Agency授权出版