Light Years: The Extraordinary Story of Mankind's Fascination with Light - Softcover

Clegg, Brian

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0749922729 ISBN 13: 9780749922726

Publisher: Piatkus, 2002

Synopsis

This is the story of light and the people who were determined to unlock the secrets of one of the greatest puzzles of the Universe. The book recounts spiritual interpretations, from the Ancient Egyptians to the Mayans and looks at the first scientific grapplings with light by the ancient Chinese sage Mo Ti, the Greek philosopher Empedocles, Arab genius Alhazen and others. It also explores the contribution of artists such as Brunellschi, Leonardo de Vinci and Durer to our understanding of light and examines the great revolutionaries of light theory including Galileo, Descartes, Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday and Albert Einstein. The text discusses the work of scientists such as Maxwell, Edison and Gould that led to light-driven inventions from the camera to the laser, Cds and optical computers and explains the mind-bending advances of quantum physics.

About this title

Review

Brian Clegg is fascinated by light, and his sense of wonder comes across clearly in the engagingly written Light Years. He takes us on a tour of the human exploration of light, from early Chinese and Greek philosophers through Arabic and medieval European investigations to the most recent scientific breakthroughs, pausing on the way to admire how artists such as Turner and Manet incorporated ideas about light into their work. Light has many crucial functions: sunlight is the source of all life on Earth; the speed of light is fundamental to Einstein's theory of special relativity; a constant exchange of photons within atoms helps keep matter stable. It's a fascinating subject, and Clegg clearly explains the evolving theories of the nature of light, covering the work of dozens of scientists. In a series of refreshingly lively short biographies, he animates their varied lives and places their research into historical context, as light's complex nature was gradually revealed and some of its power harnessed. From photography to lasers, light has opened up vast realms of technical possibilities--from fibre optic communications to holographic storage of data. Recent research activity has seen light slowed down almost to a standstill, while others have even pushed light beams faster than Einstein's absolute-maximum speed limit of 300,000 kilometres per second. It seems certain that light will play a major part in the technologies of the 21st century, and this book may well whet the reader's appetite to learn more. --Elizabeth Sourbut

Review

Reviews for previous editions:

'Extraordinary, humorous, interesting, awesome' - NewScientist

'Immensely likeable' - Guardian

'A fascinating book on a fascinating subject' - Sir Patrick Moore CBE

'Illuminates and entertains' - Sir Clive Sinclair

About this edition

• Publisher: Piatkus
• Publication date: 2002
• ISBN 10: 0749922729
• ISBN 13: 9780749922726
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 320