Drawing on the lives of five Great scientists, this scholarly, insightful, and beautifully written book (Martin Rees, author of From Here to Infinity ) illuminates the path to scientific discovery.
Thoughtful, well-researched, and beautifully written ( The Washington Post ), Brilliant Blunders is a wonderfully insightful examination of the psychology of five fascinating scientists--and the Mistakes as well as the achievements That made them famous..
As Mario Livio luminously explains in this thoughtful meditation on the course of science itself ( The New York Times Book Review ), these five Scientists expanded our knowledge of Life on earth, the evolution of the earth, and the evolution of the universe, despite and because of their errors.
And Albert Einstein speculated incorrectly about the forces of the universe--and That speculation opened the door to Brilliant conceptual leaps.
Astrophysicist Fred Hoyle dismissed the idea of a Big Bang origin to the Universe (ironically, the caustic name he gave to this event endured long after his erroneous objections were disproven).
Linus Pauling, the world\'s premier chemist, constructed an erroneous model for DNA in his haste to beat the competition to publication.
Lord Kelvin gravely miscalculated the age of the earth.
Darwin\'s theory of natural selection shouldn\'t have worked, according to the prevailing beliefs of his time.
Charles Darwin, William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), Linus Pauling, Fred Hoyle, and Albert Einstein all made groundbreaking contributions to their fields--but each also stumbled badly.
Drawing on the lives of five Great scientists, this scholarly, insightful, and beautifully written book (Martin Rees, author of From Here to Infinity ) illuminates the path to scientific discovery
