Conservation Biology
Conservation Biology

Author: Peggy L. Fiedler

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2012-12-06

Total Pages: 523

ISBN-13: 1468464264

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• • • John Harper • • • Nature conservation has changed from an idealistic philosophy to a serious technology. Ecology, the science that underpins the technol ogy of conservation, is still too immature to provide all the wisdom that it must. It is arguable that the desire to conserve nature will in itself force the discipline of ecology to identify fundamental prob lems in its scientific goals and methods. In return, ecologists may be able to offer some insights that make conservation more practicable (Harper 1987). The idea that nature (species or communities) is worth preserv ing rests on several fundamental arguments, particularly the argu ment of nostalgia and the argument of human benefit and need. Nostalgia, of course, is a powerful emotion. With some notable ex ceptions, there is usually a feeling of dismay at a change in the sta tus quo, whether it be the loss of a place in the country for walking or rambling, the loss of a painting or architectural monument, or that one will never again have the chance to see a particular species of bird or plant.

What the Scarecrow Said
What the Scarecrow Said

Author: Stewart D. Ikeda

Publisher: Regan Books

Published: 1996-06-05

Total Pages: 472

ISBN-13:

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In World War II, two spirited widows obtain the release of a California horticulturist from an internment camp for Japanese-Americans in the hope that he will turn their barren land in Massachusetts into a farm. The man, a widower himself, becomes a reluctant participant in an impromptu family.

Hellenistic Astronomy
Hellenistic Astronomy

Author: Alan C. Bowen

Publisher: BRILL

Published: 2020-02-17

Total Pages: 783

ISBN-13: 9004400567

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In Hellenistic Astronomy: The Science in Its Contexts, renowned scholars address questions about what the ancient science of the heavens was and the numerous contexts in which it was pursued.

News from Mars
News from Mars

Author: Joshua Nall

Publisher: University of Pittsburgh Press

Published: 2019-08-13

Total Pages: 259

ISBN-13: 0822986612

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Mass media in the late nineteenth century was full of news from Mars. In the wake of Giovanni Schiaparelli’s 1877 discovery of enigmatic dark, straight lines on the red planet, astronomers and the public at large vigorously debated the possibility that it might be inhabited. As rivalling scientific practitioners looked to marshal allies and sway public opinion—through newspapers, periodicals, popular books, exhibitions, and encyclopaedias—they exposed disagreements over how the discipline of astronomy should be organized and how it should establish acceptable conventions of discourse. News from Mars provides a new account of this extraordinary episode in the history of astronomy, revealing how major transformations in astronomical practice across Britain and America were inextricably tied up with popular scientific culture and a transatlantic news economy that enabled knowledge to travel. As Joshua Nall argues, astronomers were journalists, too, eliding practice with communication in consequential ways. As writers and editors, they played a pivotal role in the emergence of a “new astronomy” dedicated to the study of the physical constitution and life history of celestial objects, blurring harsh distinctions between those who produced esoteric knowledge and those who disseminated it.

No Shadow of a Doubt
No Shadow of a Doubt

Author: Daniel Kennefick

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2021-03-09

Total Pages: 416

ISBN-13: 0691217157

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On their 100th anniversary, the story of the extraordinary scientific expeditions that ushered in the era of relativity In 1919, British scientists led extraordinary expeditions to Brazil and Africa to test Albert Einstein's revolutionary new theory of general relativity in what became the century's most celebrated scientific experiment. The result ushered in a new era and made Einstein a global celebrity by confirming his dramatic prediction that the path of light rays would be bent by gravity. Today, Einstein's theory is scientific fact. Yet the effort to weigh light by measuring the gravitational deflection of starlight during the May 29, 1919, solar eclipse has become clouded by myth and skepticism. Could Arthur Eddington and Frank Dyson have gotten the results they claimed? Did the pacifist Eddington falsify evidence to foster peace after a horrific war by validating the theory of a German antiwar campaigner? In No Shadow of a Doubt, Daniel Kennefick provides definitive answers by offering the most comprehensive and authoritative account of how expedition scientists overcame war, bad weather, and equipment problems to make the experiment a triumphant success. The reader follows Eddington on his voyage to Africa through his letters home, and delves with Dyson into how the complex experiment was accomplished, through his notes. Other characters include Howard Grubb, the brilliant Irishman who made the instruments; William Campbell, the American astronomer who confirmed the result; and Erwin Findlay-Freundlich, the German whose attempts to perform the test in Crimea were foiled by clouds and his arrest. By chronicling the expeditions and their enormous impact in greater detail than ever before, No Shadow of a Doubt reveals a story that is even richer and more exciting than previously known.

Proving Einstein Right
Proving Einstein Right

Author: S. James Gates Jr.

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 2019-09-24

Total Pages: 411

ISBN-13: 1541762231

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A thrilling adventure story chronicling the perilous journey of the scientists who set out to prove the theory of relativity--the results of which catapulted Albert Einstein to fame and forever changed our understanding of the universe. In 1911, a relatively unknown physicist named Albert Einstein published his preliminary theory of gravity. But it hadn't been tested. To do that, he needed a photograph of starlight as it passed the sun during a total solar eclipse. So began a nearly decade-long quest by seven determined astronomers from observatories in four countries, who traveled the world during five eclipses to capture the elusive sight. Over the years, they faced thunderstorms, the ravages of a world war, lost equipment, and local superstitions. Finally, in May of 1919, British expeditions to northern Brazil and the island of Príncipe managed to photograph the stars, confirming Einstein's theory. At its heart, this is a story of frustration, faith, and ultimate victory--and of the scientists whose efforts helped build the framework for the big bang theory, catapulted Einstein to international fame, and shook the foundation of physics.

An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, Vol. 1
An Etymological Dictionary of Modern English, Vol. 1

Author: Ernest Weekley

Publisher: Courier Corporation

Published: 2013-03-05

Total Pages: 452

ISBN-13: 0486122875

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The compiler of this dictionary of word and phrase origins and history was not only a linguist and a philologist but also a man of culture and wit. When he turned his attention, therefore, to the creation of an etymological dictionary for both specialists and non-specialists, the result was easily the finest such work ever prepared. Weekley's Dictionary is a work of thorough scholarship. It contains one of the largest lists of words and phrases to be found in any singly etymological dictionary — and considerably more material than in the standard concise edition, with fuller quotes and historical discussions. Included are most of the more common words used in English as well as slang, archaic words, such formulas as "I. O. U.," made-up words (such as Carroll's "Jabberwock"), words coined from proper nouns, and so on. In each case, roots in Anglo-Saxon, Old Norse, Greek or Latin, Old and modern French, Anglo-Indian, etc., are identified; in hundreds of cases, especially odd or amusing listings, earliest known usage is mentioned and sense is indicated in quotations from Dickens, Shakespeare, Chaucer, "Piers Plowman," Defoe, O. Henry, Spenser, Byron, Kipling, and so on, and from contemporary newspapers, translations of the Bible, and dozens of foreign-language authors.