Mathematics has for centuries been stimulated, financed and credited by military purposes. Some mathematical thoughts and mathematical technology have also been vital in war. During World War II mathematical work by the Anti-Hitler coalition was part of an aspiration to serve humanity and not help destroy it. At present, it is not an easy task to view the bellicose potentials of mathematics in a proper perspective. The book presents historical evidence and recent changes in the interaction between mathematics and the military. It discusses the new mathematically enhanced development of military technology which seems to have changed the very character of modern warfare.
When Grace Hopper retired as a rear admiral from the U.S. Navy in 1986, she was the first woman restricted line officer to reach flag rank and, at the age of seventy-nine, the oldest serving officer in the Navy. A mathematician by training who became a computer scientist, the eccentric and outspoken Hopper helped propel the Navy into the computer age. She also was a superb publicist for the Navy, appearing frequently on radio and television and quoted regularly in newspapers and magazines. Yet in spite of all the attention she received, until now ""Amazing Grace,"" as she was called, has never been the subject of a full biography. Kathleen Broome Williams looks at Hopper's entire naval career, from the time she joined the WAVES and was sent in 1943 to work on the Mark I computer at Harvard, where she became one of the country's first computer programmers. Thanks to this early Navy introduction to computing, the author explains, Hopper had a distinguished civilian career in commercial computing after the war, gaining fame for her part in the creation of COBOL. The admiral's Navy days were far from over, however, and Williams tells how Hopper--already past retirement age--was recalled to active duty at the Pentagon in 1967 to standardize computer-programming languages for Navy computers. Her temporary appointment lasted for nineteen years while she standardized COBOL for the entire department of defense. Based on extensive interviews with colleagues and family and on archival material never before examined, this biography not only illuminates Hopper's pioneering accomplishments in a field that came to be dominated by men, but provides a fascinating overview of computing from its beginnings in World War II to the late 1980s.
The fascinating untold story of digital cash and its creators—from experiments in the 1970s to the mania over Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies Bitcoin may appear to be a revolutionary form of digital cash without precedent or prehistory. In fact, it is only the best-known recent experiment in a long line of similar efforts going back to the 1970s. But the story behind cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin and its blockchain technology has largely been untold—until now. In Digital Cash, Finn Brunton reveals how technological utopians and political radicals created experimental money to bring about their visions of the future: to protect privacy, bring down governments, prepare for apocalypse, or launch a civilization of innovation and abundance that would make its creators immortal. Filled with marvelous characters, stories, and ideas, Digital Cash is an engaging and accessible account of the strange origins and remarkable technologies behind today's cryptocurrency explosion.
Written in engaging and accessible prose by experts in the field, this reference introduces readers to the "hidden" history of women in America from 1938 to 1960, bringing their achievements to light and helping them gain the recognition they deserve. Chapters include: Arts and Literature Business Education Entertainment Family Health Politics Science and Medicine Society.
“[An] amiable, in-depth examination of the most critical era for the development of modern oceanography” (Publishers Weekly). In a history at once scientific and cultural, Helen Rozwadowski shows us how the Western imagination awoke to the ocean's possibilities?in maritime novels, in the popular hobby of marine biology, in the youthful sport of yachting, and in the laying of a trans-Atlantic telegraph cable. The ocean emerged as important new territory, and scientific interests intersected with those of merchant-industrialists and politicians. Rozwadowski documents the popular crazes that coincided with these interests?from children's sailor suits to the home aquarium and the surge in ocean travel. She describes how, beginning in the 1860s, oceanography moved from yachts onto the decks of oceangoing vessels, and landlubber naturalists found themselves navigating the routines of a working ship's physical and social structures. Fathoming the Ocean offers a rare and engaging look into our fascination with the deep sea and into the origins of oceanography?origins still visible in a science that focuses the efforts of physicists, chemists, geologists, biologists, and engineers on the common enterprise of understanding a vast, three-dimensional, alien space. “Rozwadowski greatly expands our own understanding, all while telling a story that is original, wide-ranging, and illuminating.” —Margaret Deacon, Southampton Oceanography Centre, author of Science and the Sea: The Origins of Oceanography “Required reading for anyone wanting to understand how the oceans have come to play the role that they do in Western knowledge.” —Eric L. Mills, Dalhousie University and author of Biological Oceanography: An Early History, 1870-1960 “Chronicles the birth of deep-sea oceanography, from early observations by Benjamin Franklin to the voyage of HMS Challenger in the 1870s. [Rozwadowski] weaves a rich narrative from the world of renowned as well as lesser-known oceanographers.” —Nature
When was the last time you actually looked forward to reading a textbook? With "Speak Up", thousands of students have been doing just that -- getting more out of their speech courses and having fun while doing it. It's a different kind of textbook, combining great writing and examples with more than 500 hand-drawn illustrations that bring speechmaking to life. It's all designed to help you ace the course and prepare you to speak effectively on campus, on the job, and beyond. -- From publisher's description.
A comprehensive examination of American women scientists across the sciences throughout the 20th century, providing a rich historical context for understanding their achievements and the way they changed the practice of science. Much more than a "Who's Who," this exhaustive two-volume encyclopedia examines the significant achievements of 20th century American women across the sciences in light of the historical and cultural factors that affected their education, employment, and research opportunities. With coverage that includes a number of scientists working today, the encyclopedia shows just how much the sciences have evolved as a professional option for women, from the dawn of the 20th century to the present. American Women of Science since 1900 focuses on 500 of the 20th century's most notable American women scientists—many overlooked, undervalued, or simply not well known. In addition, it offers individual features on 50 different scientific disciplines (Women in Astronomy, etc.), as well as essays on balancing career and family, girls and science education, and other sociocultural topics. Readers will encounter some extraordinary scientific minds at work, getting a sense of the obstacles they faced as the scientific community faced the questions of feminism and gender confronting the nation as a whole.
From the reviews: "Women of Vision blends biographical narrative with psychological perspectives on human development, resulting in a moving and passionate book that is suitable for both academic and nonacademic readers. It is a useful tool for teaching purposes or for simple, enjoyable, and informative reading." --Psychology of Women Quarterly "...a fascinating look of preservation and perceptiveness that is differentiated from its predecessors in its range of disciplines and emphasis...This new 'life course' approach to understanding female leaders gives valuable insight into the lives of these imminent women, furnishing insights into how the social-economic-political milieu and the attitudes and values of the time played a significant role in the lives of these women but also in all our lives. Women of Vision will serve as a springboard for exploration of how the psychologies of individual human lives affect their life-course and as a galvanizing step for many more future women of vision and leadership....The accounts in the book should be of substantial significance for readers interested in gender issues. However, the book will appeal to an even wider audience. Persons hoping to move in new directions in their own lives (e.g., women looking wistfully at new academic and occupational paths after years in stereotypic niches) can surely also find inspiration in the various accounts."--SirReadaLot.org We all know of women of great vision; women whose efforts and accomplishments have had a major impact on the arts, politics, women's rights, sports, or science. But often we may not understand how they became such powerful agents of change and what sorts of questions we should ask of their pasts to understand how the trajectories of their lives were formed. In this extraordinary textbook, leading experts cast new light on the role of circumstance, accomplishments, and personality in the development of various twentieth-century women of vision. This is a brand new life-course approach to understanding female leaders and gives valuable insight into the lives of such eminent women as Rachel Carson, Evelyn Gentry Hooker, Georgia O'Keeffe, Eleanor Roosevelt, "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias, Ella Fitzgerald, Alice Paul, Lucille Ball, and many others. Study questions and exercises at the end of each chapter further enhance the text. Women of Vision will serve as the springboard for exploration of how the psychologies of individual human lives affect their life-course and a galvanizing step for many more future women of vision and leadership.
In Science and Social Inequality, Sandra Harding makes the provocative argument that the philosophy and practices of today's Western science, contrary to its Enlightenment mission, work to insure that more science will only worsen existing gaps between the best and worst off around the world. She defends this claim by exposing the ways that hierarchical social formations in modern Western sciences encode antidemocratic principles and practices, particularly in terms of their services to militarism, the impoverishment and alienation of labor, Western expansion, and environmental destruction. The essays in this collection--drawing on feminist, multicultural, and postcolonial studies--propose ways to reconceptualize the sciences in the global social order. At issue here are not only social justice and environmental issues but also the accuracy and comprehensiveness of our understandings of natural and social worlds. The inadvertent complicity of the sciences with antidemocratic projects obscures natural and social realities and thus blocks the growth of scientific knowledge. Scientists, policy makers, social justice movements and the consumers of scientific products (that is, the rest of us) can work together and separately to improve this situation.
The Power of the Sea describes our struggle to understand the physics of the sea, so we can use that knowledge to predict when the sea will unleash its fury against us. In a wide-sweeping narrative spanning much of human history, Bruce Parker, former chief scientist of the National Ocean Service, interweaves thrilling and often moving stories of unpredicted natural disaster with an accessible account of scientific discovery. The result is a compelling scientific journey, from ancient man's first crude tide predictions to today's advanced early warning ability based on the Global Ocean Observing System. It is a journey still underway, as we search for ways to predict tsunamis and rogue waves and critical aspects of El Niño and climate change caused by global warming.
