This video was taped at a recent event at the Johns Hopkins University bookstore. The speaker here is W. Bernard Carlson, author of Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age.
Bernard Carlson talks Tesla at Johns Hopkins Bookstore tonight!
May 1, 2013 by
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Did Tesla really invent a death ray? Could he have provided unlimited free energy to the world? Did he really fall in love with a laser-eyed pigeon? There are many rumors and myths surrounding Nikola Tesla, and biographer Bernard Carlson will separate fact from fiction tonight at the Johns Hopkins University Bookstore at 7 PM.
With a functioning Tesla coil by his side, Dr. Carlson will discuss his new biography, Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age. 70 years after Tesla’s death, this major new book sheds new light on his visionary approach to invention and the business strategies behind his most important technological breakthroughs. Publishers Weekly calls the book “[An] electric portrait,” and it received a starred review in Booklist.
See you there!
Location:
Homewood – Barnes & Noble JHU Book Store
3330 St. Paul Street
Baltimore, MD 21218
Phone: 410-662-5850
Find this event on the PUP Calendar, to set a reminder for yourself and share news of the event.
Tesla wins Geek Madness, named Greatest Geek of All Time
April 30, 2013 by
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GeekWire recently held a Geek Madness. Over several weeks their readers whittled down a field of 32 all-star scientists to name Tesla, the Greatest Geek of All Time.
Tesla entered the competition as the #2 seed in the Math/Science field of competitors, but emerged victorious after vanquishing opponents like Linus Torvalds (ranked 14 on the Technology side), Albert Einstein (1), Charles Darwin (7), and Alexander Graham Bell (15). High praise from a geeky audience and as publishers of Tesla: The Inventor of the Electrical Age, we couldn’t agree more.
Here’s the blow-by-blow from GeekWire:
Tesla led from start-to-finish in the championship match over 14-seed Linus Torvalds, as Mr. Cinderella fell one upset short of what would have been one of the most epic underdog stories in geek history.
But it was Tesla garnering 1,764 of the votes to edge Torvalds, who still managed to do his Linux faithful proud with 1,293 votes to his name.
Read the complete post at GeekWire: http://www.geekwire.com/2013/geek-madness-tesla-named-greatest-geek-trouncing-torvalds/
We hope some of these Tesla fans will show up to meet Bernard Carlson and get an autographed copy of Tesla: The Inventor of the Electrical Age.
Tesla vs. Edison, Epic Rap Battle
April 4, 2013 by
Want to learn more about Tesla? Well, this epic rap battle might not be the best starting point, but you know what is? W. Bernard Carlson’s forthcoming biography, Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age. You can sample the introduction here.
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Tesla
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Princeton astrophysicist Jeremiah Ostriker to discuss HEART OF DARKNESS: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Invisible Universe tomorrow evening at Labyrinth Books in Princeton at 6:00 PM
March 26, 2013 by
If you happen to be in the Princeton, NJ, area tomorrow evening come out to hear Princeton astrophysicist Jeremiah Ostriker discuss his new book HEART OF DARKNESS: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Invisible Universe with science writer Michael Lemonick tomorrow evening, March 27, at 6:00 PM at Labyrinth Books.
NASA’s Donald Yeomans and NEAR-EARTH OBJECTS at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science this Wednesday
March 26, 2013 by
If you happen to be in the Denver area this week come out to see NASA’s Donald K. Yeomans discus
s his timely new book NEAR-EARTH OBJECTS: Finding Them Before They Find Us at the Denver Museum of Nature and Science this Wednesday, March 27 at 7:00 PM.
Einstein Gravity in a Nutshell
March 21, 2013 by
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“Einstein Gravity in a Nutshell is a remarkably complete and thorough textbook on general relativity, written in a refreshing and engaging style. Zee leads us through all the major intellectual steps that make what is surely one of the most profound and beautiful theories of all time. The book is enjoyable and informative in equal measure. Quite an achievement.”–Pedro Ferreira, University of Oxford
Einstein Gravity in a Nutshell
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Bernard Carlson, author of Tesla to tour college bookstores
February 22, 2013 by
W. Bernard Carlson, author of Tesla: Inventor of the Electrical Age, will tour the Northeast with a Tesla Coil in hand, visiting college bookstores at Johns Hopkins, U. Penn, Dartmouth, and Harvard during the first week of May.
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Plenty of biographies glamorize Tesla and his eccentricities, but until now none has carefully examined what, how, and why he invented. In this groundbreaking book, W. Bernard Carlson demystifies the legendary inventor, placing him within the cultural and technological context of his time, and focusing on his inventions themselves as well as the creation and maintenance of his celebrity. Drawing on original documents from Tesla’s private and public life, Carlson shows how he was an “idealist” inventor who sought the perfect experimental realization of a great idea or principle, and who skillfully sold his inventions to the public through mythmaking and illusion.For details on the events, please visit the following links:
[This post was originally published on February 4, 2013] |
Introducing a New Biophysics Textbook
February 1, 2013 by
Are you headed to Philadelphia for the Biophysical Society’s 57th Annual Meeting (#bps13) starting on February 2nd? They are expecting over 6,000 biophysicists to attend. It’s a great opportunity to see what is new in the field. And speaking of what is new in the field, professors and students, you will want to check this out – it is the textbook you’ve been waiting for:
Biophysics: Searching for Principles
by William Bialek
William Bialek provides the first graduate-level introduction to biophysics aimed at physics students. Interactions between the fields of physics and biology reach back over a century, and some of the most significant developments in biology–from the discovery of DNA’s structure to imaging of the human brain–have involved collaboration across this disciplinary boundary. For a new generation of physicists, the phenomena of life pose exciting challenges to physics itself, and biophysics has emerged as an important subfield of this discipline. Featuring numerous problems and exercises throughout, Biophysics emphasizes the unifying power of abstract physical principles to motivate new and novel experiments on biological systems.
–Covers a range of biological phenomena from the physicist’s perspective
–Features 200 problems
–Draws on statistical mechanics, quantum mechanics, and related mathematical concepts
–Includes an annotated bibliography and detailed appendixes
–Instructor’s manual (available only to teachers)
–Illustration Package available
–Supplementary Materials available
William Bialek is the John Archibald Wheeler/Battelle Professor in Physics at Princeton University, where he is also a member of the multidisciplinary Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, and is Visiting Presidential Professor of Physics at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. He is the coauthor of Spikes: Exploring the Neural Code.
“Bialek’s excellent book bears the stamp of both his originality and technical prowess. What I look for when I read a book is something unique that I know I won’t find anywhere else. Bialek delivers that in spades on a topic of great interest to scientists of all stripes.”–Rob Phillips, California Institute of Technology
For more information, please visit:
http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9911.html
We hope you enjoy Philadelphia and stay warm!
Eric Heller explains unexplainable booms at Huffington Post
January 30, 2013 by
Without precedent or warning, a loud boom sounding like a major piece of artillery frightens your normally quiet neighborhood. Houses shake and dishes rattle. The jolt is singular, percussive — and ominous. Later the TV news reports that the boom was heard over many miles, but nothing exploded. No supersonic aircraft flew by. Someone saw yellow light in the sky.
Residents of New York’s Rockland and Westchester Counties, not far from New York City, experienced this in March 2009. It could have been a rare, beach ball sized meteor that disintegrated before it hit the ground. Meteors are certainly supersonic and have been known to make loud sonic booms. A bounty hunter offered $10,000 for a piece of the meteorite.
But the meteor theory blew up a couple days later. Another loud boom in the same area jolted people awake at 5:15 am. Nanuet resident Keith Wallenstein said of the second boom. “The house was shaking. It sounded like someone had flown an F-16 over the house. If it was thunder, it had to be right on the house. [But] I know a bunch of people who heard it within 3 to 4 or 5 miles away.”
By now you may be thinking the military was up to something after all. They’d be mum about it, wouldn’t they?
Click over to Huffington Post to read the complete explanation.
Eric Heller, a theoretical physicist and chemist specializing in waves of all kinds, explains that while loud sounds like this have troubled people throughout history and are often explained away by mythology and conspiracy, they are usually caused by small, but highly accelerated movements in the ground.
“Oddly, the surface does not need to move very far nor very fast to launch exceedingly loud sound resembling cannon fire or a sonic boom. What it does need is a lot of acceleration. But how can something have huge acceleration, yet not wind up moving very far or very fast?”
Click over to Huffington Post to read the complete explanation.
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Why You Hear What You Hear
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NASA’s Donald Yeomans talks NEAR-EARTH OBJECTS tonight at Town Hall Seattle
January 23, 2013 by
If you happen to be in the Seattle area tonight, please come out to see NASA scientist Donald Yeomans discuss his fascinating job–asteroid hunter–and his new book NEAR-EARTH OBJECTS: Finding Them Before They Find Us at 7:30 PM at Town Hall Seattle. Hope you can make it out!
New Physics and Astrophysics Catalog!
January 4, 2013 by
Be among the first to check out our new physics and astrophysics catalog!
http://press.princeton.edu/catalogs/physics13.pdf
Of particular interest are our forthcoming titles including William H. Waller’s navigation of a journey through The Milky Way: An Insider’s Guide and Jeremiah P. Ostriker and Simon Mitton’s rich Heart of Darkness: Unraveling the Mysteries of the Invisible Universe.
Also noteworthy are A. Zee’s unique Einstein Gravity in a Nutshell and Anupam Garg’s comprehensive Classical Electromagnetism in a Nutshell, each of our In a Nutshell series–a concise, accessible, and up-to-date collection of textbooks for advanced undergraduates and graduate students on key subjects in the physical sciences.
You will also find other essential textbooks including Biophysics: Searching for Principles by William Bialek and Why You Hear What You Hear: An Experiential Approach to Sound, Music, and Psychoacoustics by Eric J. Heller. Browse the catalog to discover other titles ranging in theme from topological insulators to climate dynamics.
To further whet your appetite, don’t miss our new titles including Abraham Loeb and Steven R. Furlanetto’s comprehensive The First Galaxies in the Universe, W. Patrick McCray’s fascinating The Visioneers: How a Group of Elite Scientists Pursued Space Colonies, Nanotechnologies, and a Limitless Future, and Donald K. Yeomans’ behind-the-scenes Near-Earth Objects: Finding Them Before They Find Us.
The selection of critical, cutting-edge titles abounds, so if you’re interested in hearing more about our physics and astrophysics titles, sign up with ease here: http://press.princeton.edu/subscribe/ Your email address will remain confidential!
We’ll see everyone at the meeting of the American Astronomical Society January 6-10 in Long Beach, CA. Come visit us at booth 301!
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