Authors:
- An engaging collection of stories about events and personalities that shaped a physicist’s world view
- Authored by a notable physicist and long-term director of the American Institute of Physics
- Gives fascinating insights into the interplay of science, technology, publishing and politics
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Table of contents (45 chapters)
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Front Matter
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Part I Signposts
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Front Matter
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Part II Mentors and Milestones
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Front Matter
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About this book
From the Foreword by former U.S. Congressman, RushD. Holt: In this volume, we have the wide-ranging thoughts and observations of Fred Dylla, an accomplished physicist with an engineer’s fascination for gadgets, a historian’s long perspective, an artist’s aesthetic eye, and a teacher’s passion for sharing ideas. Throughout his varied career [...] his curiosity has been his foremost characteristic and his ability to see the connection between apparently disparate things his greatest skill. [...] Here he examines the roots and growth of innovation in examples from Bell Laboratories, Edison Electric Light Company, and cubist painter Georges Braque. He considers the essential place of publishing in science, that epochal intellectual technique for learning how the world works. He shows the human enrichment and practical benefits that derive from wise investments in scientific research, as well as the waste resulting from a failure to embrace appropriate technologies.
Keywords
- History of science and technology
- Public appreciation of science
- Value of public funding of science
- Key personalities in Science
- Role of Science in Society
- Basic vs applied science
- History of scholarly publishing
- Issues affecting scholarly publishing
- The intersection of science and art
- Frederick Dylla
- us politics
Reviews
“The author’s infectious enthusiasm for science—and his evocative depiction of post–World War II optimism about the future—is inspiring.” (Physics Today, March, 2021)
“All of the essays are thoughtful and fun to read. Anyone interested in science will find them interesting and accessible.” (Michael Duncan, Optics & Photonics News, osa-opn.org, February 11, 2021)
“[Dylla … explores] the idea that a single individual at the right time and place can change the course of history. Bounding through the centuries, he highlights the importance of science policy and science communication, the funding of big and small science alike, and the contemporary challenges linked to research,teaching science and scholarly publishing.” (Cristina Agrigoroae, CERN Courier, cerncourier.com, January 29, 2021)
“What a joy to accompany Fred Dylla on his Scientific Journeys! This engaging and insightful collection of essays, drawn from a lifetime in science, takes you through a wide-ranging landscape of research, with fascinating excursions into history, politics, art, and personalities along the way.” (Colin Norman, Former News Editor, Science magazine)“A delightful collection of short essays; each has a surprise, something memorable about science, or people, or his personal trajectory, or strategy, or the startling importance of science in the world. So many thrills in a little book!” (John Mather, Nobel Prize (physics), 2006)
“Scientific Journeys is a gem. These delightful essays illuminate the fascinating lives of a diverse group of scientists and engineers and the unpredictable, rewarding paths of discovery they followed to create our modern world. Start your journey with Hildegard von Bingen, a nun who left a scientific and musical legacy more than900 years ago, and end with Fred Dylla’s optimistic epilogue that science will provide a cure for the COVID-19 pandemic and bring the world into a better place.” (Madeleine Jacobs, Former Editor in Chief, Chemical & Engineering News and Executive Director and CEO, American Chemical Society)
“This is an interesting, thoughtful, and well-written tour of the world of a physicist, from his education at MIT, mentored by some of the greatest physicists of the day, to his eventual position as CEO of the American Institute of Physics.” (Mark Cardillo, Executive Director of the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation)
“Fred Dylla delightfully shares the arc of his career from building his own laser as a boy to leading the American Institute of Physics in this collection of engaging essays. I enjoyed reading them all and learned many things along the way.”(Kevin Marvel, Executive Director of the American Astronomical Society)
“With an insider’s perspective, Scientific Journeys ably shows how science and engineering innovations emerge from a complex network of policy deliberations, inspired ideas, dedicated work, adroit management of research, and timely sharing of results.” (Phillip Schewe, Author of The Grid, a history of how society uses electricity, and Maverick Genius, a biography of the scientist and writer Freeman Dyson)
“We are fortunate that Fred Dylla has devoted the effort to share some of the interesting experiences and perspectives from his distinguished career in physics. They are well written, insightful, and even entertaining, especially for those of us who have also chosen to be physicists.” (Bob Doering, Director of Exploratory Research, Technology and Manufacturing Group, Texas Instruments)
“Fred’s extraordinary career and range as an essayist are nicely summed up in Chap. 26 by his observation: ‘…physicists like to say they are interested inevery-thing … I was not immune to this.’ While greatly enjoying each essay, I was reminded how, as a conference organizer, I used to put Fred at the end to ensure that no delegates drifted away early! Sadly, no such inspirational book existed when I started out, but I am confident that Scientific Journeys will do much to motivate the next generation. I shall certainly be buying copies for young friends and grandchildren.” (Robert Campbell, Former President of Blackwell Publishing)
Authors and Affiliations
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Lewes, USA
H. Frederick Dylla
About the author
Fred Dylla is the Executive Director Emeritus of the American Institute of Physics. He has spent 50 years as an inquiring physicist, helping to design and build scientific facilities for astronomy, fusion energy, particle and nuclear physics, medical and materials research. Along the way he enjoyed sharing his love of science and the arts with students, colleagues, family and friends. He lives in Lewes, Delaware with his wife Linda.
Bibliographic Information
Book Title: Scientific Journeys
Book Subtitle: A Physicist Explores the Culture, History and Personalities of Science
Authors: H. Frederick Dylla
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-55800-0
Publisher: Springer Cham
eBook Packages: Physics and Astronomy, Physics and Astronomy (R0)
Copyright Information: Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2020
Softcover ISBN: 978-3-030-55799-7Published: 27 September 2020
eBook ISBN: 978-3-030-55800-0Published: 26 September 2020
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: XXV, 222
Number of Illustrations: 21 b/w illustrations, 46 illustrations in colour
Topics: Popular Science in Physics, Societal Aspects of Physics, Outreach and Education, Popular Science in Technology, Modern History, Printing and Publishing, US Politics