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A review by vanessakm
The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments by George Johnson
4.0
This is exactly what the title says--the ten most beautiful experiments as reckoned by the author, a science reporter for the New York Times among other publications. To clarify beautiful, his meaning is experiments that were performed by small groups or individuals rather that committees (the author points out the paper announcing the discovery of top quarks had over 400 contributors) and motivated by insatiable curiosity rather than economics.
With that in mind the author's list is as follows: Galileo (for his experiments with motion and friction), Newton, Lavoisier, Pavlov (for his famous beloved dogs), Joule, Harvey (who broke with classical views of anatomy to explain how the heart and circulation really work), Galvani (who discovered bioelectricity by sending an electrical charge thru severed frog legs), Millikan (who proved the existence of electrons with mineral oil, charged plates and a vacuum tube), Michelson (a Cleveland native whose almost forgotten experiments with mirrors and light laid some of the groundwork for relativity), and Farraday.
If you are interested in the history of science, there is a wealth of information in this slim book which clocks in around 150 pages followed by copious footnotes. This book made me wistful for the days when someone might shut themselves into a darkened room, sawing holes in shutters and moving a prism around to understand the nature of light as Newton did. I was less nostalgic for the days when someone stuck a needle behind their eyeball to figure out how the optic nerve perceived light (also Newton who fortunately didn't incur any permanent damage.)
Some of the experiments setups were complicated and difficult for me to visualize even with diagrams which makes the rating more of a 3.5 for me but this may be more my limitation than Johnson's as a writer. See what you think.
With that in mind the author's list is as follows: Galileo (for his experiments with motion and friction), Newton, Lavoisier, Pavlov (for his famous beloved dogs), Joule, Harvey (who broke with classical views of anatomy to explain how the heart and circulation really work), Galvani (who discovered bioelectricity by sending an electrical charge thru severed frog legs), Millikan (who proved the existence of electrons with mineral oil, charged plates and a vacuum tube), Michelson (a Cleveland native whose almost forgotten experiments with mirrors and light laid some of the groundwork for relativity), and Farraday.
If you are interested in the history of science, there is a wealth of information in this slim book which clocks in around 150 pages followed by copious footnotes. This book made me wistful for the days when someone might shut themselves into a darkened room, sawing holes in shutters and moving a prism around to understand the nature of light as Newton did. I was less nostalgic for the days when someone stuck a needle behind their eyeball to figure out how the optic nerve perceived light (also Newton who fortunately didn't incur any permanent damage.)
Some of the experiments setups were complicated and difficult for me to visualize even with diagrams which makes the rating more of a 3.5 for me but this may be more my limitation than Johnson's as a writer. See what you think.