[PDF] Summary Of Dava Sobels Longitude eBook

Author : Dava Sobel
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 209 pages
File Size : 33,95 MB
Release : 2010-07-05
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 0802779433

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The dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest and of one man's forty-year obsession to find a solution to the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day--"the longitude problem." Anyone alive in the eighteenth century would have known that "the longitude problem" was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day-and had been for centuries. Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailors throughout the great ages of exploration had been literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land. Thousands of lives and the increasing fortunes of nations hung on a resolution. One man, John Harrison, in complete opposition to the scientific community, dared to imagine a mechanical solution-a clock that would keep precise time at sea, something no clock had ever been able to do on land. Longitude is the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest and of Harrison's forty-year obsession with building his perfect timekeeper, known today as the chronometer. Full of heroism and chicanery, it is also a fascinating brief history of astronomy, navigation, and clockmaking, and opens a new window on our world.

Author : Dava Sobel
Publisher : Paw Prints
Page : 0 pages
File Size : 33,77 MB
Release : 2008-10-08
Category : Chronometers
ISBN : 9781439559321

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A new illustrated edition of the best-selling Longitude chronicles the tale of the eighteenth-century inventor John Harrison, who created the chronometer and, in the process, saved thousands of lives and great fortunes. Reprint.

Author : Dava Sobel
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 436 pages
File Size : 45,41 MB
Release : 2009-05-26
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 0802777473

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Inspired by a long fascination with Galileo, and by the remarkable surviving letters of Galileo's daughter, a cloistered nun, Dava Sobel has written a biography unlike any other of the man Albert Einstein called "the father of modern physics- indeed of modern science altogether." Galileo's Daughter also presents a stunning portrait of a person hitherto lost to history, described by her father as "a woman of exquisite mind, singular goodness, and most tenderly attached to me." Galileo's Daughter dramatically recolors the personality and accomplishment of a mythic figure whose seventeenth-century clash with Catholic doctrine continues to define the schism between science and religion. Moving between Galileo's grand public life and Maria Celeste's sequestered world, Sobel illuminates the Florence of the Medicis and the papal court in Rome during the pivotal era when humanity's perception of its place in the cosmos was about to be overturned. In that same time, while the bubonic plague wreaked its terrible devastation and the Thirty Years' War tipped fortunes across Europe, one man sought to reconcile the Heaven he revered as a good Catholic with the heavens he revealed through his telescope. With all the human drama and scientific adventure that distinguished Dava Sobel's previous book Longitude, Galileo's Daughter is an unforgettable story

Author : Dava Sobel
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 336 pages
File Size : 21,89 MB
Release : 2016-12-06
Category : Science
ISBN : 069814869X

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From #1 New York Times bestselling author Dava Sobel, the "inspiring" (People), little-known true story of women's landmark contributions to astronomy A New York Times Book Review Notable Book of 2017 Named one of the best books of the year by NPR, The Economist, Smithsonian, Nature, and NPR's Science Friday Nominated for the PEN/E.O. Wilson Literary Science Writing Award "A joy to read.” —The Wall Street Journal In the mid-nineteenth century, the Harvard College Observatory began employing women as calculators, or “human computers,” to interpret the observations their male counterparts made via telescope each night. At the outset this group included the wives, sisters, and daughters of the resident astronomers, but soon the female corps included graduates of the new women's colleges—Vassar, Wellesley, and Smith. As photography transformed the practice of astronomy, the ladies turned from computation to studying the stars captured nightly on glass photographic plates. The “glass universe” of half a million plates that Harvard amassed over the ensuing decades—through the generous support of Mrs. Anna Palmer Draper, the widow of a pioneer in stellar photography—enabled the women to make extraordinary discoveries that attracted worldwide acclaim. They helped discern what stars were made of, divided the stars into meaningful categories for further research, and found a way to measure distances across space by starlight. Their ranks included Williamina Fleming, a Scottish woman originally hired as a maid who went on to identify ten novae and more than three hundred variable stars; Annie Jump Cannon, who designed a stellar classification system that was adopted by astronomers the world over and is still in use; and Dr. Cecilia Helena Payne, who in 1956 became the first ever woman professor of astronomy at Harvard—and Harvard’s first female department chair. Elegantly written and enriched by excerpts from letters, diaries, and memoirs, The Glass Universe is the hidden history of the women whose contributions to the burgeoning field of astronomy forever changed our understanding of the stars and our place in the universe.

Author : Dava Sobel
Publisher : Penguin
Page : 290 pages
File Size : 50,21 MB
Release : 2006-10-31
Category : Science
ISBN : 1101659483

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Dava Sobel's The Glass Universe will be available from Viking in December 2016 With her bestsellers Longitude and Galileo's Daughter, Dava Sobel introduced readers to her rare gift for weaving complex scientific concepts into a compelling narrative. Now Sobel brings her full talents to bear on what is perhaps her most ambitious topic to date-the planets of our solar system. Sobel explores the origins and oddities of the planets through the lens of popular culture, from astrology, mythology, and science fiction to art, music, poetry, biography, and history. Written in her characteristically graceful prose, The Planets is a stunningly original celebration of our solar system and offers a distinctive view of our place in the universe. * A New York Times extended bestseller * A Featured Alternate of the Book-of-the-Month Club, History Book Club, Scientific American Book Club, and Natural Science Book Club * Includes 11 full-color illustrations by artist Lynette R. Cook "[The Planets] lets us fall in love with the heavens all over again." -The New York Times Book Review "Playful . . . lyrical . . . a guided tour so imaginative that we forget we're being educated as we're being entertained." -Newsweek " [Sobel] has outdone her extraordinary talent for keeping readers enthralled. . . . Longitude and Galileo's Daughter were exciting enough, but The Planets has a charm of its own . . . . A splendid and enticing book." -San Francisco Chronicle "A sublime journey. [Sobel's] writing . . . is as bright as the sun and its thinking as star-studded as the cosmos." -The Atlanta Journal-Constitution "An incantatory serenade to the Solar System. Grade A-" -Entertainment Weekly "Like Sobel's [Longitude and Galileo's Daughter] . . . [The Planets] combines masterful storytelling with clear, engaging explanations of the essential scientific facts." -Physics World

Author : Dava Sobel
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 209 pages
File Size : 16,86 MB
Release : 2007-11-05
Category : Science
ISBN : 080271529X

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Describes the forty-year effort of John Harrison to invent the chronometer, the first instrument able to keep accurate time for navigational purposes.

Author : Dava Sobel
Publisher : A&C Black
Page : 289 pages
File Size : 28,32 MB
Release : 2012-10-01
Category : Science
ISBN : 1408822385

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The bestselling author of Longitude and Galileo's Daughter tells the story of Nicolaus Copernicus and the revolution in astronomy that changed the world.

Author : Part Zoom
Publisher :
Page : 77 pages
File Size : 40,13 MB
Release : 2021-09-24
Category :
ISBN :

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Have you been wishing to read "Longitude" by Dava Sobel but don't have the time to read the 300-page book or are looking for a reading companion that will help you grasp everything you are reading for easy reference? If you've answered YES, keep reading... You've Just Discovered The Most Detailed Chapter-To-Chapter Summary Of "Longitude" By Dava Sobel! Summary And Study Guide Of Longitude If you are curious to know answers to Your questions regarding Longitude, you are in luck, as this book breaks down the 300 pages into value-packed 60 pages that will help you grasp the main things talked about in each chapter! This book summary features: * Summary * Story Analysis * Character Analysis * Themes * Symbols & Motifs * Literary Devices * Important Quotes * Essay Topics Yes, if you feel you need more than a book review to decide whether to read Longitude, then this Summary of Longitude is a must-read! Note: This is an unofficial companion book to Dava Sobel's popular non-fiction book "Longitude" - it is meant to improve your reading experience and is not the original book! Scroll up and click Buy Now With 1-Click or Buy Now to start reading!

Author : Everest Media,
Publisher : Everest Media LLC
Page : 31 pages
File Size : 40,66 MB
Release : 2022-04-30T22:59:00Z
Category : Biography & Autobiography
ISBN : 1669397335

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Please note: This is a companion version & not the original book. Sample Book Insights: #1 The latitude and longitude lines govern the world today, as they have for centuries. They were first mapped out by Ptolemy in his first world atlas in AD 150. #2 The difference between latitude and longitude is that the zero-degree parallel of latitude is fixed by the laws of nature, while the zero-degree meridian of longitude shifts like the sands of time. To find your latitude, you only need to know the length of the day or the height of the sun above the horizon, whereas to find your longitude, you need to know what time it is aboard ship and the time at your home port or another place of known longitude. #3 The Age of Exploration was when many sailing vessels set out to conquer or explore new territories, and the wealth of nations floated upon the oceans. Still, no ship had a reliable means for determining their whereabouts. #4 The search for a solution to the longitude problem was like finding the Fountain of Youth, the secret of perpetual motion, or the formula for transforming lead into gold. The British Parliament, in its famous Longitude Act of 1714, set the highest bounty of all, naming a prize equal to a king’s ransom for a practical means of determining longitude.

Author : Dava Sobel
Publisher : Bloomsbury Publishing USA
Page : 115 pages
File Size : 38,61 MB
Release : 2016-03-01
Category : Drama
ISBN : 080277802X

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Using her deep knowledge, her skills as a storyteller, and her imagination, Dava Sobel illuminates one of history's most significant and far-reaching meetings. In the spring of 1539, a young German mathematician--Georg Joachim Rheticus--journeyed hundreds of miles to northern Poland to meet the legendary, elderly cleric and reluctant astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus. Some two decades earlier, Copernicus had floated the mind-boggling theory that the Sun, not the Earth, was stationary at the center of the universe, and he was rumored to have crafted a book that could prove it. Though exactly what happened between them can never be known, Rheticus shepherded Copernicus's great work into production and De revolutionibus orbium coelestium ultimately changed the course of human understanding. Dava Sobel imagines their dramatic encounter, and with wit and erudition gives them personality. Through clever and dramatic dialogue, she brings alive the months Rheticus and Copernicus spent together--the one a heretical Lutheran, the other a free-thinking Catholic--and in the process illuminates the historic tension between science and religion. An introduction by Dava Sobel will set the stage, putting the scenes in historical context, and an afterword will describe what happened after Copernicus's book was published detailing the impact it had on science and on civilization.