On 10 Feb 1902, Walter Brattain was born, one of the Nobel prize-winning scientists who originated semiconductors. Their vital discovery, that led to transistors and integrated circuits, was one of the centuries most important inventions.

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Product Description

Genius, Einstein said, is 99% perspiration. The other 1% -- the moment of inspiration and insight - provides some of the best stories of our time. From superconductors to the Big Bang, the best tales of scientific revelation are collected in The Eureka! Moment, an addictive tour through the modern world's key scientific discoveries.
Rupert Lee's accounts transport readers to the moment of realization: the inventor's laboratory, his or her doubts, initial setbacks, feuds with other scientists, and finally the shock and excitement of triumph. Together, these "biographies of inspiration" paint an astonishing picture of human ingenuity. In physics we learn how scientists for Bell Labs inadvertently supplied proof for the Big Bang theory while trying to eliminate the background hiss in their microwave antenna. In astronomy we see Hubble's recognition that the universe is expanding, not static, as well as the fortuitous discovery of Pluto by a farm boy from Kansas. We join Watson and Crick as they decode the double helix of DNA, and Karl von Frisch as he deciphers the honeybee's waggle dance. Skillfully written to clarify concepts from quarks to relativity to antibodies for the lay reader,The Eureka Moment is a must-read for anyone interested in popular science and the history of invention.

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #645447 in Books
• Published on: 2002-09-13
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 256 pages

Review
The Eureka! Moment provides and showcases short, succinct reviews of the 100 top discoveries in every field of science, using a lively tone which will nicely lend to browsing by many a non-scientist general reader.
–Midwest Book Review, Feb. 2004

The material, meant for lay readers, is lucidly and clearly presented. The entries provide essential information and whet the appetite for more detailed knowledge.
–The Hamilton Spectator, Dec. 14, 2002

[Uses] a lively tone which will lend to browsing by many a non-scientist.
–Wisconsin Bookwatch, February 2003

About the Author
Rupert Lee is a science librarian and holds a PhD in zoology from The Queen's College, Oxford University. He lives in Hatfield, Hertfordshire about 30 miles north of central London.

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Customer Reviews

Provides a short review of the 100 top discoveries
One hundred key discoveries of 20th century science are covered in a title which examines over a hundred years of progress. In 1900 there were no antibiotics, no radios, and no knowledge of Pluto, for example. The Eureka! Moment provides a short review of the 100 top discoveries in every field of science, using a lively tone which will lend to browsing by many a non-scientist.