Charles Babbage, "the grandfather of the modern computer," did not live to see even one of his calculating machines at work. A dazzling genius with vision extending far beyond the limitations of the Victorian age, Babbage successfully calculated a table of logarithms during his years at Cambridge University, allowing mathematical calculations to be executed with extreme precision. Only the possibility of human error prevented complete accuracy, and Babbage understood that the only way to attain perfection is to leave the human mind entirely out of the equation. He devoted most of his life and spent most of his private fortune and government stipend trying to improve his difference engines and analytical engines. Bruce Collier and James MacLachlan chronicle Babbage's education and scientific career, his remarkably active social life and long string of personal tragedies, his forays into philosophy and economics, his successes and failures, and the biggest disappointment of his life-- his ingenious inventions were centuries ahead of the primitive capabilities of Victorian technology. Oxford Portraits in Science is an on-going series of scientific biographies for young adults. Written by top scholars and writers, each biography examines the personality of its subject as well as the thought process leading to his or her discoveries. These illustrated biographies combine accessible technical information with compelling personal stories to portray the scientists whose work has shaped our understanding of the natural world.

Charles Babbage: And the Engines of Perfection (Oxford Portraits in Science)

Children's Books

MacLachlan, James

Collier, Bruce

Biographies

Oxford University Press

The scientific innovations of Galileo Galilei are pivotal to our understanding of the laws of the natural world. Drawing on his diverse studies in philosophy, mathematics, mechanics, music, astronomy, and engineering, Galileo developed revolutionary theories that thoroughly changed the disciplines of physics, mathematics, astronomy, and technology. Galileo Galilei traces the great scientist's education, describes his maverick experiments in Padua and Pisa, and recreates the ingenious pathway of his famous discoveries. Often censored and imprisoned for his radical ideas that clashed with fundamental Church doctrines, Galileo persisted in his pursuit of scientific truths to bestow upon future generations the inspiration to challenge conventional views. His theories about the motions of falling bodies, his study of pendulums, and his major discoveries in astronomy made with a self-built telescope are all clearly explained in this volume. Heavily illustrated with photographs, graphics, and technical schemes, Galileo Galilei also features a number of sidebars elucidating important details of the great mans contributions. Oxford Portraits in Science is a collection of scientific biographies for young adults. Written by top scholars and writers, each biography examines the personality of its subject as well as the thought process leading to his or her discoveries. These illustrated biographies combine accessible technical information with compelling personal stories to portray the scientists whose work has shaped our understanding of the natural world.

Galileo Galilei: First Physicist (Oxford Portraits in Science)

The scientific innovations of Galileo Galilei are pivotal to our understanding of the laws of the natural world. Drawing on his diverse studies in philosophy, mathematics, mechanics, music, astronomy, and engineering, Galileo developed revolutionary theories that thoroughly changed the disciplines of physics, mathematics, astronomy, and technology. Galileo Galilei traces the great scientist's education, describes his maverick experiments in Padua and Pisa, and recreates the ingenious pathway of his famous discoveries. Often censored and imprisoned for his radical ideas that clashed with fundamental Church doctrines, Galileo persisted in his pursuit of scientific truths to bestow upon future generations the inspiration to challenge conventional views. His theories about the motions of falling bodies, his study of pendulums, and his major discoveries in astronomy made with a self-built telescope are all clearly explained in this volume. Heavily illustrated with photographs, graphics, and technical schemes, Galileo Galilei also features a number of sidebars elucidating important details of the great man's contributions. Oxford Portraits in Science is a collection of scientific biographies for young adults. Written by top scholars and writers, each biography examines the personality of its subject as well as the thought process leading to his or her discoveries. These illustrated biographies combine accessible technical information with compelling personal stories to portray the scientists whose work has shaped our understanding of the natural world.

Charles Babbage, "the grandfather of the modern computer," did not live to see even one of his calculating machines at work. A dazzling genius with vision extending far beyond the limitations of the Victorian age, Babbage successfully calculated a table of logarithms during his years at Cambridge University, allowing mathematical calculations to be executed with extreme precision. Only the possibility of human error prevented complete accuracy, and Babbage understood that the only way to attain perfection is to leave the human mind entirely out of the equation. He devoted most of his life and spent most of his private fortune and government stipend trying to improve his difference engines and analytical engines. Bruce Collier and James MacLachlan chronicle Babbage's education and scientific career, his remarkably active social life and long string of personal tragedies, his forays into philosophy and economics, his successes and failures, and the biggest disappointment of his life-- his ingenious inventions were centuries ahead of the primitive capabilities of Victorian technology.

Born in Poland in 1473, Nicolaus Copernicus launched a quiet revolution. No scientist so radically transformed our understanding of our place in the universe as this curious bishop's doctor and church official. In his quest to discover a beautiful and coherent system to describe the motions of the planets, Copernicus placed the sun in the center of the system and made the earth a planet traveling around the sun. Today it is hard to imagine our solar system any other way, but for his time Copernicus's idea was earthshaking. In 1616 the church banned his book Revolutions because it contradicted the accepted notion that God placed Earth in the center of the universe. Even though those who knew of his work considered his idea dangerous, Revolutions remained of interest only to other scientists for many years. It took almost two hundred years for his concept of a sun-centered system to reach the general public. None the less, what Copernicus set out in his remarkable text truly revolutionized science. For this, Copernicus, a quiet doctor who made a tremendous leap of imagination, is considered the father of the Scientific Revolution. Oxford Portraits in Science is an on-going series of scientific biographies for young adults. Written by top scholars and writers, each biography examines the personality of its subject as well as the thought process leading to his or her discoveries. These illustrated biographies combine accessible technical information with compelling personal stories to portray the scientists whose work has shaped our understanding of the natural world.

Nicolaus Copernicus: Making the Earth a Planet

Gingerich, Owen

A one-volume integrated survey of the history of western science and technology, combining the development of science and technology into a single narrative, showing the important interactions between the two.

Children of Prometheus

Science & Math

History & Philosophy

Wall & Emerson

Children of Prometheus: A History of Science and Technology is a single-volume, integrated survey of the history of Western science and technology and is ideal for introductory courses in the history of science and technology for non-science students. It provides a clear, non-technical exposition of all the major issues and events from Plato to Nato. htm

Religion & Spirituality

A one-volume integrated survey of the history of western science and technology, combining the development of science and technology into a single narrative, showing the important interactions between the two.

Children of Prometheus: A History of Science and Technology

Wall & Emerson, Inc.

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by MacLachlan, James. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by MacLachlan, James

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by MacLachlan, James. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Charles Babbage: And the Engines of Perfection (Oxford Portraits in Science)

Galileo Galilei: First Physicist (Oxford Portraits in Science)

Galileo Galilei: First Physicist (Oxford Portraits in Science)

Charles Babbage: And the Engines of Perfection (Oxford Portraits in Science)

Nicolaus Copernicus: Making the Earth a Planet

Children of Prometheus

Children of Prometheus

Children of Prometheus: A History of Science and Technology