A Force of Nature: The Frontier Genius of Ernest Rutherford

By Richard Reeves and Catherine O'Neill Grace

Book Overview

Born in colonial New Zealand, Ernest Rutherford grew up on the frontier--a different world from Cambridge, to which he won a scholarship at the age of twenty-four. His work revolutionized modern physics. Among his discoveries were the orbital structure of the atom and the concept of the half-life of radioactive materials. Rutherford and the young men working under him were the first to split the atom, unlocking tremendous forces--forces, as Rutherford himself predicted, that would bring us the atomic bomb. In Richard Reeves's hands, Rutherford comes alive, a ruddy, genial man and a pivotal figure in scientific history.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0393333698
• ISBN13: 9780393333695
• Release Date: December 2008
• Publisher: W. W. Norton & Company
• Length: 226 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 5.3" x 7.8"