Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein, Colossal Mistakes

Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein, Colossal Mistakes by Great Scientists That Changed Our Understanding of Life and the Universe

Drawing on the lives of five great scientists, this â€œscholarly, insightful, and beautifully written bookâ€ (Martin Rees, author of From Here to Infinity) illuminates the path to scientific discovery.

Charles Darwin, William Thomson (Lord Kelvin), Linus Pauling, Fred Hoyle, and Albert Einstein all made groundbreaking contributions to their fieldsâ€”but each also stumbled badly. Darwinâ€™s theory of natural selection shouldnâ€™t have worked, according to the prevailing beliefs of his time. Lord Kelvin gravely miscalculated the age of the earth. Linus Pauling, the worldâ€™s premier chemist, constructed an erroneous model for DNA in his haste to beat the competition to publication. Astrophysicist Fred Hoyle dismissed the idea of a â€œBig Bangâ€ origin to the universe (ironically, the caustic name he gave to this event endured long after his erroneous objections were disproven). And Albert Einstein speculated incorrectly about the forces of the universeâ€”and that speculation opened the door to brilliant conceptual leaps. As Mario Livio luminously explains in this â€œthoughtful meditation on the course of science itselfâ€ (The New York Times Book Review), these five scientists expanded our knowledge of life on earth, the evolution of the earth, and the evolution of the universe, despite and because of their errors.

â€œThoughtful, well-researched, and beautifully writtenâ€ (The Washington Post), Brilliant Blunders is a wonderfully insightful examination of the psychology of five fascinating scientistsâ€”and the mistakes as well as the achievements that made them famous.
Country USA
Manufacturer Simon & Schuster
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2024-02-13
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Simon & Schuster
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2024-02-13
Format	Kindle eBook

Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein, Colossal Mistakes by Great Scientists That Changed Our Understanding of Life and the Universe

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