Recently, I get interested in books about people, especially scientist.
From X-rays to Quarks, by Emilio Segrè(Noble Laureate for his discovery of the antiproton), 1977
"in other branched of physics there are also most interesting problems of more practical importance than those offered by elementary particles, but we can confidently believe that their solution is implicitly contained in Schrödinger's equation. Of course, it is contained in the same sense than marble blocks contain all statues, and the problem is only to take away the excess material."
This book is written in 1970s, but the story he tells about the great physicists and his ideas about the future trend of physics is never out of fashion.
In pure physics, it predicts that the coming years will be an age of particle physics, which is just in progress these years.
In all the science field, "with a pun of dubious taste, I could say that it is no longer sufficient to be a Rutherford, but one must be Ruther-Ford, meaning that the physicists must have at least some qualities of an industrialist and of a businessman." Well, in the education of us, too many models of scientists who are very hard-working and only concentrate on science is described, but the future trend of such characteristics mentioned above is need among all the scientists in the world.
"Another tendency pervades all sciences, including physics: specialization." It is said simplicity is the beauty of mathematics and all the sciences, but in more and more places such as the PDE lesson and SRT project, I found that many things that people describe today have a tremendous complexity. "This increasing complication may even determine the limits of physics." This trends, in philosophy, may mean that the physic may not be limit by nature but by our own; in art, this trend has already lead to the contemporary nonobjectivism; in the reality, we must try to adapt.
At the end of the book, the author tells us that science is just like an organic creature—none of the parts can be removed.
The Discovery of Anti-matter, Carl Anderson (Nobel Laureate for his discovery of proton), 1999
"Man scratching. Digging thinking and imagining, man has laboriously and slowly uncovered many of nature's mysterious and secrets, most of them beautiful, and all of them well hidden."
This book is the autobiography of Carl David Anderson, the youngest man to win the Noble Prize, and this book is written in his last years. The language used in it is very unadorned，but full of charm.
From this, I discovered not only one of the great scientists in our world, but also a people who has a great love and enthusiasm about life.
Anyone who like science or to listen to storied told by grandpa should read this book.
To give a brief conclusion about the two books, Emilio Segrè and Carl Anderson all believes that physicists or scientist have a rich human component, just like Shakespeare, and science is full of beauty.
Marie Curie : a biography, Marilyn Bailey Ogilvie, 2007
This series of books (I also lend the biography of hawking, but haven't read yet) is said to be appropriate for high school students, but the languages used is obviously more difficult and I used much time to get through it. I think greater people always use simply language, but this book is OK. It covers not only a personal and scientific life of Marie Curie, but also a history of the world at that time.
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Mary McLeod Bethune: a great American educator, by Patricia C. McKissack, 1985
This book describes a great black woman in American history. To my point of view however: nothing serious.
