The Fire in the Equations

by Zehra, Tasneem

• ISBN13: 9781589880771
• ISBN10: 1589880773
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-08-14
• Publisher: Consortium Book Sales & Dist

Summary

In The Fire in the Equations, Pakistani string theorist Tasneem Zehra explores six major scientific breakthroughs in the field of physics. Beginning with Sir Isaac Newton--who discovered that the fundamental laws of mechanics applied to both earthly and celestial motion--Zehra guides us through the revelations of electromagnetism, relativity, quantum mechanics, quantum field theory, and string theory. Zehra presents each of these milestones though the eyes of a (fictional) contemporary observer, who writes about the work-in-progress as it unfolds: an assistant to Newton, a student of James Clerk Maxwell's, a high school teacher captivated by Albert Einstein's theories. Readers will experience the immediacy and excitement of the discoveries and, at the same time, begin to understand the underlying science and grasp the revolutionary step forward each of these milestones represents. Professor Zehra is a gifted teacher and storyteller. In her dramatic and lucid accounts of great scientific advances, readers will learn more than they ever imagined possible about subjects that may at first appear inaccessible. The Fire in the Equationsis a window onto the wonders and the immediacy of these breakthroughs in learning. Tasneem Zehrais a theoretical physicist and an assistant professor of physics at the Lahore University of Management Sciences in Pakistan. She is one of the few Pakistani women to have earned a doctorate in physics, and the first-ever female Pakistani string theorist. Zehra received her PhD from Stockholm University, after which she spent two years as a postdoctoral research fellow at Harvard.