Christmas at the Royal Institution : An Anthology of Lectures by M Faraday, J Tyndall, R S Ball, S P Thompson, E R Lankester, W H Bragg, W L Bragg, R L Gregory, and I Stewart.
Title:
Christmas at the Royal Institution : An Anthology of Lectures by M Faraday, J Tyndall, R S Ball, S P Thompson, E R Lankester, W H Bragg, W L Bragg, R L Gregory, and I Stewart.
Author:
James, Frank.
ISBN:
9789812771100
Personal Author:
Physical Description:
1 online resource (401 pages)
Contents:
Contents -- Preface Susan Greenfield -- Acknowledgements -- Introduction Frank A. J. L. James -- Biographical Notes on Lecturers -- The Correlation of the Physical Forces Michael Faraday -- Carbon or Charcoal-Coal Gas-Respiration and Its Analogy to the Burning of a Candle-Conclusion Michael Faraday -- The Forms of Water in Clouds and Rivers, Ice and Glaciers John Tyndall -- 1. Clouds, Rains, and Rivers. -- 2. -- 3. The Waves of Light. -- 4. The Waves of Heat which produce the Vapour of our Atmosphere and melt our Glaciers. -- 5. Experiments to prove the foregoing Statements. -- 6. Oceanic Distillation. -- ILLUSTRATIVE EXPERIMENTS. -- 7. Tropical Rains. -- ILLUSTRATIVE EXPERIMENTS. -- 8. Mountain Condensers. -- 9. Architecture of Snow. -- 10. Atomic Poles. -- Lessons in Electricity John Tyndall -- 29. Physiological Effects of the Electric Discharge. -- 30. Atmospheric Electricity. -- 31. The Returning Stroke. -- 32. The Leyden Battery, its Currents, and some of their Effects. -- Stars Robert Stawell Ball -- WE TRY TO MAKE A MAP. -- THE STARS ARE SUNS. -- THE NUMBERS OF THE STARS. -- THE CLUSTERS OF STARS. -- THE RANK OF THE EARTH AS A GLOBE IN SPACE. -- THE DISTANCES OF THE STARS. -- THE BRIGHTNESS AND COLOUR OF STARS. -- DOUBLE STARS. -- HOW WE FIND WHAT THE STARS ARE MADE OF. -- THE NEBULÆ. -- PHOTOGRAPHING THE NEBULÆ. -- CONCLUSION. -- Röntgen Light Silvanus Phillips Thompson -- The Great Extinct Reptiles-Dinosaurs from the Oolites-The Pariasaurus and Inostransevia from the Trias of North Russia and South Africa-Marine Reptiles Edwin Ray Lankester -- The Atoms of Which Things Are Made William Henry Bragg -- Our Electrical Supply William Lawrence Bragg -- 1. THE FUNCTION OF A SYSTEM OF ELECTRICAL SUPPLY -- 2. ELECTRICAL UNITS -- 3. ALTERNATING CURRENT -- 4. WHY ALTERNATING CURRENT IS USED -- TRANSFORMERS.
5. EDDY CURRENTS -- ALTERNATING CURRENT SUPPLY METERS -- 6. POWER STATIONS -- 7. THE LOAD ON A POWER STATION -- 8. THE GRID -- 9. TRANSFORMING AND SWITCHING SUB-STATIONS -- Objects and Pictures Richard Langton Gregory -- Gallery of Monsters Ian Stewart -- THE CHAOS GAME -- BONSAI MOUNTAINS -- FRACTAL DIMENSION -- FAMILY TREES -- MATHEMATICS CAN BE FERN -- PASCALS EVERYWHERE -- CALCULATOR CHAOS -- DON'T BLAME THE BUTTERFLY -- ATTRACTORS -- CHAOS IN THE ASTEROID BELT -- NOW FOR THE HAPPY ENDING . . . -- Index.
Abstract:
Since the mid-1820s, a series of lectures has been delivered each year over the Christmas period in the world-famous Faraday Lecture Theatre at The Royal Institution of Great Britain by prominent scientists, addressed specifically to an audience of children. Initially made accessible in book form, the lectures have been nationally televised throughout the UK and distributed worldwide since the 1960s, making them accessible to an even larger audience. The importance of these lectures in promoting science to a broad audience is perhaps best gauged by the fact that an image of one of Faraday's lectures appeared on the Bank of England £20 note in the 1990s. This anthology brings together, for the first time, a carefully chosen selection of 11 lectures from the 1860s to the 1990s. The selection includes lectures by Michael Faraday, arguably the most important and influential 19th-century physicist, and Lawrence Bragg, the youngest ever winner of the Nobel Prize. Through this work, readers will come to grips with the changing nature of popular science lectures over the past 140 years. Sample Chapter(s). Introduction (7,804 KB). Chapter 1: The Correlation of the Physical Forces (957 KB). Chapter 2: Carbon or Charcoal-Coal Gas-Respiration and Its Analogy to the Burning of a Candle-Conclusion (345 KB). Chapter 3: The Forms of Water in Clouds and Rivers, Ice and Glaciers (422 KB). Chapter 4: Lessons in Electricity (781 KB). Contents: The Correlation of the Physical Forces (M Faraday); Carbon or Charcoal - Coal Gas - Respiration and Its Analogy to the Burning of a Candle - Conclusion (M Faraday); The Forms of Water in Clouds and Rivers, Ice and Glaciers (J Tyndall); Lessons in Electricity (J Tyndall); Stars (R S Ball); Röntgen Light (S P Thompson); The Great Extinct Reptiles - Dinosaurs from the Oolites - The Pariasaurus and Inostransevia from the Trias of
North Russia and South Africa - Marine Reptiles (E R Lankester); The Atoms of Which Things Are Made (W H Bragg); Our Electrical Supply (W L Bragg); Objects and Pictures (R L Gregory); Gallery of Monsters (I Stewart). Readership: Scientists with an interest in communicating science; historians with an interest in the development of science communication; general public interested in science.
Local Note:
Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2017. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.
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