Product Description

All things are made of atoms, little particles that move around in perpetual motion, attracting each other when they are a little distance apart but repelling upon being squeezed into one another. This is the first popular account of the fascinating story of the atom. No one ever expected the atom to be as bizarre, as capricious, and as weird as it turned out to be. Its story is one riddled with jealousy, rivalry, missed opportunities and moments of genius. John Dalton gave us the first picture of the atom in the early 1800s. Almost 100 years later came one of the most important experiments in scientific history, by the young misfit New Zealander, Ernest Rutherford. He showed the atom consisted mostly of space, and in doing so turned 200 years of classical physics on its head. It was a brilliant Dane, Neils Bohr, who made the next great leap - into the incredible world of quantum theory. Yet, he and a handful of other revolutionary young scientists weren't prepared for the shocks Nature had up her sleeve. Mind-bending discoveries about the atom were destined to upset everything we thought we knew about reality. Even today as we peer deeper and deeper into the atom, it throws back as many questions at us as answers.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #183562 in Books
• Published on: 2007-07-19
• Format: Illustrated
• Original language: English
• Binding: Hardcover
• 206 pages

About the Author
Piers Bizony is a science journalist and space historian who writes for magazines such as Focus and Wired, as well as the Independent. His award-winning book on Kubrick's 2001: A Space Odyssey was described as 'full of sparkling enthusiasm' by the New Scientist and 'excellent, in every way worthy of Kubrick's original precision-crafted vision' by the Evening Standard. His latest book is The Man Who Ran the Moon (Icon, 2006)

Customer Reviews

Atom....begin with basic building blocks!
I was hooked on the T.V series, which this book accompanies, and enthralled by the book, which I could not put down.My only disappointment was that the book did not cover the latter parts of the the T.V progamme in its foray into string theory and the cutting edge of contempoary physics. Having an interest in quantum physics, and the philosophy of science, (but not an education in physics to support it)I found that this book offers a coherent and comprehensible history of the development of ideas about the nature of the atom, which serves as an invaluable set of building blocks,from which to fashion a foundation of a better grasp of contemporary theory.I will certainly be buying the book by the same author on Quantum Theory.

Excellent stuff!!
It can be difficult for a layman to find material on Atomic physics which is entertaining, stimulating and which also has enough depth to enable you to walk away and say 'Oh - now I understand!'. Al-Khalili's book is deep enough to enable you to understand the gradual build-up of theory and how everything fit into everything that went before it. The biographies of the lead scientists enable the reader to see how a theory was part of a place and time and how new propositions were made on the basis of the thinking at the time. More importantly there is that sense of wonder, good humour and genuine reflective insight that make the best science books highly accessible but also highly informative. Certainly an excellent choice for the layman (me) and I would expect for those students who feel their lecturers suppose everyone to have walked in the door with ten years previous research experience!

Wonderful book
For a layperson like myself who has no knowledge of the subject of Atomic physics (or any other science subject) and yet was gripped by the BBC series 'Atom', this book was the perfect partner to the series. Piers Bizony has made this mind-boggling subject understandable (almost) and very, very enjoyable.A wonderful book which I read at one sitting and I'm now eager for more.