Showing titles in Science & Technology Leaders

Asked to name a great physicist, most people would mention Newton or Einstein, Feynman or Hawking. But ask a physicist and there’s no doubt that James Clerk Maxwell will be near the top of the list. Maxwell, an unassuming Victorian Scotsman, explained how we perceive color. He uncovered the way gases behave. And, most significantly, he transformed the way physics was undertaken in his explanation of the interaction of electricity and magnetism, revealing the nature of light and laying the groundwork for everything from Einstein’s special relativity to modern electronics.

Through his work in plastic and reconstructive surgery, Dr. Donald Laub changed the lives of thousands of people who had been shunned by society. His influence fostered the development of three key areas in the surgical profession: pioneering and influencing international humanitarian medical missions in the developing world, being at the forefront of gender affirmation surgery for transgender people since 1968, and the education and training of more than 50 plastic and reconstructive surgeons.

Albert Einstein's first wife, Mileva Einstein-Maric, was forgotten for decades. When a trove of correspondence between them beginning in their student days was discovered in 1986, her story began to be told. Was Mileva her husband's uncredited coauthor, unpaid assistant, or his essential helpmeet? It's tempting to believe that she was her husband's secret collaborator, but the authors of Einstein's Wife look at the actual evidence.

A possible genius, a smidgen of madness, a twist of science, and an invention that very nearly changed the world - all collide in a giddy, unbelievably true mystery set in turn-of-the-century Paris.

It was early February 1912, and Franz Reichelt, a Paris tailor, and Rodman Law, a self-described “professional jackass” from New York, were poised, respectively, on the Eiffel Tower and the Statue of Liberty, ready to deploy an experimental parachute. In bat wings and bundled linen, they were almost certain their contraptions would work. Here is the tale of their inspirations and their pluck - and what happened next.

A 23-year veteran of emergency medical services, paramedic Matthew Sias took a detour in his career to pursue the death-care business and found a complementarity between two seemingly divergent careers. Silent Siren: Memoirs of a Life Saving Mortician is the record of some of the more memorable calls he has responded to through the years.   

They didn't start out as environmental warriors. Clair Patterson was a geochemist focused on determining the age of the Earth. Herbert Needleman was a pediatrician treating inner-city children. But in the chemistry lab and the hospital ward, they met a common enemy: lead. It was literally...

Samye ehffektnye i ubeditel'nye tsitaty osnovatelya korporatsii Microsoft Billa Gejtsa! Pozhaluj, ne najdyotsya v tsivilizovannom mire cheloveka, kto ne znal by o Bille Gejtse. On vozglavlyal spiski samykh bogatykh lyudej mira mnogo let. Talantlivyj biznesmen, filantrop, innovator, obladatel' rytsarskogo titula Velikobritanii. V ehtoj audioknige sobrany samye interesnye vyskazyvaniya Billa Gejtsa.

Technology leaving you breathless? Lew Platt describes what drives change in the high-tech environment. He elaborates on the impact technology is having on all organizations, not just high-tech ones, and discusses the resulting turmoil. His recommendations include how to implement strategies for promoting change, how to balance continuity and change, and how to integrate core values in the change process. This program is part of the Stanford CEO Forum series, in which top business leaders discuss a variety of industry topics from managing change to moving your company into the next generation of technology.

Pioneering oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer unravels the mystery of marine currents, uncovers the astonishing story of flotsam, and changes the world's view of trash, the ocean, and our global environment. Curtis Ebbesmeyer is no ordinary scientist. He's been a consulting oceanographer for multinational firms and a lead scientist on international research expeditions, but he's never held a conventional academic appointment.

On the night of March 26, 1938, nuclear physicist Ettore Majorana boarded a ship, cash and passport in hand. He was never seen again. In A Brilliant Darkness, theoretical physicist Joo Magueijo tells the story of Majorana and his research group, the Via Panisperna Boys, who discovered atomic fission in 1934. As Majorana, the most brilliant of the group, began to realize the implications of what they had found, he became increasingly unstable.

Lo scienziato Albert Einstein è a tutti gli effetti l’icona indiscussa del genio e una delle figure più famose e riconoscibili di tutti i tempi. Se immaginiamo un genio, uno scienziato, il pensiero va automaticamente a quel volto bonario, solcato da un sorriso ironico e circondato da una massa di capelli arruffati. I tratti che spesso sono associati al genio (l'anticonformismo, il rifiuto delle convenzioni, l’essere controcorrente) sono proprio quelli di una personalità tanto complessa quanto affascinante come quella di Einstein.

Grazie al pensiero e alle opere di Isaac Newton, oggi siamo in grado di applicare le leggi matematiche alla fisica, di calcolare con precisione la diversa forza di gravità sui vari pianeti o di comprendere la natura della luce e della rifrazione dei colori. Il suo apporto alle scienze moderne è inestimabile e moltissime teorie che oggi diamo per scontate derivano dai suoi lavori in molteplici campi della scienza, ma anche della filosofia e della teologia.

Here's a biographical profile of James Ward Packard, an American automobile pioneer. Unlike many of the automobile pioneers who received their primary training with blacksmiths, or under watchful eyes of mechanics in wagon, bicycle or railroad shops, Packard and his older brother William learned their trade as engineering students at Lehigh University.

Here's a biographical profile of the White brothers who built steamers and trucks and developed a reputation for unique marketing concepts. "The Fight of the Century" took place in 1910, pitting Jack Johnson, the first African American heavyweight boxing champion against Jim Jefferies who was white. The fight was shrouded with racial tension and gave rise to the term "Great White Hope," referring to the need to find a white man capable of defeating the black champion.

A magazine interview with Nikola Tesla in his laboratory, a man often considered the most brilliant American inventor. This article presents a fascinating overview of the genius at the very peak of his illustrious career.

How did the minimally trained, isolated Srinivasa Ramanujan, with little more than an out-of-date elementary textbook, anticipate some of the deepest theoretical problems of mathematics—including concepts discovered only after his death?

Here's a biographical profile of Charles and J. Frank Duryea, two visionaries who were among the first to recognize the potential of the automobile. In 1892 they built America's first gasoline-powered car and had it running successfully the following year.

Ninteen ninety-four, Northern California. The Internet is just emerging from its origins in the military and university research labs. Groups of idealistic technologists, recognizing its potential as a tool for liberation and solidarity, are working feverishly to build the network. In the early chat rooms of one such gathering, soon-to-become-famous as The WELL, a Stanford futurist named Tom Mandel creates a new conference. In a topic headed "Local Bug Report", he asks for advice from fellow online participants about how he might shake off a persistent hacking cough.

How many Internet years ahead of the competition are you? If you're using networking for competitive advantage in the marketplace, you're on the right track, says Cisco Systems CEO John Chambers. Chambers believes networking is the most significant generation of the computer revolution, with wide-ranging implications for productivity in businesses worldwide. He provides examples of leading-edge companies, including Cisco, that are using networking effectively.