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Eureka!: Scientific Breakthroughs that Changed the World
The common language of genius: Eureka!
While the roads that lead to breakthrough scientific discovery can be as varied and complex as the human mind, the moment of insight for all scientists is remarkably similar. The word "eureka!", attributed to the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes, has come to express that universal moment of joy, wonder-and even shock-at discovering something entirely new. In this collection of twelve scientific stories, Leslie Alan Horvitz describes the drama of sudden insight as experienced by a dozen distinct personalities, detailing discoveries both well known and obscure. From Darwin, Einstein, and the team of Watson and Crick to such lesser known luminaries as fractal creator Mandelbrot and periodic table mastermind Dmitri Medellev, Eureka! perfectly illustrates Louis Pasteur's quip that chance favors the prepared mind. The book also describes how amateur scientist Joseph Priestley stumbled onto the existence of oxygen in the eighteenth century and how television pioneer Philo Farnsworth developed his idea for a TV screen while plowing his family's Idaho farm.
While the roads that lead to breakthrough scientific discovery can be as varied and complex as the human mind, the moment of insight for all scientists is remarkably similar. The word "eureka!", attributed to the ancient Greek mathematician Archimedes, has come to express that universal moment of joy, wonder-and even shock-at discovering something entirely new. In this collection of twelve scientific stories, Leslie Alan Horvitz describes the drama of sudden insight as experienced by a dozen distinct personalities, detailing discoveries both well known and obscure. From Darwin, Einstein, and the team of Watson and Crick to such lesser known luminaries as fractal creator Mandelbrot and periodic table mastermind Dmitri Medellev, Eureka! perfectly illustrates Louis Pasteur's quip that chance favors the prepared mind. The book also describes how amateur scientist Joseph Priestley stumbled onto the existence of oxygen in the eighteenth century and how television pioneer Philo Farnsworth developed his idea for a TV screen while plowing his family's Idaho farm.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published December 26, 2001
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42 people want to read
About the author
Leslie Alan Horvitz
33 books10 followersLeslie Alan Horvitz is a NY Times Best Selling author of over 31 novels and several works of non-fiction with editions of his books published around the world.
Leslie's most recent novel is medical thriller SynBio with his other books including The Memory Hole, The Donors, Double Blinded, The Dying and Causes Unknown.
Leslie is also the author of several works of nonfiction, most recently The Essential Book of Weather Folklore, The Encyclopedia of War Crimes and Genocide, The Weather Tracker and Night Sky Tracker Eureka: Scientific Breakthroughs That Changed the World.
To help write his medical thriller books, Leslie has researched epidemics ranging from Ebola and HIV in Zaire to Lassa Fever in Sierra Leone and Hantan Fever in China.
Leslie lives in New York City.
Leslie's most recent novel is medical thriller SynBio with his other books including The Memory Hole, The Donors, Double Blinded, The Dying and Causes Unknown.
Leslie is also the author of several works of nonfiction, most recently The Essential Book of Weather Folklore, The Encyclopedia of War Crimes and Genocide, The Weather Tracker and Night Sky Tracker Eureka: Scientific Breakthroughs That Changed the World.
To help write his medical thriller books, Leslie has researched epidemics ranging from Ebola and HIV in Zaire to Lassa Fever in Sierra Leone and Hantan Fever in China.
Leslie lives in New York City.
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
September 17, 2020
The role of the sub-conscious or unconscious mind in scientific discovery cannot be ignored - moments of great insight typically occur during times of rest or simple activity. However, serendipity almost always favors the prepared.
In almost all instances mentioned, the particular scientist was hardly the only one making a similar discovery simultaneously. It's almost as though the idea was "floating" about in the air, waiting to be discovered.
Lastly, it is never a one man show. Even the greatest discoveries had to rely on some level of previous work, or previously developed technologies that could enable their work.
In almost all instances mentioned, the particular scientist was hardly the only one making a similar discovery simultaneously. It's almost as though the idea was "floating" about in the air, waiting to be discovered.
Lastly, it is never a one man show. Even the greatest discoveries had to rely on some level of previous work, or previously developed technologies that could enable their work.
September 27, 2015
"La mente preparada ha de hallarse también preparada para sorprenderse"
"La creatividad, ya sea en matemáticas, en las ciencias o en las artes, es un asunto divertido."
"En cierta manera, uno ha de rechazar a sus profesores y decir - "No están consiguiendo nada, voy a intentar otra cosa."- Y eso, sabe usted, es parte de la eduación: saber qué cosas no funcionarán y entonces probar algo que funcione"
Estoy intentando crearme una mente científica y por eso me ha servido muchísimo este libro para "animarme a descubrir". Pero este libro no sólo está dirigido a los científicos, ni mucho menos. Siempre resulta interesante conocer las condiciones en las que se realizaron los descrubrimientos de algunas de las cosas que hoy en día nos parecen tan comunes (o al menos eso creo yo). He visto el importante papel que han jugado los sueños, las visiones, las imaginaciones, las casualidades... en todos estos descubrimientos. Y es que a veces nos obcecamos en solucionar un problema durante tiempo y tiempo, y al final la solución se nos muestra espontáneamente cuando menos lo esperamos... ¿Y... por qué?
Me ha gustado mucho cómo ha enfocado Leslie A. H su relato. Su lenguaje sencillo (siempre intenta hacer simples las explicaciones complejas) hace muy agradable la lectura, y sabe mantener el interés del lector durante todo el libro. Conclusión: muy bueno.
"La creatividad, ya sea en matemáticas, en las ciencias o en las artes, es un asunto divertido."
"En cierta manera, uno ha de rechazar a sus profesores y decir - "No están consiguiendo nada, voy a intentar otra cosa."- Y eso, sabe usted, es parte de la eduación: saber qué cosas no funcionarán y entonces probar algo que funcione"
Estoy intentando crearme una mente científica y por eso me ha servido muchísimo este libro para "animarme a descubrir". Pero este libro no sólo está dirigido a los científicos, ni mucho menos. Siempre resulta interesante conocer las condiciones en las que se realizaron los descrubrimientos de algunas de las cosas que hoy en día nos parecen tan comunes (o al menos eso creo yo). He visto el importante papel que han jugado los sueños, las visiones, las imaginaciones, las casualidades... en todos estos descubrimientos. Y es que a veces nos obcecamos en solucionar un problema durante tiempo y tiempo, y al final la solución se nos muestra espontáneamente cuando menos lo esperamos... ¿Y... por qué?
Me ha gustado mucho cómo ha enfocado Leslie A. H su relato. Su lenguaje sencillo (siempre intenta hacer simples las explicaciones complejas) hace muy agradable la lectura, y sabe mantener el interés del lector durante todo el libro. Conclusión: muy bueno.
November 21, 2013
Leslie Horvitz writes an inspiringly true novel called Eureka! Eureka! takes the reader into the minds of geniuses who overcame countless failures and sleepless nights. These scientists went through all of this tedious work to create scientific breakthroughs that have influenced the life around us today as we know it.
In this book there are around ten different passages that go into detail about different people with different scientific findings. For example, Alfred Wegner’s theory of continental drift is talked about. Without this find we wouldn’t be able to map out the changes our world is going to go through throughout the next millions of years. The book also talks about Joseph Preistly and his discovery of oxygen. See Preistly wasn’t even looking for oxygen, he was looking for an element called acetylene! That’s a common theme throughout the book; finding something huge while undergoing a search for something different.
People who like pure science would like this book. But as far as I’m concerned, it wasn’t for me at all. It was brilliantly crafted, but the topics and genre didn’t interest me what-so-ever. I had a really hard time reading it, but I’m sure if you found science and history really interesting, you wouldn’t feel the way I did.
In this book there are around ten different passages that go into detail about different people with different scientific findings. For example, Alfred Wegner’s theory of continental drift is talked about. Without this find we wouldn’t be able to map out the changes our world is going to go through throughout the next millions of years. The book also talks about Joseph Preistly and his discovery of oxygen. See Preistly wasn’t even looking for oxygen, he was looking for an element called acetylene! That’s a common theme throughout the book; finding something huge while undergoing a search for something different.
People who like pure science would like this book. But as far as I’m concerned, it wasn’t for me at all. It was brilliantly crafted, but the topics and genre didn’t interest me what-so-ever. I had a really hard time reading it, but I’m sure if you found science and history really interesting, you wouldn’t feel the way I did.
April 29, 2014
An interesting book. Narratives are interesting, but lacks clarity. Let alone scientific detail, Horvitz glosses over the actual discoveries and what it means, creating ruptures in the narratives. More importance is given to the stories around the discoveries, and not the discoveries themselves. It feels like the author does not have a good grasp of the scientific detail - often his sentences are ambiguous, and I found it hard to make sense of sentences because they started off in one way and ended in another. This is disastrous, because he is making a claim that most the discoveries he narrates are "eureka" moments.
But still, worth a read if you are interested in the histories of scientists and their discoveries, but not if you want an authoritative description of the history or the science.
But still, worth a read if you are interested in the histories of scientists and their discoveries, but not if you want an authoritative description of the history or the science.
November 16, 2015
Eureka is one of those books that once in a while is great reading to learn more about our world. Eureka tells an entertaining way a whole series of discoveries, inventions and progress made by mankind since now. I recommend it for all readers, especially those with scientific and technological concerns! ; )
Spanish version:
Eureka es uno de esos libros que de vez en cuando es genial leer para aprender más de nuestro mundo. Eureka narra de forma amena toda una serie de descubrimientos, inventos y progresos que han hecho que la humanidad haya llegado donde está. Lo recomiendo para todos los lectores, sobre todo los que tengan inquietudes científicas y tecnológicas.! ; )
Spanish version:
Eureka es uno de esos libros que de vez en cuando es genial leer para aprender más de nuestro mundo. Eureka narra de forma amena toda una serie de descubrimientos, inventos y progresos que han hecho que la humanidad haya llegado donde está. Lo recomiendo para todos los lectores, sobre todo los que tengan inquietudes científicas y tecnológicas.! ; )
February 13, 2018
A collection of 14 different different scientific breakthroughs that have changed the world. I grabbed this to read a brief synopsis on Alexander Fleming, a delightful introduction to his discovery and then chose a few others such as Joseph Priestly, whom I was always told discovered oxygen in Pennsylvania, which is not true. Definitely a book that I will pick up again for a quick look at these world changers. Pictures of the people would have been a great attraction to a visual learner.
April 22, 2018
This was an interesting read and explained the Mandelbroth set better than I have heard it in other places.
May 30, 2016
What a great book , Eureka is the story of 12 great scientists who dedicated their lives
To Science , who wanted to understand nature and how the universe really works , who imagined things that no ordinary man can imagine , from gravity to penicillin : The discoveries are different but the eurêka moment is the same . Louis Pasteur said once that "chance favors only the prepared mind " that was the case for those 12 scientists who thinked differently when the first odd idea came to thir minds .
To Science , who wanted to understand nature and how the universe really works , who imagined things that no ordinary man can imagine , from gravity to penicillin : The discoveries are different but the eurêka moment is the same . Louis Pasteur said once that "chance favors only the prepared mind " that was the case for those 12 scientists who thinked differently when the first odd idea came to thir minds .
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews