Einstein's Fridge
How the Difference Between Hot and Cold Explains the Universe
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4.5 • 13 Ratings
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
This entertaining, eye-opening account of how the laws of thermodynamics are essential to understanding the world today—from refrigeration and jet engines to calorie counting and global warming—is “a lesson in how to do popular science right” (Kirkus Reviews).
Einstein’s Fridge tells the incredible epic story of the scientists who, over two centuries, harnessed the power of heat and ice and formulated a theory essential to comprehending our universe. “Although thermodynamics has been studied for hundreds of years…few nonscientists appreciate how its principles have shaped the modern world” (Scientific American). Thermodynamics—the branch of physics that deals with energy and entropy—governs everything from the behavior of living cells to the black hole at the center of our galaxy. Not only that, but thermodynamics explains why we must eat and breathe, how lights turn on, the limits of computing, and how the universe will end.
The brilliant people who decoded its laws came from every branch of the sciences; they were engineers, physicists, chemists, biologists, cosmologists, and mathematicians. From French military engineer and physicist Sadi Carnot to Lord Kelvin, James Joule, Albert Einstein, Emmy Noether, Alan Turing, and Stephen Hawking, author Paul Sen introduces us to all of the players who passed the baton of scientific progress through time and across nations. Incredibly driven and idealistic, these brave pioneers performed groundbreaking work often in the face of torment and tragedy. Their discoveries helped create the modern world and transformed every branch of science, from biology to cosmology.
“Elegantly written and engaging” (Financial Times), Einstein’s Fridge brings to life one of the most important scientific revolutions of all time and captures the thrill of discovery and the power of scientific progress to shape the course of history.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Director Sen makes a convincing case for the importance of thermodynamics in his impressive debut. He argues that the first two laws of thermodynamics (that the energy of the universe is constant, and that the entropy of the universe tends to increase), as articulated in 1865, "are a testament to the human intellect and imagination" and are "every bit as significant as Newton's laws of motion." Sen tells of the scientists whose work led to the present understanding of thermodynamics, among them Sadi Carnot (the "founding father of the science of thermodynamics"); James Joule, with his "lifelong zeal for scientific experimentation"; Albert Einstein, whose "work derived from thermodynamics"; and Alan Turing, who uncovered "a beautiful aspect of the second law of thermodynamics." Sen explains how an understanding of thermodynamics led to "the invention that catalyzed the Industrial Revolution," the steam engine, and goes further in arguing that refrigeration, a process building on thermodynamic principles, enabled "the greatest improvement in human nutrition" since the advent of cooking. He accomplishes all of this with splendid prose, making ample use of analogies to explain complex scientific ideas. Sen's history of hot and cold is pop-science that hits the mark.
