A Matter of Degrees : What Temperature Reveals about the Past and Future of Our Species Planet and Universe Hardcover - 2002
by Segre, Gino
- Used
Of the three fundamental methods of measurement-time, length, and temperature-Gino Segrè is convinced that temperature is not only the most subtle but also the most revealing. In this engaging, insightful book, Segrè, a distinguished theoretical physicist, makes his lifelong fascination with temperature the organizing theme of a wide-ranging journey through science, history, and culture.
A graceful writer and a nimble synthesizer, Segrè explores how temperature (which we have only recently succeeded in measuring) is bound up with the very essence of both life and inert matter. Why is the internal temperature of most mammals fixed at 98.6 degrees, no matter what climate they inhabit? What do the hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor reveal about the history of our planet? Why has temperature proved to be so much more difficult to measure than distance and time? How does the quest to reach absolute zero relate to the problem of superconductivity in quantum physics? In answering these and hundreds of other temperature-sensitive questions, Segrè unfolds a narrative that is at once compelling, surprising, and brilliantly associative.
A wonderful synthesis of science, history, and imagination, A Matter of Degrees uses deep, detailed knowledge of particular fields to open up the big scientific questions of our time.
Description
Details
- Title A Matter of Degrees : What Temperature Reveals about the Past and Future of Our Species Planet and Universe
- Author Segre, Gino
- Binding Hardcover
- Edition First Edition
- Condition Used - Good
- Pages 300
- Volumes 1
- Language ENG
- Publisher Penguin Publishing Group, New York, New York, U.S.A.
- Date June 27, 2002
- Illustrated Yes
- Bookseller's Inventory # GRP62115354
- ISBN 9780670031016 / 0670031011
- Weight 1.07 lbs (0.49 kg)
- Dimensions 8.7 x 5.84 x 1.14 in (22.10 x 14.83 x 2.90 cm)
- Library of Congress subjects Temperature measurements
- Library of Congress Catalog Number 2001046942
- Dewey Decimal Code 536.502
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