Background
Ferguson, Kitty Gail was born on December 16, 1941 in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Daughter of Herman Alvin and Prestyne Norma (Hocker) Vetter.
( The enthralling story of Pythagoras and the Pythagorean...)
The enthralling story of Pythagoras and the Pythagoreans, whose insights transformed the ancient world and still inspire the realms of science, mathematics, philosophy, and the arts. "Pythagoras's influence on the ideas, and therefore on the destiny, of the human race was probably greater than that of any single man before or after him," wrote Arthur Koestler. Though most people know of him only for the famous Pythagorean Theorem (a2 +b2=c2), in fact the pillars of our scientific tradition--belief that the universe is rational, that there is unity to all things, and that numbers and mathematics are a powerful guide to truth about nature and the cosmos--hark back to the convictions of this legendary sixth-century B.C. scholar. Born around 570 B.C. on the cultured Aegean island of Samos, Pythagoras (according to ancient tales) studied with the sage Thales nearby at Miletus, and with priests and scribes in Egypt and Babylon. Eventually he founded his own school at Croton in southern Italy, where he and his followers began to unravel the surprising deep truths concealed behind such ordinary tasks as tuning a lyre. While considering why some string lengths produced beautiful sounds and others discordant ones, they uncovered the ratios of musical harmony, and recognized that hidden behind the confusion and complexity of nature are patterns and orderly relationships. They had surprised the Creator at his drafting board and had glimpsed the mind of God! Some of them later would also find something darker in numbers and nature: irrationality, a revelation so unsettling and subversive that it may have contributed to the destruction of their brotherhood. Praised for her ability to illuminate complex subjects, Kitty Ferguson brilliantly evokes the archaic world of Pythagoras, showing how ideas spread in antiquity, chronicling the influence he and his followers have had on so many extraordinary people in the history of Western thought and science, and bringing a poignant human saga to readers who are daily reminded that harmony and chaos can and do coexist.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0802716318/?tag=2022091-20
(The Fire in the Equations: Science, Religion, and the Sea...)
The Fire in the Equations: Science, Religion, and the Search for God BY Ferguson, Kitty ( Author ) { Paperback } 2004
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00VAZQ706/?tag=2022091-20
( “ In this beautifully and intelligently written book, F...)
“ In this beautifully and intelligently written book, Ferguson not only reports on some of the intellectual tremors jolting the world of thinking women and men, but also considers the basic questions with penetrating analysis, yet at a very readable level. . . . An excellent book.” —Choice Heralded for its readability and scholarship, The Fire in the Equations offers a fascinating discussion of scientific discoveries and their impact on our beliefs. The book’s title is derived from Dr. Stephen Hawking’s pondering, “What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?” Originally published in the U.S. in 1995, it provides an excursion through new theories of quantum physics and cosmology, ranging from the nature of time, the big bang, the “unreasonable effectiveness” of mathematics, laws of nature and their possible relation to God, chaos theory, black holes, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, particle physics, Darwin's theory of evolution, and the role of God in all these equations. It even raises such questions as “how God might answer prayers” from the point of view of physics. While she gives no absolute answers, Kitty Ferguson takes the reader through a world of paradoxes and improbabilities, explaining how it is possible to believe both in a pre-determined universe and in free will as a theory of human behavior. She concludes that what we know about science doesn't necessarily make God inevitable, but does not rule God out either.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1932031677/?tag=2022091-20
( On his deathbed in 1601, the Danish nobleman and greate...)
On his deathbed in 1601, the Danish nobleman and greatest naked-eye astronomer, Tycho Brahe, begged his young colleague, Johannes Kepler, "Let me not seem to have lived in vain." For more than thirty years-- mostly in his native Denmark and then in Prague under the patronage of the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph II-- Tycho had meticulously observed the movements of the planets and the positions of the stars. From these observations he developed his Tychonic system of the universe-- a highly original, if incorrect, scheme that attempted to reconcile the ancient belief that the Earth stood still with Nicolaus Copernicus's revolutionary rearrangement of the solar system some fifty years earlier. Tycho knew that Kepler, the brilliant young mathematician he had engaged to interpret his findings, believed in Copernicus's arrangement, in which all the planets circled the Sun; and he was afraid his system-- the product of a lifetime of effort to explain how the universe worked-- would be abandoned. In point of fact, it was. From his study of Tycho's observations came Kepler's stunning three Laws of Planetary Motion-- ever since the cornerstone of cosmology and our understanding of the heavens. Yet, as Kitty Ferguson reveals, neither of these giant figures would have his reputation today without the other. The story of how their lives and talents were fatefully intertwined is one of the more memorable sagas in the long history of science. Set in a singularly turbulent and colorful era in European history, at the turning point when medieval gave way to modern, Tycho & Kepler is both a highly original dual biography and a masterful recreation of how science advances. From Tycho's fabulous Uraniborg Observatory on an island off the Danish coast to the court of the Holy Roman Emperor, Rudolph II; from the religious conflict of the Thirty Years' War that rocked all of Europe to Kepler's extraordinary leaps of understanding, Ferguson recounts a fascinating interplay of science and religion, politics and personality. Her insights recolor the established characters of Tycho and Kepler, and her book opens a rich window onto our place in the universe.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0802776884/?tag=2022091-20
(In this jargon-free review of one of the most fascinating...)
In this jargon-free review of one of the most fascinating topics in modern science, acclaimed science writer Kitty Ferguson examines the discovery of black holes, their nature, and what they can teach us about the mysteries of the universe. In search of the answers, we trace a star from its birth to its death throes, take a hypothetical journey to the border of a black hole and beyond, spend time with some of the world's leading theoretical physicists and astronomers, and take a whimsical look at some of the wild ideas black holes have inspired. Prisons of Light--Black Holes is comprehensive and detailed. Yet Kitty Ferguson's lightness of touch and down-to-earth analogies set this book apart from all others on black holes and make it a wonderfully stimulating and entertaining read.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521625718/?tag=2022091-20
(What is a black hole? Could we survive a visit to one? Pe...)
What is a black hole? Could we survive a visit to one? Perhaps even venture inside? What would we find? Have we yet discovered any real black holes? And what do black holes teach us about what physicist John Archibald Wheeler called “the deep, happy, mysteries of the universe”? These are just a few of the tantalizing questions examined in this jargon-free review of one of the most fascinating topics in modern science. In search of the answers, we trace a star from its birth to its death throes, take a fabulous hypothetical journey to the border of a black hole and beyond, spend time with some of the world’s leading theoretical physicists and observational astronomers scanning the cosmos for evidence of real black holes, and take a whimsical look at some of the wild ideas black holes have inspired.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00B7H7M2Y/?tag=2022091-20
(A biography of one of the most remarkable figures in theo...)
A biography of one of the most remarkable figures in theoretical physics since Einstein describes Hawking's childhood, Cambridge days, and battle with his illness and discusses his theories. Reprint. AB. K.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/055329895X/?tag=2022091-20
Ferguson, Kitty Gail was born on December 16, 1941 in San Antonio, Texas, United States. Daughter of Herman Alvin and Prestyne Norma (Hocker) Vetter.
Bachelor, Juilliard School of Music, 1965; Master of Science, Juilliard School of Music, 1966.
Freelance singer, New York City, 1965-1972. Music director Community Presbyterian Church, Chester, New Jersey, 1974-1977. Music director/founder Chester Ensemble, 1975-1980.
Music director Brookside (New Jersey) Community Church, 1977-1982, Liberty Corner Presbyterian Church, Liberty Corner, New Jersey, 1982-1986. John Elbridge Hines lecturer science and religion Episcopal Diocese of Newark, 1994. Board advisors John Templeton Foundation, since 2001.
Coordinator St. Peter's-Kothapallimitta Companionship St. Peter's Episcopal Church, Morristown, New Jersey, 2000—2006.
(What is a black hole? Could we survive a visit to one? Pe...)
( “ In this beautifully and intelligently written book, F...)
(In this jargon-free review of one of the most fascinating...)
(In this jargon-free review of one of the most fascinating...)
(A biography of one of the most remarkable figures in theo...)
( The enthralling story of Pythagoras and the Pythagorean...)
( On his deathbed in 1601, the Danish nobleman and greate...)
(The Fire in the Equations: Science, Religion, and the Sea...)
(Discusses the formation and possible behavior of black ho...)
Married Yale Hicks Ferguson, August 26, 1961. Children: Colin Yale, Duff Christopher, Caitlin Christiana.