Background
Philip Charles Ball was born on October 30, 1962, in Newport, United Kingdom. He is the son of David and Jennifer (Porter) Ball.
Philip Ball studied at Oxford University from 1979 to 1983.
Philip Ball studied at the University of Bristol from 1983 to 1988.
(Some of the most exciting scientific developments in rece...)
Some of the most exciting scientific developments in recent years have come not from theoretical physicists, astronomers, or molecular biologists but instead from the chemistry lab.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B010WEP5XU/?tag=2022091-20
(Devising and performing a scientific experiment is an art...)
Devising and performing a scientific experiment is an art, and it is common to hear scientists talk about the 'beauty' of an experiment. What does this mean in chemistry, the experimental science par excellence? And what are the most beautiful chemical experiments of all time? This book offers ten suggestions for where beauty might reside in experimental chemistry.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0854046747/?tag=2022091-20
(“Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not unde...)
“Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not understood it.” Since Niels Bohr said this many years ago, quantum mechanics has only been getting more shocking. We now realize that it’s not really telling us that “weird” things happen out of sight, on the tiniest level, in the atomic world: rather, everything is quantum.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07H9HNDYL/?tag=2022091-20
(Though at first glance the natural world may appear overw...)
Though at first glance the natural world may appear overwhelming in its diversity and complexity, there are regularities running through it, from the hexagons of a honeycomb to the spirals of a seashell and the branching veins of a leaf.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/022633242X/?tag=2022091-20
(From Egyptian wall paintings to the Venetian Renaissance,...)
From Egyptian wall paintings to the Venetian Renaissance, impressionism to digital images, Philip Ball tells the fascinating story of how art, chemistry, and technology have interacted throughout the ages to render the gorgeous hues we admire on our walls and in our museums.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0226036286/?tag=2022091-20
(After World War II, most scientists in Germany maintained...)
After World War II, most scientists in Germany maintained that they had been apolitical or actively resisted the Nazi regime, but the true story is much more complicated. In Serving the Reich, Philip Ball takes a fresh look at that controversial history, contrasting the career of Peter Debye, director of the Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Physics in Berlin, with those of two other leading physicists in Germany during the Third Reich.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/022620457X/?tag=2022091-20
(From Bach fugues to Indonesian gamelan, from nursery rhym...)
From Bach fugues to Indonesian gamelan, from nursery rhymes to rock, music has cast its light into every corner of human culture. But why music excites such deep passions, and how we make sense of musical sound at all, are questions that have until recently remained unanswered. Now in The Music Instinct, award-winning writer Philip Ball provides the first comprehensive, accessible survey of what is known--and still unknown--about how music works its magic, and why, as much as eating and sleeping, it seems indispensable to humanity.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0199896429/?tag=2022091-20
(Are there any "laws of nature" that influence the ways in...)
Are there any "laws of nature" that influence the ways in which humans behave and organize themselves? In the seventeenth century, tired of the civil war ravaging England, Thomas Hobbes decided that he would work out what kind of government was needed for a stable society.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008BJ0HQ4/?tag=2022091-20
Philip Charles Ball was born on October 30, 1962, in Newport, United Kingdom. He is the son of David and Jennifer (Porter) Ball.
Philip received Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from Oxford University, United Kingdom, in 1983. He then got Ph.D. in Physics from the University of Bristol, United Kingdom, in 1988.
Philip Ball began his career as an editor for the journal Nature in 1988. Today he is the author of numerous scientific works. In his first book, Designing the Molecular World: Chemistry at the Frontier, Ball defines chemistry’s contributions and potentials, covering such topics as fullerenes, chemical reactions, quasi-periodic solids, living organisms, fractals, chaos theory, and the chemistry of earth's atmosphere. Ball emphasizes the importance of input from other disciplines, including electronics, biology, and climatology, covers the achievements of chemists over the last two decades, and reveals the actions, properties, research, impacts, and consequences of the chemistry process within various subject areas.
Ball’s Made to Measure: New Materials for the Twenty-first Century was called a “far-reaching work” by contributor Robert C. Ballou in Library Journal. Subjects include nanotechnology, photonics - which Ball feels will one day replace electronics - and “smart” materials, which he projects will displace machines. He discusses materials scientists have created, or are planning to create, that will advance technology and have unforeseen consequences. Ball describes the role of material scientists in developing artificial body parts and future advances in medicine, including combining molecular biology and materials science in growing new organs and the use of silicon chips in controlling malfunctioning brains. He writes that the development of new materials, including solar cells, will help in decreasing pollution.
In The Self-made Tapestry: Pattern Formation in Nature, Ball challenges the presumptions that complex patterns are guided by intelligence and in nature are the result of natural selection. The book includes more than four hundred photographs and line drawings. In his thesis, Ball discusses how nature-derived patterns such as the spots of leopards, stripes of zebras, and honeycombs of bees are self-organized and how some patterns are universal. He demonstrates how nature’s patterns evolve from simple physical laws and links the fields of chemistry, biology, geology, mathematics, and physics in his explanations.
Ball now writes a regular column in Chemistry World. He has contributed to publications ranging from New Scientist to the New York Times, The Guardian, the Financial Times and New Statesman. He is the regular contributor to Prospect magazine, and also a columnist for Chemistry World, Nature Materials and BBC Future. He has broadcast on many occasions on radio and TV.
(From Egyptian wall paintings to the Venetian Renaissance,...)
(Are there any "laws of nature" that influence the ways in...)
(Though at first glance the natural world may appear overw...)
(Some of the most exciting scientific developments in rece...)
(After World War II, most scientists in Germany maintained...)
(The brilliantly told and gripping story of the most famil...)
(Patterns are everywhere in nature - in the ranks of cloud...)
(Devising and performing a scientific experiment is an art...)
(From Bach fugues to Indonesian gamelan, from nursery rhym...)
(This book introduces a general audience to one of today's...)
(“Anyone who is not shocked by quantum theory has not unde...)