Volume 94 | Number 1 | January-February 2006
David Mumford
A review of Introduction to Circle Packing: The Theory of Discrete Analytic Functions, by Kenneth Stephenson. Imagine packing many small circles inside one big one, as efficiently as possible
David Hollinger
A review of The Ruin of J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Birth of the Modern Arms Race, by Priscilla J. McMillan; American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer, by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin; and J. Robert Oppenheimer and the American Century, by David C. Cassidy. Three new biographies of Oppenheimer leave the reader almost numbed by the extent and ferocity of the novel pressures he faced.
Victor Katz
A review of The Calculus Gallery: Masterpieces from Newton to Lebesgue, by William Dunham and Musings of the Masters: An Anthology of Mathematical Reflections, edited by Raymond G. Ayoub. Exemplary essays on important results in calculus and the thoughts of well-known research mathematicians on topics outside their areas of specialty
Susan Harrison
A review of The Shrinking World: Ecological Consequences of Habitat Loss, by Ilkka Hanski. A leading conservation ecologist considers whether changes in the spatial configuration of habitat are likely to have a major effect on species survival
Susan Lanzoni
A review of Nerve Endings: The Discovery of the Synapse, by Richard Rapport and The War of the Soups and the Sparks: The Discovery of Neurotransmitters and the Dispute over How Nerves Communicate, by Eliot Valenstein. How creative leaps led to discoveries about the structure of the neuron and the transmission of nerve impulses
Peter Abrams
A review of The Geographic Mosaic of Coevolution, by John N. Thompson. An authoritative source describes the latest research in one of the most important areas of evolutionary biology
Andrew Smith
A review of The Unfolding of Language: An Evolutionary Tour of Mankind's Greatest Invention, by Guy Deutscher
Seymour Mauskopf
A review of A World on Fire: A Heretic, an Aristocrat, and the Race to Discover Oxygen, Joe Jackson and
Paul Lucier
A review of Charles Darwin, Geologist, by Sandra Herbert. Years before revolutionizing biology, Darwin cut his scientific teeth on geological mysteries
Total Records : 12
About once a month at Sigma Xi headquarters, we liven up the lunch hour with an American Scientist Pizza Lunch talk. In these informal lectures, scientists describe new research to nonscientists. The series is light on jargon but heavy on solid science. Each Pizza Lunch offers an in-depth look at its subject, whether it's bedbugs or the smart grid. Click below to read about and download these talks -- and to subscribe!
