Radioactivity: From the Curies to the
Atomic Age |
||
(Illus.; from the History of Science series) Franklin Watts Inc. 1986 x+62pp. 0-531-10132-0 Index JH, YA ** |
The theme of this book is summed up in the closing paragraphs, where the author writes, "No scientific discovery ever stands entirely on its own; it is always based on a discovery that came before." In Radioactivity, a short history of the discovery of radiation, McGowen does a beautiful job of linking separate events into a cohesive narrative of scientific inquiry. The discoveries of modern atomic physics are traced from Roentgen's x-rays and Becquerel's radioactivity, through the Curies to J. J. Thomson's electrons and the true nature of the atom. A good chunk of the book is devoted to telling the story of Marie Curie, whose pleasure in research was cut short by the radioactive materials she worked with--they slowly poisoned her and she died of leukemia. If this book has a flaw, it is that the whole story of radiation cannot be covered adequately in so few pages, thus, many topics--especially research done after Curie--are treated superficially. Nevertheless, McGowen has painted a wonderfully clear picture of what radioactivity is and how it was discovered.
--Reviewed by Robert Bly in Science Books and Films, 22/3 (January/February 1987), p. 169.