Light Years: An Exploration of Mankind's Enduring Fascination with Light (MacSci) [Paperback]

Brian Clegg is fascinated by light, and his sense of wonder comes across clearly in the engagingly written Light Years. He takes us on a tour of the human exploration of light, from early Chinese and Greek philosophers through Arabic and medieval European investigations to the most recent scientific breakthroughs, pausing on the way to admire how artists such as Turner and Manet incorporated ideas about light into their work. Light has many crucial functions: sunlight is the source of all life on Earth; the speed of light is fundamental to Einstein's theory of special relativity; a constant exchange of photons within atoms helps keep matter stable. It's a fascinating subject, and Clegg clearly explains the evolving theories of the nature of light, covering the work of dozens of scientists. In a series of refreshingly lively short biographies, he animates their varied lives and places their research into historical context, as light's complex nature was gradually revealed and some of its power harnessed. From photography to lasers, light has opened up vast realms of technical possibilities--from fibre optic communications to holographic storage of data. Recent research activity has seen light slowed down almost to a standstill, while others have even pushed light beams faster than Einstein's absolute-maximum speed limit of 300,000 kilometres per second. It seems certain that light will play a major part in the technologies of the 21st century, and this book may well whet the reader's appetite to learn more. --Elizabeth Sourbut --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Reviews for previous editions:

'Extraordinary, humorous, interesting, awesome' - NewScientist

'Immensely likeable' - Guardian

'A fascinating book on a fascinating subject' - Sir Patrick Moore CBE

'Illuminates and entertains' - Sir Clive Sinclair

The fully updated 2nd edition of this critically acclaimed book covers the exciting developments in light science of the past five years. Light Years is an engaging survey of everything we know of the universe's most enigmatic phenomenon and the remarkable people who have been captivated by it.

BRIAN CLEGG has written five popular science books, including A Brief History of Infinity and The God Effect, and twenty business books; these have been translated into many languages, including German, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Polish, Turkish, Norwegian, Thai and Indonesian. Brian runs the website www.popularscience.co.uk and writes, lectures and broadcasts widely about science. He studied Natural Sciences at Cambridge University and Operational Research at Lancaster University, UK, and is a fellow of the Royal Society of Arts. He founded the Emerging Technologies Group at British Airways before setting up his own creativity consultancy, working with clients including the BBC, the Meteorological Office, GlaxoSmithKline, Zurich Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland. Brian lives in a Wiltshire village with his wife and twins.