DOCSLIB.ORG

Fermats Enigma: a Book Review

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Fermats Enigma: a Book Review comm-fermat.qxp 9/15/97 2:04 PM Page 1304 Book Review Fermat’s Enigma Reviewed by Allyn Jackson about Fermat’s Last Fermat’s Enigma: The Epic Quest to Solve the World’s Greatest Mathematical Problem Theorem directed Simon Singh by Singh. (Those in- Walker and Company, New York terested in seeing $22.00 hardcover the program 288 pages should consult their local public Despite the increased interest in Fermat’s Last television stations Theorem since Andrew Wiles announced his proof for broadcast times in 1993, there have been few popular books on the or check the Public subject. In the months immediately following his Broadcasting Sys- announcement, one book capitalized on the mo- tem Web site, ment: The World’s Most Famous Math Problem, by http://www. newspaper columnist Marilyn vos Savant. That pbs.org/. The pro- book suffered from many problems, the worst gram was reviewed being a woefully wrong-headed attempt to dis- in the Notices by credit Wiles’s proof. The only other popular book Andrew Granville, to appear in the U.S. was fortunately much more January 1997, serious. Fermat’s Last Theorem: Unlocking the Secret pages 26–28.) of an Ancient Mathematical Problem by Amir D. Wiles’s proof, which makes use of some of the Aczel, an associate professor of statistics at Bent- deepest and most technically difficult mathemat- ley College, was published in 1996 by Four Walls ics of the twentieth century, presents a formida- Eight Windows. The book received favorable re- ble challenge to any nonexpert who would write views in the popular press (for example, see the about it. Singh, who has a Ph.D. in particle physics New York Times review, available at http://www. from Cambridge University, has done an admirable nytimes.com/books/home/) and was for a short job with an extremely difficult subject. He has also time distributed by the AMS. However, complaints done mathematics a great service by conveying about some mathematical inaccuracies in the book the passion and drama that have carried Fermat’s led the Society to stop selling it. (A review of this Last Theorem aloft as the most celebrated math- book will appear in a future issue of the Notices.) ematics problem of the last four centuries. The Another popular book about Fermat will ap- book landed in the #1 spot on the bestseller list pear in bookstores this month. On October 28 of the The Times of London, proving that “useless” Walker Books will publish Fermat’s Enigma: The mathematics can have a primal fascination for Epic Quest to Solve the World’s Greatest Math- people. ematical Problem by Simon Singh. The publication The book begins with a brief look at that his- is timed to coincide with the broadcast in the toric day, June 23, 1993, when Wiles delivered the United States of The Proof, a BBC documentary last of his three lectures about the proof at the Isaac 1304 NOTICES OF THE AMS VOLUME 44, NUMBER 10 comm-fermat.qxp 9/15/97 2:04 PM Page 1305 Newton Institute in Cambridge, England. He con- equation mod p, for every prime p), though I think cluded by writing Fermat’s famous statement on it is not especially helpful that he decides to call the blackboard and saying, “I think I’ll stop here”; it the E-series instead. (One needs to keep in mind those words provide the title for the first chapter. that the series discussed in the book are power se- Singh then largely leaves Wiles behind and goes into ries, although the book treats them essentially as five chapters’ worth of history about Fermat’s Last numerical sequences consisting of the coefficients Theorem. His discussion of the life and work of of the power series.) He has found a wonderful way Pythagoras makes for absorbing reading and of- to communicate the importance of this series: “In fers the opportunity to fix in the reader’s mind the the same way that biological DNA carries all the idea of proof, using simple examples such as the information required to construct a living organ- Pythagorean theorem. Singh has a knack for fer- ism, the E-series carries the essence of the ellip- reting out interesting historical tidbits and por- tic equation.” traying colorful personalities. However, at times the Not surprisingly, such compelling imagery gets book is unclear about what is fact and what is not. progressively rare as the book wades into the For example, Singh writes that there are no first- deeper waters of Galois theory, modular forms, Iwa- hand accounts of Pythagoras’s life and work, and sawa theory, and the other ingredients of Wiles’s yet a few pages later one finds what is purported proof. Despite a spectacular description of the life to be a direct quotation of Pythagoras. A sentence of Galois and an attempt to describe his work, the about the origin of the quotation would have been book leaves the reader with little understanding of helpful. the power and elegance of Galois theory as it blos- There are other problematic moments in the somed after its creator’s death, and there is little book. In discussing the deep connection that the indication of the role it played in Wiles’s work. Mod- Shimura-Taniyama conjecture proposed between ular forms are a struggle: Singh talks about their the world of elliptic curves and that of modular “inordinate level of symmetry,” but never gets suf- forms, Singh comments on the way that such ficiently specific and vivid to give the reader some- “bridges” in mathematics help mathematicians in thing to carry in mind for the rest of the book. He different areas to share insights. “Mathematics creates more of his own terminology for modular consists of islands of knowledge in a sea of igno- forms: the series that defines a modular form, rance,” as he eloquently puts it. Caught up in the which mathematicians might call the Dirichlet se- imagery, he carries it too far: “The language of ries or the L-series of the form, Singh dubs the M- geometry is quite different from the language of series. The book does not say much about this se- probability, and the slang of calculus is meaning- ries, except to say that it is the list of “ingredients” less to those who speak only statistics.” Not only of the modular form and to liken it also to DNA. does this statement err in implying that statisti- Despite the difficulty of explaining these tech- cians do not know calculus, it also implies that cal- nical points, the discussion of the roots of the culus and geometry are distinct fields. Under some Shimura-Taniyama conjecture is the best part of interpretations, geometry could be said to en- the book. Yutaka Taniyama’s assertion of a con- compass calculus. nection between modular forms and elliptic curves Such small problems occur throughout the book, perplexed mathematicians because it was so far but Singh is such an enthusiastic guide that it is ahead of its time. After Taniyama’s tragic death in easy to forgive them. The best parts of the book 1958, Goro Shimura took Taniyama’s brilliant but intertwine history, personalities, and mathemati- unfinished ideas and built them into what is now cal ideas. Especially effective is the discussion of generally known as the Shimura-Taniyama con- Euler’s work with complex numbers, which brings jecture, which says that the L-series of an elliptic a sense of naturalness and inevitability to an idea curve can be paired with a modular form. This that can seem strange and arbitrary. Singh is story has more poignant drama than many of the equally effective in getting across the difficult no- other historical tales in the book: Singh clearly tion of different “sizes” of infinity, especially in his benefited from having Shimura as a primary source. appeal to the device known as “Hilbert’s Hotel”. Indeed, from that point on many present-day char- Some of the digressions—such as the description acters—Ken Ribet, Barry Mazur, John H. Conway, of public-key cryptography and Gödel’s work on John Coates, and of course Wiles himself—feature undecidable statements—demonstrate the way prominently. that mathematics has influenced nearly every as- As the book explains it, Wiles’s strategy for pect of human endeavor. proving the Shimura-Taniyama conjecture is to The book handles elementary mathematical use induction on both the set of elliptic curves and ideas well, but becomes increasingly vague as the on the set of modular forms—a sort of “double” material becomes more sophisticated. When it induction. There is a clever discussion of proof by comes to elliptic curves, Singh does a good job get- induction, which is likened to toppling dominoes ting at the idea of the L-series (which is defined by knocking over the first one and then proving in terms of the number of solutions to the elliptic that if the nth one goes over, all the rest will fol- NOVEMBER 1997 NOTICES OF THE AMS 1305 comm-fermat.qxp 9/15/97 2:04 PM Page 1306 low. According to the book, Wiles matched the first elements of each of these series and then later was able to show by induction that the rest of the “dominoes” would fall. From what I under- stand of the proof, this is not quite how it goes. Perhaps Singh has presented a reasonable rendi- tion of the proof for a popular work such as this; it would take a reader more expert than I to say for sure.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • June 2014 Society Meetings Society and Events SHEPHARD PRIZE: NEW PRIZE Meetings for MATHEMATICS 2014 and Events Following a Very Generous Tions Open in Late 2014
    LONDONLONDON MATHEMATICALMATHEMATICAL SOCIETYSOCIETY NEWSLETTER No. 437 June 2014 Society Meetings Society and Events SHEPHARD PRIZE: NEW PRIZE Meetings FOR MATHEMATICS 2014 and Events Following a very generous tions open in late 2014. The prize Monday 16 June donation made by Professor may be awarded to either a single Midlands Regional Meeting, Loughborough Geoffrey Shephard, the London winner or jointly to collaborators. page 11 Mathematical Society will, in 2015, The mathematical contribution Friday 4 July introduce a new prize. The prize, to which an award will be made Graduate Student to be known as the Shephard must be published, though there Meeting, Prize will be awarded bienni- is no requirement that the pub- London ally. The award will be made to lication be in an LMS-published page 8 a mathematician (or mathemati- journal. Friday 4 July cians) based in the UK in recog- Professor Shephard himself is 1 Society Meeting nition of a specific contribution Professor of Mathematics at the Hardy Lecture to mathematics with a strong University of East Anglia whose London intuitive component which can be main fields of interest are in page 9 explained to those with little or convex geometry and tessella- Wednesday 9 July no knowledge of university math- tions. Professor Shephard is one LMS Popular Lectures ematics, though the work itself of the longest-standing members London may involve more advanced ideas. of the LMS, having given more page 17 The Society now actively en- than sixty years of membership. Tuesday 19 August courages members to consider The Society wishes to place on LMS Meeting and Reception nominees who could be put record its thanks for his support ICM 2014, Seoul forward for the award of a in the establishment of the new page 11 Shephard Prize when nomina- prize.
    [Show full text]
  • JPBM Communications Award Is Given to He Takes a Particular Interest in Problems That Lie Ian Stewart of the University of Warwick
    comm-jpbm.qxp 3/5/99 3:49 PM Page 568 JPBM Awards Presented in San Antonio The Joint Policy Board for Mathematics (JPBM) The sheer volume of this work is staggering, but Communications Award was established in 1988 the quality is spectacular as well. With clarity and to reward and encourage journalists and other humor, Ian Stewart explains everything from num- communicators who, on a sustained basis, bring ber theory to fractals, from Euclidean geometry to accurate mathematical information to nonmathe- fluid dynamics, from game theory to foundations. matical audiences. Any person is eligible as long He conveys both the beauty and the utility of math- as that person’s work communicates primarily ematics in a way seldom achieved by a single au- with nonmathematical audiences. The lifetime thor, and he does so with charm and eloquence. award recognizes a significant contribution or ac- cumulated contributions to public understanding Biographical Sketch of mathematics. Ian Stewart was born in 1945, did his undergrad- At the Joint Mathematics Meetings in San An- uate degree at Cambridge, and his Ph.D. at Warwick. tonio in January 1999, the 1999 JPBM Communi- He is now a professor at Warwick University and cations Award was presented to IAN STEWART. Below director of the Mathematics Awareness Centre at is the award citation, a biographical sketch, and Warwick. He has held visiting positions in Ger- Stewart’s response upon receiving the award. This many, New Zealand, Connecticut, and Texas. He has is followed by information about a JPBM Special published over 120 papers. His present field is Communications Award presented to JOHN LYNCH the effects of symmetry on nonlinear dynamics, and SIMON SINGH.
    [Show full text]
  • Fermat's Last Theorem
    Fermat's Last Theorem In number theory, Fermat's Last Theorem (sometimes called Fermat's conjecture, especially in older texts) Fermat's Last Theorem states that no three positive integers a, b, and c satisfy the equation an + bn = cn for any integer value of n greater than 2. The cases n = 1 and n = 2 have been known since antiquity to have an infinite number of solutions.[1] The proposition was first conjectured by Pierre de Fermat in 1637 in the margin of a copy of Arithmetica; Fermat added that he had a proof that was too large to fit in the margin. However, there were first doubts about it since the publication was done by his son without his consent, after Fermat's death.[2] After 358 years of effort by mathematicians, the first successful proof was released in 1994 by Andrew Wiles, and formally published in 1995; it was described as a "stunning advance" in the citation for Wiles's Abel Prize award in 2016.[3] It also proved much of the modularity theorem and opened up entire new approaches to numerous other problems and mathematically powerful modularity lifting techniques. The unsolved problem stimulated the development of algebraic number theory in the 19th century and the proof of the modularity theorem in the 20th century. It is among the most notable theorems in the history of mathematics and prior to its proof was in the Guinness Book of World Records as the "most difficult mathematical problem" in part because the theorem has the largest number of unsuccessful proofs.[4] Contents The 1670 edition of Diophantus's Arithmetica includes Fermat's Overview commentary, referred to as his "Last Pythagorean origins Theorem" (Observatio Domini Petri Subsequent developments and solution de Fermat), posthumously published Equivalent statements of the theorem by his son.
    [Show full text]
  • The Book Review Column1 by William Gasarch Dept of Computer Science Univ
    The Book Review Column1 by William Gasarch Dept of Computer Science Univ. of MD at College Park College Park, MD, 20742 email: [email protected] Slight change in information given: in the past I have provided price and ISBN numbers of books. The notion of price is ill-defined: the website www.bestbookbuys.com gives a range of prices from place to purchase books on the web. (amazon.com is usually not the cheapest, and its usually not even close.). Providing ISBN numbers is also not needed in this electronic age where such information is available at the touch of a button. If the price is notable{ either rather high or rather low, this might be mentioned in the review. Welcome to the Book Reviews Column. We hope to bring you at least two reviews of books every month. In this column five books are reviewed. 1. The Codebreakers: The story of secret writing , by David Kahn reviewed by William Gasarch. This is a rather complete history of crypto up to World War II. The key question for us is, should someone doing research in cryptography read this book? 2. The Code Book: The Evolution of Secrecy from Mary Queen of Scots to Quantum Cryptography , by Simon Singh. This book review originally appeared in the Notices of the American Mathematical Society, March 2000, and is reprinted here with permission. Review by Jim Reeds. This is a recent book on the history of crypto that is quite popular. But is it accurate? Read the review to find out. 3. DNA Based Computers V (Proceedings of a Dimacs Workshop) edited by Eric Winfree and David K.
    [Show full text]
  • Historical Cryptography
    Cryptography A Brief History and Introduction MATH/COSC 314 Based on slides by Anne Ho Carolina Coastal University What is cryptography? κρυπτός γράφω “hidden, secret” “writing” ● Cryptology Study of communication securely over insecure channels ● Cryptography Writing (or designing systems to write) messages securely ● Cryptanalysis Study of methods to analyze and break hidden messages Secure Communications Encryption Decryption Key Key Plaintext Ciphertext Plaintext Alice Encrypt Decrypt Bob Eve ● Symmetric Key: Alice and Bob use a (preshared) secret key. ● Public Key: Bob makes an encryption key public that Alice uses to encrypt a message. Only Bob has the decryption key. Possible Attacks Eve (the eavesdropper) is trying to: ● Read Alice’s message. ● Find Alice’s key to read all of Alice’s messages. ● Corrupt Alice’s message, so Bob receives an altered message. ● Pretend to be Alice and communicate with Bob. Why this matters ● Confidentiality Only Bob should be able to read Alice’s message. ● Data integrity Alice’s message shouldn’t be altered in any way. ● Authentication Bob wants to make sure Alice actually sent the message. ● Non-repudiation Alice cannot claim she didn’t send the message. Going back in time… 5th century BC Secret writing and steganography saved Greece from being completely conquered by the Persians. ● Invisible Ink ● Shaved head Steganography vs. Cryptography Steganography hides the existence of a message. Cryptography hides the meaning of a message. Back to 5th century BC Lysander of Sparta used a scytale for encryption. Back to 5th century BC The sender wraps the message around a rod of a fixed diameter. Example: “Help me I am under attack.” H E L P M E I A M U N D E R A T T A C K HENTEIDTLAEAPMRCMUAK ● To decrypt, just wrap strip around a rod of the same diameter.
    [Show full text]
  • Year 11 – Post Easter Reading / Research
    Year 11 – post Easter reading / research A particular well done to those of you who have been maintaining a study structure at home with the help of your teachers. It is vital that you do not allow there to be a 6 months’ gap in your learning and academic studies – resuming these in September after such a long gap will be very difficult otherwise. In due course, the post-16 institutions you have applied to will offer information on transition and induction; if you have any questions about specific courses, they should be able to answer them. For obvious reasons, most teachers will now stop setting specific revision-related tasks, although there may be a few subjects (like Citizenship) that will require you to finish the course. Instead, we have compiled a list of subject-related reading and research intended to help bridge the gap to your post-16 courses (note that these are general suggestions, so please don’t go out spending lots of money on them!). This could be a golden time for you to acquire a range of background knowledge and information that ordinarily you might not have time for – see this highly unusual period as an opportunity! If you felt you wanted to go further and write up some of your findings, the table on the last page offers some advice on the process and possible formats. Remember, you are still a TK student, so do ask relevant teachers if you need any further advice. Best of luck! Mr Patrick Subject Suggested reading / research Art 'Art in Theory 1900-2000: An Anthology of Changing Ideas', Charles Harrison and Paul
    [Show full text]
  • British Centre for Science Education.Pdf
    British Centre for Science Education Share Report Abuse Next Blog» Create Blog Sign In British Centre for Science Education CRISIS - WEDNESDAY, 11 MAY 2011 BLOG ARCHIVE CREATIONISM IN SCHOOLS ISN'T Blog Archive Archive SCIENCE PETITION: SIGNATURE LIST Close that loophole Mr Gove LABELS FEED The BCSE is very pleased to announce that a letter from CrISIS has today been NSS CrISIS Michael Gove Signature #2788 delivered to Michael Gove at the Department for Education formally asking him to Ekklesia BCSE (1) 21st Signature #2787 close the loophole that allows creationists into state funded schools to present Floor (5) A C Grayling Signature #2786 Creationism to our children as a valid scientific fact. (2) A N Wilson (1) AAAS Signature #2785 (2) Adam Frank (1) Adam Rutherford (1) AGW (6) Signature #2784 This is the next part of the CrISIS campaign we told you about here and here - if AIG (8) AIG UK (6) you haven't done so yet - please sign the petition. Alastair Noble (15) Alom Shaha (1) altruism PAGES (1) an evolving creation Home (1) Andrew Brown (2) Andrew Inns (1) Andrew Creationism In Schools Isn't Schlafy (1) Andrew Sibley Science - CrISIS (1) Andrew Snelling (1) AndromedasWake (2) About this Blog Andy McIntosh (4) Free Schools and Anglican (2) Anthony Creationism North (1) Antony Bush BCSE (2) apartheid (1) Downloadable argument from ignorance Resources (1) arguments from Creation Watch improbability (1) AronRa 'Explore Evolution' (3) Art Robinson (1) ASE Exposed (1) Astronomy (2) atheist An Open Letter to (1) Ayala (1) bad religion School
    [Show full text]
  • A Night out with the Nerds Sandra Knapp, James Mallet*
    Open access, freely available online Book Review/Science in the Media A Night Out with the Nerds Sandra Knapp, James Mallet* dd performance to science, the European Organization for Nuclear away.) Then Du Sol’s performance— and the equation results in Research (CERN) (see http:⁄⁄www. accompanied by theramin music and ATheatre of Science. Part scientifi c simonsingh.net). Wiseman is a overlaid with recordings of her talking lecture, part magic show, and part magician (a failed magician, he says, about how she felt while performing, in music and dance, Theatre of Science is as he deliberately drops a card he has particular how she hoped that people an innovative collaboration between palmed). Instead, he is now the world’s didn’t perceive her as a freak—opened Simon Singh and Richard Wiseman. only Professor of Public Understanding up a new dimension. The contrast The cosy atmosphere of the Soho of Psychology, at the University of between her matter-of-fact speech Theatre, stuffed with a lively crowd, Hertfordshire (see http:⁄⁄www. and the tension in the audience was which appeared swelled by a smattering richardwiseman.net). Wiseman’s forte unnerving. of family and friends, makes the is optical illusion, the magician’s stock- Although the show doesn’t end show a personal interchange between in-trade, but most impressive is his with a thunderous bang, it does have performers and audience. Several exploration of quirks of our perception real lightning—every bit as good. This in the audience must have been of ordinary things. “Psychologists today fi nal experiment (or do we mean scientists, judging by appearances: one earnestly debate if anything we see is skit?) requires two six-foot-high, out-of- enthusiastic member of the audience real at all”, he says.
    [Show full text]
  • Read Book the Code Book the Science of Secrecy from Ancient
    THE CODE BOOK THE SCIENCE OF SECRECY FROM ANCIENT EGYPT TO QUANTUM CRYPTOGRAPHY 1ST EDITION PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Simon Singh | 9780385495325 | | | | | The Code Book The Science of Secrecy from Ancient Egypt to Quantum Cryptography 1st edition PDF Book See details. The conspirators were a group of young English Catholic noblemen intent on removing Elizabeth, a Protestant, and replacing her with Mary, a fellow Catholic. The Code Book Simon Singh. Enlarge cover. The challenge for Walsingham was to demonstrate a palpable link between Mary and the plotters. October 4, Sign up Log in. To convey his instructions securely, Histaiaeus shaved the head of his messenger, wrote the message on his scalp, and then waited for the hair to regrow. Mary was gently guided away from the throne and towards the opposite side of the room, to the defendant's seat, a crimson velvet chair. Xerxes had lost the vital element of surprise and, on 23 September bc, when the Persian fleet approached the Bay of Salamis near Athens, the Greeks were prepared. It will also make you wonder how private that e-mail you just sent really is. The further the time progresses, the more complex and with an ever shorter expiration date the techniques of the specialists are provided. August 24, On the morning of her trial, Mary sat alone in the dock, dressed in sorrowful black velvet. Years of imprisonment and the onset of rheumatism had taken their toll, yet she remained dignified, composed and indisputably regal. So we learn how complex codes developed from very simple ones, and Simon explains along the way that there are ancient code Mr Singh manages to explain concepts that should be way beyond this thickie's level of understanding.
    [Show full text]
  • The Code Book.Pdf
    The Code Book • Simon Singh Other Books: Fermat’s Enigma The Big Bang The Code Book • The Science of • Cypher of Mary Secrecy from Ancient Queenof Scotts Egypt to Quantum • Le Chiffre Cryptography Indechiffrable • Mechanization of Secrecy • Cracking the Enigma • Language Barrier (Rosetta Stone) • Digital -- Keys Alice & Bob go ‘Public’. The Code Book (Contents cont’d) • The Science of • Zimmerman –Keys for Secrecy from Ancient the ‘People’ Egypt to Quantum • Deutsch-Quantum Cryptography Computing The Code Book • Summary— • Many schemes of Code are possible & have been employed-- ALL HAVE BEEN BROKEN!! • Core issue is ‘Will the Code be broken (or conversely, safe) within the time required to be relevant ??’ • If an order is transmitted, can it be intercepted and decoded in sufficient time to prevent it from being carried out ?? The Code Book • Code Makers (Encryption-Cipher) and Code Breakers (Decipherment-Cryptanalysis) continue in a never ending intellectual arms race. It is an evolutionary struggle with implications in essentially all aspects of life –personal, religious, political, military, and business. • The Code Book reviews many of these issues, essentially from the earliest time of the history of man to the present. • While there are many books on Codes, Singh has a historical presentation covering the entire field with sufficient depth to be considered SCIENCE. Mary Queen of Scots • Mary’s supporters employed a ‘nomenclator’ for the alphabetic letters (’j’, ‘v’ and ‘w’ not used), and 35 symbols representing words or phrases. Also 4 ‘nulls’ and a ‘doublith’. • The Code was broken, and the carrier of the message to start an uprising was intercepted and Mary later ‘beheaded’.
    [Show full text]
  • Our Mathematical Universe Max Tegmark
    Above and beyond... Must Reads for everyone! 1. Sapiens by Noah Harari 2. Homo Deus by Noah Harari 3. The Silk Roads by Peter Frankopan 4. On this day in history by Dan Snow 5. Life 3.0: being a human in the age of artificial intelligence by Max Tegmark 6. Prisoners of Geography by Tim Marshall 7. A history of the world in 100 objects by Neil MacGregor 8. Mythos - the Greek myths retold by Stephen Fry 9. The language of things by Deyan Sudjic 10. The green imperative by Victor Papanek 11. The secret lives of colour by Kassia St Clair 12. A brief history of everyone who ever lived by Adam Rutherford 13. Statistics without tears by Derek Rowntree 14. Hello World—how to be human in an age of the machine by Hannah Fry 15. Can a robot be human? 33 perplexing philosophy puzzles by Peter Cave Above and beyond... ART & DESIGN The story of art E H Gombrich Old mistresses Griselda Pollock On painting Leon Battista Alberti The photograph as Charlotte Cotton contemporary art Modern Art: a very short David Cottington introduction Concerning the spiritual in art Wassily Kandinsky B is for Bauhaus Deyan Sudjic Art theory: a very short Cynthia Freeland introduction The Golden Thread: how fabric Kassia St Clair changed history After modern art: 1945-2017 David Hopkins Above and beyond... BIOLOGY The selfish gene Richard Dawkins The immortal life of Henrietta Rebecca Skloot Lacks Genome Matt Ridley Why evolution is true Jerry Coyne The epigenetics revolution Nessa Carey Mapping the deep Robert Kunzig The diversity of life Ed O Wilson Life Richard Fortey Almost like a whale Steve Jones The greatest show on Earth – Richard Dawkins the evidence for evolution Above and beyond..
    [Show full text]
  • Together on the Frontline of the Ght with MS
    PLUGGED IN Life as a blogging professor // SPLASH : Water polo and London 2012 Voyages of particle discovery ➺ KEEPING UP WITH MASCOT RIVALRIES ➺ A grand passion for aviation THE MAGA ZINE OF IMPERIAL COLLEGE LONDON Winter 2012–13 brains trust Together on the frontline of the ght with MS WELCOME | winter 2012–13 FROM THE ➜ inside issue 38 PRESIDENT & RECTOR Sta • Editor-in-Chief: Tom Miller (Biology 1995) • Creative Director: Beth Elzer Hungry for experiences that stretch them and nourish them, • Editor-at-Large and Features Imperial students go well beyond the nerd Editor: Natasha Martineau (MSc Science Communication 1994) • News Editor: Simon Watts • Managing Editors: Pamela Our 2012–13 University Agar, Saskia Daniel Challenge team jokingly referred • Sub Editor and Distribution: to the reputation of Imperial Saskia Daniel students as nerds who can x 32 Behind the scenes • Designers: Abby Lloyd-Pack, a computer but can’t appreciate BODY OF KNOWLEDGE Beth Elzer a good novel. ey went on The virtual cadaver that’s • Contributors: Elizabeth Atkin, to thrash the competition transforming anatomy training Olivia Davenport, Caroline Davis, in their rst match – their John-Paul Jones, Simon Levey, countless winning responses to 34 Going public Kerry Noble, Emily Ross-Joannou, arts and humanities questions I PROFESS Colin Smith, Elizabeth Swi, giving them the edge. Structural biologist Stephen Katie Weeks, Sam Wong (MSc Curry on life as a blogging Science Communication 2009) I’ve watched Imperial students STUDENT EXPLORERS professor tussle on the sports pitch and Over the summer members of The magazine for Imperial’s sing enchantingly in the Royal Imperial College Caving Club 37 Travel friends, supporters and alumni, Albert Hall and am continually helped discover Slovenia’s President & 18 Feature CERN COURIER including former students of in awe of their wide-ranging longest cave system.
    [Show full text]