The 10 Most Beautiful Experiments
by George Johnson
Knopf, HK$184
Science has become so detailed and complex it is usually the preserve of of researchers aided by enormous computing power. This elegant book, written by award-winning science journalist George Johnson, celebrates the time when an inquiring mind, some homemade - and often ingenious - machinery and a stubborn desire to succeed was all that was needed.
Johnson picks 10 classic experiments, then explains the what, how and why of them in a clear, literary English that doesn't skimp on the science. It is a beautiful little book that is as neat and harmonious as the experiments it carefully describes.
Any selection like this is necessarily subjective and Johnson admits his scientific choices are personal. It is not a list of the most influential experiments of all time. Important procedures undertaken by, for instance, geneticist Gregor Mendel and Marie Curie are omitted, but Johnson did have some working criteria for his selections. The experiments had to possess what he calls a classical elegance: he was looking for those that had, for want of a better description, a beautiful simplicity. He chose experiments that were, as far as possible, carried out by one scientist rather than a team. He also decided to choose those performed before computers and computer-modelling software were available to scientists.