Symmetrie ist allgegenwärtig, in der Kunst und Architektur genauso wie im Universum, in der Natur und der Grundstruktur der Materie. In einzigartiger Vielfalt führt das Buch ihre verschiedenen Erscheinungsformen vor Augen und fragt nach ihrem Ursprung.
A Guide to Memorials
This book serves as a guide to the statues, busts, and memorial plaques of notable scientists, explorers, and inventors in London. It highlights the city's significance in trade, navigation, and science, showcasing memorials that reflect contributions to major discoveries and advancements over the past four centuries, complemented by 750 images and engaging anecdotes.
In this memoir, renowned physical chemist István Hargittai recounts his life and career, highlighting over forty influential figures in science. Spanning from the Holocaust to Hungary's current autocratic regime, he shares his educational journey and interactions with numerous Nobel laureates across various scientific fields.
By addressing the enigma of the exceptional success of Hungarian emigrant scientists and telling their life stories, Brilliance in Exile combines scholarly analysis with fascinating portrayals of uncommon personalities. István and Balazs Hargittai discuss the conditions that led to five different waves of emigration of scientists from the early twentieth century to the present. Although these exodes were driven by a broad variety of personal motivations, the attraction of an open society with inclusiveness, tolerance, and – needless to say – better circumstances for working and living, was the chief force drawing them abroad. While emigration from East to West is a general phenomenon, this book explains why and how the emigration of Hungarian scientists is distinctive. The high number of Nobel Prizes among this group is only one indicator. Multicultural tolerance, a quickly emerging, considerably Jewish, urban middle class, and a very effective secondary school system were positive legacies of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Multiple generations, shaped by these conditions, suffered from the increasingly exclusionist, intolerant, antisemitic, and economically stagnating environment, and chose to go elsewhere. "I would rather have roots than wings, but if I cannot have roots, I shall use wings," explained Leo Szilard, one of the fathers of the Atom Bomb.