A Matter of Degrees: What Temperature Reveals about the Past and Future of Our Species, Planet, and Universe (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780142002780)

In a wonderful synthesis of science, history, and imagination, Gino Segrè, an internationally renowned theoretical physicist, embarks on a wide-ranging exploration of how the fundamental scientific concept of temperature is bound up with the very essence of both life and matter. Why is the internal temperature of most mammals fixed near 98.6 ? How do geologists use temperature to track the history of our planet? Why is the quest for absolute zero and its quantum mechanical significance the key to understanding superconductivity? And what can we learn from neutrinos, the subatomic "messages from the sun" that may hold the key to understanding the birth-and death-of our solar system? In answering these and hundreds of other temperature-sensitive questions, Segrè presents an uncanny view of the world around us.

Author: Gino Segre
ISBN-10: 014200278X
ISBN-13: 9780142002780
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Language: English
Published: 07/01/2003
Pages: 320
Format: Paperback
Weight: 0.49lbs
Size: 7.80h x 5.12w x 0.60d

Review Citation(s):
Kliatt 01/01/2004 pg. 36