Biographies About
Brilliant Mathematicians & Physicists

Discover the secrets, breakthroughs, and master calculations of those who
took on complex problems and changed the course of history.

Asked to name a great physicist, most people would mention Newton or Einstein, Feynman or Hawking. But ask a physicist and there’s no doubt that James Clerk Maxwell will be near the top of the list. Maxwell was an unassuming Victorian Scotsman....

The incredible true story of the greatest codebreaking duo that ever lived, an American woman and her husband who invented the modern science of cryptology together....

In March 2006, the world’s richest men sipped champagne in an opulent New York hotel. They were preparing to compete in a poker tournament with ­million-dollar stakes. At the card table that night was Peter Muller, who managed a fabulously successful hedge fund called PDT....

From Jim Holt, New York Times best-selling author, comes this entertaining and accessible audiobook guide to the most profound scientific and mathematical ideas of recent centuries....

In How the Laser Happened, Nobel laureate Charles Townes provides a highly personal look at some of the leading events in 20th-century physics....

Thinking in Numbers will change the way you think about math and fire your imagination to see the world with fresh eyes....

From its opening minutes on his youthful obsession with motorcycles and speed, On the Move is infused with his restless energy....

Toward the end of the 19th century, one of the most brilliant mathematicians in history languished in an asylum...

From the author of the national best seller Chaos comes an outstanding biography of one of the most dazzling and flamboyant scientists of the 20th century....

Enrico Fermi is unquestionably among the greats of the world's physicists, the most famous Italian scientist since Galileo....

A powerful defense of intellectual freedom told through the ordeals of contemporary scientists attacked for exploring controversial ideas, by a noted science historian....

Augustin Fresnel (1788–1827) shocked the scientific elite with his unique understanding of the physics of light. The lens he invented was a brilliant feat of engineering....

This is the untold story of an eccentric Wall Street tycoon and the circle of scientific geniuses he assembled before World War II to develop the science for radar and the atomic bomb. Together they changed the course of history....

Harvard geometer and Fields medalist Shing-Tung Yau has provided a mathematical foundation for string theory, offered new insights into black holes, and mathematically demonstrated the stability of our universe. In this autobiography, Yau reflects on his improbable journey....

Hubble's discoveries changed our knowledge of our place in the universe forever. His determination that the universe is expanding served as the foundation for the big bang theory....

One of the most famous intellectuals to hail from Denmark is Niels Bohr, a world-famous physicist and one of the patriarchs of quantum theory. Given the peaceful haven that is Denmark today, it’s somewhat ironic that Bohr played an instrumental role in the development of the atomic bomb...

Galileo Galilei was the foremost scientist of his day. Though he never left Italy, his inventions and discoveries were heralded around the world.....