Word: bohr
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...Language" (General Tektroniks Labs; 318 pages; $25) takes the comic format on a rare foray into the world of science fact rather than -fiction. Written by Jim Ottaviani and illustrated by Leland Purvis, the book offers an engrossing biography of the life and work of Danish theoretical physicist Niels Bohr, famous for his pioneering work on atomic power...
...Bohr's life (1885 - 1962) is roughly divided into two halves: the years of his seminal contributions to atomic science, and his later role as scientific statesman during and after WW II. Ottaviani and Purvis take care to explain the concepts behind Bohr's multiple scientific breakthroughs, making the book a kind of illustrated primer on atomic physics. It was Bohr, for example, who proposed a model of the atom as a kind of mini solar system, with electrons orbiting around a nucleus. But this had its limits, both experimentally and "philosophically." So he moved to introduce Quantum Mechanics...
...Leland Purvis's black and white art, always readable and clear, moves ably back and forth from conventional comix storytelling to more metaphorical sequences explaining the science. Still, "Suspended in Language" does better at dramatizing Bohr's life than at illuminating his theories. If, like me, you couldn't pass a current high school physics exam, you will likely find much of the high math and various connections between ideas a bit heady and confusing. Fortunately, the pacing of the book is such that even if you don't totally get, say, the importance of Planck's Constant or even...
...Einstein vs. Bohr: Atomic Showdown...
After the drama of discovery in the first half, "Suspended in Language" turns into a something of a cloak-and-dagger thriller. When the Nazis occupied Denmark, Bohr remained under virtual house arrest for both his Jewish heritage and his anti-Nazi worldview. He survived this way until 1943 when, days before being taken away, he escaped to England in the bomber hold of an allied aircraft. Eventually he made his way to the top-secret Manhattan Project where his theories were being tested on the making of a nuclear bomb. He soon became a security concern, however, since...