FANTASTIC REALITIES
49 Mind Journeys and A Trip to Stockholm
by Frank Wilczek (MIT) with a contribution from Betsy Devine
Table of Contents (69k)
When Words Fail (65k)
Advice to Students (48k)
Archaeopteryx (833k)
Review from Nature (218k)
Podcast of Frank Wilczek and Betsy Devine's interview with Steve Mirsky of Scientific American
The fantastic reality that is modern physics is open for your exploration, guided by one of its primary architects and interpreters, Nobel Prize winner Frank Wilczek.
Some jokes, some poems, and extracts from wife Betsy Devine's sparkling chronicle of what it's like to live through a Nobel Prize provide easy entertainment. There's also some history, some philosophy, some exposition of frontier science, and some frontier science, for your lasting edification.
49 pieces, including many from Wilczek's award-winning Reference Frame columns in Physics Today, and some never before published, are gathered by style and subject into a dozen chapters, each with a revealing, witty introduction.
Profound ideas, presented with style: What could be better? Enjoy.
Frank Wilczek has received many prizes for his work in physics, including the Nobel Prize of 2004 for work he did as a graduate student at Princeton University, when he was only 21 years old. He is known, among other things, for the discovery of asymptotic freedom, the development of quantum chromodynamics, axions, and the discovery and exploitation of new forms of quantum statistics (anyons).
Frank is also known for his ability to communicate successfully with a wide range of audiences. Much in demand for public lectures, he has been anthologized in the Norton Anthology of Light Verse and twice in Best American Science Writing (2003, 2005). Together with his wife Betsy Devine, he wrote a beautiful book, Longing for the Harmonies.
Frank is currently the Herman Feshbach professor of physics at MIT. Betsy Devine, who blogs at “Funny Ha-Ha or Funny Peculiar”, rejoices at being the fourth “Betsy” in Google.
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