A Force of Nature, Richard Reeves
A Force of Nature, Richard Reeves
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A Force of Nature
The Frontier Genius of Ernest Rutherford

Author: Richard Reeves

Narrator: Alex Hyde-White

Unabridged: 5 hr 7 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Published: 06/28/2022

Synopsis

A new intellectual biography of Ernest Rutherford, the twentieth century’s greatest experimental physicist.Ernest Rutherford, who grew up in colonial New Zealand and came to Cambridge on a scholarship, made numerous revolutionary discoveries, among them the orbital structure of the atom and the concept of the “half-life” of radioactive materials, which led to a massive re-evaluation of the age of the earth―previously judged just 100 million years old. Above all, perhaps, Rutherford and the young men working under him were the first to split the atom, unlocking tremendous forces―forces, as Rutherford himself predicted, that would bring us the atomic bomb. Rutherford, awarded a Nobel Prize and made Baron Rutherford by the queen of England, was also a great ambassador of science, coming to the aid of colleagues caught in the Nazi and Soviet regimes. Under Rutherford’s rigorous and boisterous direction, a whole new generation of remarkable physicists emerged. In Richard Reeves’s hands, Rutherford leaps off the page, a ruddy, genial man and a towering figure in scientific history.

About Richard Reeves

Richard Reeves is the bestselling author of presidential biographies, including President Nixon and President Kennedy, acclaimed as the best nonfiction book of the year by Time magazine. A syndicated columnist and winner of the American Political Science Association’s Carey McWilliams Award, he lives in New York and Los Angeles.

About Alex Hyde-White

Alex Hyde-White is an actor and a producer of two films and hundreds of audiobooks thru his label Punch Audio.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Erik on October 17, 2018

It's my custom to bring a book along to read on plane trips and present to hosts upon arriving at my destination. I chose this because it was short enough to finish en route to San Francisco and because Tom, the host, has an abiding interest in physics. While including the author's involvement in rep......more

Goodreads review by Jacob on June 12, 2017

This book sheds light on a forgotten hero of our society. A Force of Nature: The Frontier Genius of Ernest Rutherford explains Rutherford's life and what he did to help civilization advance. Richard Reeves did a great job writing his experiments.......more

Goodreads review by Ari on February 16, 2024

This is a short and lively account of Ernest Rutherford, focusing mostly on his professional work. It is overwhelmingly written from secondary sources, and the author repeatedly refers the reader to the much longer and more detailed biography by Wilson. The physics is explained decently, but not in......more

Goodreads review by Bruce on August 02, 2020

If you're heavily into science, don't expect too much from this book. If you want to know about a man who, as the title describes, was a 'force of nature' this goes a long way to showing just what Rutherford achieved. At least eleven of his students and associates received the Nobel Prize- the last......more

Quotes

“Reeves deploys his considerable writing skill in portraying Rutherford’s personality [and] capturing the full aspect of the man.” Booklist (starred review)

“While short, this biography does an outstanding job of capturing the excitement and almost breathless pace of physics research in the twentieth century’s first four decades.” Publishers Weekly

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