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KNOWING EVERYTHING ABOUT NOTHING Specialization and Change In Scientific Careers. John Ziman. Cambridge University Press, New York 1987. 196 pp. $29.95. The title of this book and the reputation of its author led me to hope for an insightful analysis of how the ever-increasing specialization of research has shaped modern science. What would 19th-century giants such as Helmholtz think of a scientific enterprise that generated half a million research papers per year, most of which are largely u

VOICE OF THE UNIVERSE Building the Jodrell Bank Telescope. Revised and updated edition. Bernard Lovell. Praeger Publishers. New York, 1987. 300 pp. $14.95 PS. The revised and updated version of Bernard Lovell’s 1968 book The Story of Jodrell Bank traces the growth of a true symbol of the modern space age—the radio astronomy observatory at the University of Manchester. It covers the early studies of meteor trails, development of the 250-foot radio telescope and its subsequent triu

THE FASEB JOURNAL Official Publication of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. Vol. 1, nos.1, 2 and 3, Rockville, MD, 1987. The Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB), in an apparent attempt to make a greater impact on biological science, has replaced its Federation Proceedings with The FASEB Journal. No longer limited to abstracts and programs of annual meetings and occasional symposia, the new journal is designed to be interdisciplinary,

Recent science and engineering graduates are entering a better job market than reports on two national surveys might indicate. A 25% percent decline in job offers to the class of 1987, reported by the College Placement Council, is in part the result of an 11 percent decline in the number of placement offices that participated in its 27th annual salary survey. Likewise, a 12 percent decline in job offers to the class of 1986, reported by the 1987 Northwestern Endicott-Lindquist survey of 230 U.

LONDON-Theres no shortage of obscure prose in the scientific literature, judging from entries to competition organized by The Veterinary Record, which recently announced the winner. He is Martin Gregory of Weybridge, England who submitted a sentence from G.W. Arnold and ML. Dudzinski’s book Ethology of FreeR anging Domestic Animals (ier, 1978) The authors wrote: “That the sense of smell used by these cattle was established because of the marked audible variation in inhalation inte

WHO’S WHO IN SCIENCE IN EUROPE A Biographical Guide in Science. Technology, Agriculture, and Medicine. Fifth edition. Longman Group Ltd.. Essex, UK, 1987. 3 vols. 2,880 pp. £395. Distributed in the United States and Canada by Gale Research Co., Detroit, MI. $695. Despite initial astonishment at finding distinguished Spanish biochemist and new UNESCO Director-General Federico Mayor’s name omitted, and mild amusement on discovering that social scientists continue to be ignored

WHO GOT EINSTEIN’S OFFICE? Eccentricity and Genius at the Institute for Advanced Study. Ed Regjs. Addison-Wesley, Reading, MA. 1987. 320 pp. $17.95. Since Albert Einstein’s sojourn there, the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey has enjoyed a worldwide reputation as a preeminent think-tank. As the author, philosopher Ed Regis, puts it, the institute is a “Platonic Heaven” where esoteric thinkers can muse about the most abstract forms of the universe. H

COMPUTATIONAL PHYSICS Physics Today. October 1987. Vol. 40, no. 10. Pages 25-72. American Institute of Physics, New York. The special articles in the October 1987 issue of Physics Today explore not only the use of computers by scientists, but also the discipline of computational science—a mode of operation complementary to, and distinguishable from, the familiar methods of theoretical and experimental science. The introduction and four review articles show clearly that computer simulati

LA RECHERCHE MAL MENEE (Research Misled.) Pierre Piganiol, Editions Larousse. Pals, 1987 288 pp. Fr 69 The Creativity of French research is on the decline. State-supported research is too isolated from industry, too centralized and often “functionnalized,” to the extent that researchers are discouraged from physical as well as intellectual mobility. The most prestigious engineering schools have not given enough importance to research, but often serve as stepladders for students to

DOCTORS IN SCIENCE AND SOCIETY Essays of a Clinincal Scientist Christopher C. Booth. The Memoir Club. British Medical Journal, London, 1987. 318 pp. £14.95. Distributed in the U.S. by Taylor & Francis. Philadelphia. $32. As a student at Oxford in the early ‘70s, I shared a house with an odd assortment of characters, one of whom was researching a 10th century English king. One day he burst into the house in great excitement, proclaiming he had just found a manuscript that carried m

“The unleashed power of the atom has changed everything save our modes of thinking" wrote Albert Einstein in 1946. A new book, Breakthrough: Emerging New Thinking (Walker and Co., 1988), attempts to change those modes of thinking. The Beyond War Foundation, a nonprofit educational group, brought together dozens of scholars from Western nations and the Soviet Union to discuss the politics, science and ethics of nuclear disarmament. In this excerpt from the book, which is also being publish

"Bizarre Bifocals," by Editorial "That Nagging Feeling," by Donald E. Fink "No Longer a Mad Scientist's Dream," by Clive Hollands "Biology Behind Bars," by Editorial "An Appalling Appearance," by "Reagans Science Aide Cautious on Expanded Soviet Ties" "Are Proper Processes In Place?," by Stuart Pugh "Profit or Perish," by Calvin Sims "Too Much Redundancy," by Larry W. Sumney "More Spin-Ins Than Spin-Offs," by Lester C. Thurow "Selling Science," by John R. Hensley "Invent