{"product_id":"ben-franklin-stilled-the-waves-an-informal-history-of-pouring-oil-on-water-with-reflections-on-the-ups-and-downs-of-scientific-life-in-general-9780192804945","title":"Ben Franklin Stilled the Waves: An Informal History of Pouring Oil on Water with Reflections on the Ups and Downs of Scientific Life in General","description":"\u003cp\u003e • Author(s): Charles Tanford\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher: OUP Oxford\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher Imprint: OUP Oxford\u003cbr\u003e • BISAC: History\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eBenjamin Franklin was the first to report the phenomenon of oil's power to still troubled waters and to speculate on why it happened. A century later Lord Rayleigh performed an identical experiment. Irving Langmuir did it with minor variations in 1917, and won a Nobel Prize for it. Then Langmuir's work was followed by a Dutch pediatrician's in 1925.  p Each experimenter saw a little more in the result than his predecessor had seen, and the sciences of physics, chemistry and biology have all been illuminated by the work.  p Charles Tanford reflects on the evolving nature of science and of individual scientists. Recounting innovations in each trial, he follows the classic experiment from Franklin's drawing room to our present-day institutionalized scientific establishments and speculates on the ensuing changes in our approach to scientific inquiry.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"OUP Oxford","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":47613869031575,"sku":"9780192804945","price":2741.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/3471\/1191\/files\/9780192804945.webp?v=1775088511","url":"https:\/\/atlanticbooks.com\/products\/ben-franklin-stilled-the-waves-an-informal-history-of-pouring-oil-on-water-with-reflections-on-the-ups-and-downs-of-scientific-life-in-general-9780192804945","provider":"Atlantic Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}