The Northern Lights

Front Cover
Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group, Dec 18, 2007 - Biography & Autobiography - 320 pages

  Science, biography, and arctic exploration coverage in this extraordinary true story of the life and work of Norwegian scientist Kristian Birkeland, the troubled genius who solved the mysteries of one of nature’s most spectacular displays.  
   Captivated by the otherworldly lights of the aurora borealis, Birkeland embarked on a lifelong quest to discover their cause.  His pursuit took him to some of the most forbidding landscapes on earth, from the remote snowcapped mountains of Norway to the war-torn deserts of Africa.  In the face of rebuke by the scientific establishment, sabotage by a jealous rival, and his own battles with depression and paranoia, Birkeland remained steadfast.  Although ultimately vindicated, his theories were unheralded—and his hopes for the Nobel Prize scuttled—at the time of his suspicious death in 1917.
   The Northern Lights offers a brilliant account of the physics behind the aurora borealis and a rare look inside the mind of one of history's most visionary scientists.

 

Selected pages

Contents

Title Page
9
Aurora Borealis
Land of the Lapps
The Castle
A Warning
Riddle Solved
The Cannon
Mad Dogs
Looking Back from Space
The Divine Option
Vast Infinite Space
Zodiacal Light
The Dusty Disc
Letters from Home
Brittle Remains
Epilogue

The Terrella
The Furnace
Select Bibliography About the Author Copyright Page

Other editions - View all

The Northern Lights: The True Story of the Man Who Unlocked the Secrets of ...
Lucy Jago
No preview available - 2002

Common terms and phrases

Aftenposten Archangelsk Arctic arrived asked auroras BASF began Birkeland wrote Boye Bredal British building Cairo cannon carriage cathode Christiania Christiania University consul crowns decided despite develop Devik Dybwad Earth Egypt Egyptian electric electromagnetic electrons engineers expedition experiments explained Eyde Eyde’s factory fertilizer Finnmark Fridtjof Nansen friends furnace Gunnar Knudsen Hætta Hella Helland Helwan hoped hydroelectric idea instruments invention Johan Kaafjord kilometers Knox-Shaw Knudsen Kristian Birkeland laboratory lecture letter living looked magnetic field magnetic storms magnetometers Mohn morning Næss night Norsk Hydro Northern Lights Norway Norway’s Norwegian Notodden Novaya Zemlya observations observatory Omdurman Parliament particles patent peak photographs polar Professor Birkeland rays reindeer Rjukan Sæland saltpeter scientific scientists séance Skolem snow solar space station summit sunspots Sweden Swedish Talvik telegram Terada terrella theories Tønnes took Tromsø veronal Wallenberg weather wind Wriedt Zodiacal Light

About the author (2007)

Lucy Jago is a former documentary producer for Channel 4 and the BBC. She has been awarded two academic scholarships and a Double First Class Honours Degree from King's College, University of Cambridge, and a master's degree from the Courtauld Institute, London. She lives in Dorset, England.

Bibliographic information

TitleThe Northern Lights
AuthorLucy Jago
PublisherKnopf Doubleday Publishing Group, 2007
ISBN0307429091, 9780307429094
Length320 pages
Subjects ›  › 

Biography & Autobiography / Science & Technology
Science / History
Science / Physics / Geophysics
  
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