Did you know that Voltaire was the first to publish the legend of Isaac Newton discovering gravity upon seeing an apple fall? That he tried for about eight years to be a mathematician? That in 1752 he wrote Micromégas, a story about a French expedition to the arctic (1736-7) whose purpose was to test Newton's controversial theories about gravity? This book is about that story and its underlying mathematics. In summary, an alien giant visits earth and encounters the expedition returning from north of the Baltic Sea. Their ensuing dialogue ranges from measurements of the very small to the very large, from gnats and microorganisms to planets and stars, from man's tendency to make war to dreams of understanding his own spirit. At the end of their conversation, the giant gives man a book with the answers to all things. But when they open it, it is blank. That is the riddle of this book. What does such an ending mean? As a series of vignettes and chapters, the author gives some riddle resolutions. The vignettes (requiring no special mathematics knowledge) describe the people, traditions, and events of the expedition and story. The chapters (accessible to anyone with a background in undergraduate linear algebra, vector calculus, and differential equations) show why a rotating earth must be flattened at the poles, why the tip of the earth's polar axis traces out a curve with period of nearly twenty-six thousand years, why the path of a small black hole dropped at the earth's equator must be a hypocycloid, why an old problem studied by Maupertuis (the leader of the French expedition) is a pursuit curve, and why in measuring phenomena we sometimes get it wrong. All in all, this book is a case study in how mathematical and scientific knowledge becomes common knowledge.

A new translation directly from the original French manuscript of Voltaire's 1752 Micromégas. This edition also contains supplemental material on Voltaire including an afterword by the translator, a timeline of Voltaire's life and works, summaries of each of the works in his corpus, and a glossary of Philosophic Terminology used by Voltaire. This is Voltaire's philosophical novel about giants from other planets who visit Earth and interact with its inhabitants. This is one of the first Science Fiction novels ever written, similar to The Day the Earth Stood Still or War of the Worlds. To two giant beings, one from Sirius and the other from Saturn, visit Earth and interact with humans. The extraordinary story is a satire on human vanity and the limitations of human knowledge and experience, and it reflects Voltaire's fascination with Newtonian science, planet formation and rational inquiry. The Saturnian and the Sirian find the philosophy of man to be laughable, but marvel and wonder at the genius of the philosophical Moths.

Something between a tale and a polemic, these "fables of reason" are feats of narrative compression and contain much of Voltaire's best and funniest writing. From ribald tales of adultery to conversations between cosmic travellers, the stories in this collection pose moral, philosophical and social questions. Reader and protagonist alike find their assumptions challenged as Voltaire mingles rationality and fantasy.

The possible upgrade of LHC or a future generation of colliders at the extreme limits of energy and luminosity will require detectors based on very advanced technological solutions to fully exploit the physics opportunities offered. Major steps must be taken to design and realize devices that are able not only to handle very high rates but also to cope with the very harsh radiation environment without suffering any performance degradation.This book reviews the present status, current limits and recent developments in detection techniques and related aspects (simulation, signal acquisition, tracking, particle identification, etc.). Novel ideas in this domain are discussed with emphasis on the directions in which improvements in proven techniques are desired.The proceedings have been selected for coverage in: OCo Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings- (ISTP- / ISI Proceedings)OCo Index to Scientific & Technical Proceedings (ISTP CDROM version / ISI Proceedings)OCo CC Proceedings OCo Engineering & Physical Sciences"

Study of nature and the world around us has been a primary motivation for scientists and researchers for centuries. Advanced methods in the study of elementary particles have led to even greater discoveries in recent years. Innovative Applications and Developments of Micro-Pattern Gaseous Detectors focuses on the analysis and use of various gas detection systems, providing a detailed description of some of the most commonly used gas detectors and the science behind them. From early detectors to modern tools and techniques, this book will be of particular use to practitioners and researchers in chemical engineering and materials science, in addition to students and academicians concentrating in the field.

Includes Part One of Candide; three stories; selections from The Philosophical Dictionary, The Lisbon Earthquake, and other works; and thirty-five letters.

'If this is the best of all possible worlds, then what must the others be like?' Young Candide is tossed on a hilarious tide of misfortune, experiencing the full horror and injustice of this 'best of all possible worlds' - the Old and the New - before finally accepting that his old philosophy tutor Dr Pangloss has got it all wrong. There are no grounds for his daft theory of Optimism. Yet life goes on. We must cultivate our garden, for there is certainly room for improvement. Candide is the most famous of Voltaire's 'philosophical tales', in which he combined witty improbabilities with the sanest of good sense. First published in 1759, it was an instant bestseller and has come to be regarded as one of the key texts of the Enlightenment. What Candide does for chivalric romance, the other tales in this selection - Micromegas, Zadig, The Ingenu, and The White Bull - do for science fiction, the Oriental tale, the sentimental novel, and the Old Testament. This new edition also includes a verse tale based on Chaucer's The Wife of Bath's Tale, in which we discover that most elusive of secrets: What Pleases the Ladies. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.