Balazs Hargittai Livres

This book offers a selection from among István Hargittai's non-technical articles that focus on the culture of discoveries and scientists, rather than on actual research. István Hargittai is an internationally renowned physical chemist with interests extending to the arts, human traits, the nature of discoveries, and the relationshpi between science and society. Over the course of his research career, he has interacted with hundreds of the best minds of our time and published a wealth of articles that are rich in science yet easy to understand, regardless of the reader's background. This book presents a collection of these contributions, which explore the relationship between the arts and science, analyze the motivations of scientific discoveries and the personalities of discoverers, comment on the relationship between science and society, and examine the application of the symmetry concept and its ubiquitous presence. This unique book is intended not only for professional researchers, but for all individuals interested in the cultural aspects of science

By addressing the enigma of the exceptional success of Hungarian emigrant scientists and telling their life stories, Brilliance in Exile combines scholarly analysis with fascinating portrayals of uncommon personalities. István and Balazs Hargittai discuss the conditions that led to five different waves of emigration of scientists from the early twentieth century to the present. Although these exodes were driven by a broad variety of personal motivations, the attraction of an open society with inclusiveness, tolerance, and – needless to say – better circumstances for working and living, was the chief force drawing them abroad. While emigration from East to West is a general phenomenon, this book explains why and how the emigration of Hungarian scientists is distinctive. The high number of Nobel Prizes among this group is only one indicator. Multicultural tolerance, a quickly emerging, considerably Jewish, urban middle class, and a very effective secondary school system were positive legacies of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Multiple generations, shaped by these conditions, suffered from the increasingly exclusionist, intolerant, antisemitic, and economically stagnating environment, and chose to go elsewhere. "I would rather have roots than wings, but if I cannot have roots, I shall use wings," explained Leo Szilard, one of the fathers of the Atom Bomb.