About this item
An accessible and engaging guide to the atom, the smallest, most fundamental constituent of matter.Until now, popular science has relegated the atom to a supporting role in defining the different chemical elements of the periodic table. In this book, Jack Challoner places the atom at center stage. The Atom investigates the quest to identify the smallest, most fundamental constituents of matter -- and how that quest helps us to understand what everything is made of and how it all works. Challoner covers a wide range of topics -- including the development of scientific thinking about atoms and the basic structure of atoms; how atomic interactions account for the familiar properties of everyday materials; the power of the atomic nucleus; and what the mysterious quantum realm of subatomic particles can tell us about the very nature of reality.
About the Author
Always frustrated by lack of clarity in books he read as a child, Jack long felt the need to make the amazing things that science and technology have achieved accessible to a wide audience. After studying physics in London, he trained as a science and maths teacher, then worked at London's Science Museum, in the education department and in their flagship interactive gallery, Launch Pad. Jack left the museum in 1991 to write science and technology books, and to write and perform science shows in museums, libraries and schools. He's been doing all that ever since, with nearly forty books to his name. He also works as a consultant on other people's science books, and sometimes in television, helping to develop new ideas or work up existing ones. He is also a musician and singer, writing, producing and performing music. He lives in Bristol, England.
