Plastic Fantastic

How the Biggest Fraud in Physics Shook the Scientific World

Nonfiction, Science & Nature, Science, Physics, Quantum Theory, Other Sciences, History, Social & Cultural Studies, True Crime
Cover of the book Plastic Fantastic by Eugenie Samuel Reich, St. Martin's Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Eugenie Samuel Reich ISBN: 9780230621343
Publisher: St. Martin's Press Publication: May 12, 2009
Imprint: St. Martin's Press Language: English
Author: Eugenie Samuel Reich
ISBN: 9780230621343
Publisher: St. Martin's Press
Publication: May 12, 2009
Imprint: St. Martin's Press
Language: English

This is the story of wunderkind physicist Jan Hendrik Schön who faked the discovery of a new superconductor made from plastic. A star researcher at the world-renowned Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, he claimed to have stumbled across a powerful method for making carbon-based crystals into transistors, the switches found on computer chips. Had his experiments worked, they would have paved the way for huge advances in technology--computer chips that we could stick on a dress or eyewear, or even use to make electronic screens as thin and easy-to-fold as sheets of paper.

But as other researchers tried to recreate Schön's experiments, the scientific community learned that it had been duped. Why did so many top experts, including Nobel prize-winners, support Schön? What led the major scientific journals to publish his work, and promote it with press releases? And what drove Schön, by all accounts a mild-mannered, modest and obliging young man, to tell such outrageous lies?

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

This is the story of wunderkind physicist Jan Hendrik Schön who faked the discovery of a new superconductor made from plastic. A star researcher at the world-renowned Bell Laboratories in New Jersey, he claimed to have stumbled across a powerful method for making carbon-based crystals into transistors, the switches found on computer chips. Had his experiments worked, they would have paved the way for huge advances in technology--computer chips that we could stick on a dress or eyewear, or even use to make electronic screens as thin and easy-to-fold as sheets of paper.

But as other researchers tried to recreate Schön's experiments, the scientific community learned that it had been duped. Why did so many top experts, including Nobel prize-winners, support Schön? What led the major scientific journals to publish his work, and promote it with press releases? And what drove Schön, by all accounts a mild-mannered, modest and obliging young man, to tell such outrageous lies?

More books from St. Martin's Press

Cover of the book Calling Me Home by Eugenie Samuel Reich
Cover of the book Snowbird's Blood by Eugenie Samuel Reich
Cover of the book Amendment of Life by Eugenie Samuel Reich
Cover of the book Let There Be Water by Eugenie Samuel Reich
Cover of the book Blue Moon by Eugenie Samuel Reich
Cover of the book Dread Murder by Eugenie Samuel Reich
Cover of the book The Harding Affair by Eugenie Samuel Reich
Cover of the book The First Elizabeth by Eugenie Samuel Reich
Cover of the book Dancing at Ciro's by Eugenie Samuel Reich
Cover of the book A Crime of Passion Fruit by Eugenie Samuel Reich
Cover of the book Buttons and Foes by Eugenie Samuel Reich
Cover of the book Resurgence by Eugenie Samuel Reich
Cover of the book Death in Brittany by Eugenie Samuel Reich
Cover of the book Moneywood by Eugenie Samuel Reich
Cover of the book Scar Tissue by Eugenie Samuel Reich
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy