H. Frederick Dylla - Scientific Journeys: A Physicist Explores the Culture, History and Personalities of Science

H. Frederick Dylla

Scientific Journeys

A Physicist Explores the Culture, History and Personalities of Science

1st ed. 2020

Foreword by Rush D. Holt

With a Foreword by Rush D. Holt

What a joy to accompany Fred Dylla on his Scientific Journeys! This engaging and insightful collection of essays, drawn from a lifetime in science, takes you through a wide-ranging landscape of research, with fascinating excursions into history, politics, art, and personalities along the way.

Colin Norman, Former News Editor, Science magazine

A delightful collection of short essays; each has a surprise, something memorable about science, or people, or his personal trajectory, or strategy, or the startling importance of science in the world. So many thrills in a little book!

John Mather, Nobel Prize (physics), 2006

Scientific Journeys is a gem. These delightful essays illuminate the fascinating lives of a diverse group of scientists and engineers and the unpredictable, rewarding paths of discovery they followed to create our modern world. Start your journey with Hildegard von Bingen, a nun who left a scientific and musical legacy more than 900 years ago, and end with Fred Dyllas optimistic epilogue that science will provide a cure for the COVID-19 pandemic and bring the world into a better place.

Madeleine Jacobs, Former Editor in Chief, Chemical & Engineering News and Executive Director and CEO, American Chemical Society

This is an interesting, thoughtful, and well-written tour of the world of a physicist, from his education at MIT, mentored by some of the greatest physicists of the day, to his eventual position as CEO of the American Institute of Physics.

Mark Cardillo, Executive Director of the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Foundation

Fred Dylla delightfully shares the arc of his career from building his own laser as a boy to leading the American Institute of Physics in this collection of engaging essays. I enjoyed reading them all and learned many things along the way.

Kevin Marvel, Executive Director of the American Astronomical Society

With an insiders perspective, Scientific Journeys ably shows how science and engineering innovations emerge from a complex network of policy deliberations, inspired ideas, dedicated work, adroit management of research, and timely sharing of results.

Phillip Schewe, Author of The Grid, a history of how society uses electricity, and Maverick Genius, a biography of the scientist and writer Freeman Dyson

We are fortunate that Fred Dylla has devoted the effort to share some of the interesting experiences and perspectives from his distinguished career in physics. They are well written, insightful, and even entertaining, especially for those of us who have also chosen to be physicists.

Bob Doering, Director of Exploratory Research, Technology and Manufacturing Group, Texas Instruments

Freds extraordinary career and range as an essayist are nicely summed up in Chap. by his observation: physicists like to say they are interested in everything I was not immune to this. While greatly enjoying each essay, I was reminded how, as a conference organizer, I used to put Fred at the end to ensure that no delegates drifted away early! Sadly, no such inspirational book existed when I started out, but I am confident that Scientific Journeys will do much to motivate the next generation. I shall certainly be buying copies for young friends and grandchildren.

Robert Campbell, Former President of Blackwell Publishing

To Professors John G. King and Rainer Weiss for their inspiring teaching and dedication to scientific research

and to Linda for unfailing encouragement