Albert Einstein is in IPMB by name: once as the unit of a mole of photons, and again for his diffusion-viscosity relationship.In my blog post about Darwin Day, I note that many of the physics principles we discuss- diffusion, fluid dynamics, thermodynamics-constrain how animals evolve, so topics in IPMB impact Darwin’s theory of evolution. Charles Darwin does not appear in IPMB.I suppose Russ Hobbie and I could have mentioned him in Chapter 1 in our section on buoyancy. If anyone has some wild theory that the choice of the name derives from any source other than Newton, let him try to prove it.īelow I list the Isaac winners in alphabetical order, and note which appear in Intermediate Physics for Medicine and Biology. I would be false to current American culture if I did not give the ten winners a named award… To go along with the Oscar, Emmy, Edgar, and Hugo, let us have the Isaac.

The only scientist who, it seemed to me, indubitably belonged to the list and who would, without a doubt, be on such a list prepared by anyone but a consummate idiot, was Isaac Newton. One of these collections, Adding a Dimension, ended with an essay about his list of the ten greatest scientists. Each time he completed seventeen essays he would collect them in a book. Of all his writings, this series of essays was his favorite (and mine too). Although his name never appears in Intermediate Physics for Medicine and Biology, his influence is on every page.įrom 1959 to 1992, Asimov wrote a monthly essay for The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction. Regular readers of this blog know that Asimov had a huge impact on my decision to become a scientist. Yesterday was the 100 th anniversary of Isaac Asimov’s birth.

In Memory Yet Green by Isaac Asimov