John Gribbin
| John Gribbin | |
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| Born | 1946 England |
| Occupation | Science writer and journalist |
| Nationality | British |
| Alma mater | Sussex University |
| Period | Last half of the 20th century, beginning of the 21st century |
| Genres | Science: Origins of Universe, Astronomy, Cosmology; Biography, Fiction, Non-fiction |
| Subjects | Astronomy and astrophysics. Explaining science and its history. Climate change and global warming. |
| Spouse(s) | Mary Gribbin |
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Influences
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www.johngribbin.co.uk |
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John R. Gribbin (born 1946) is a British science writer, an astrophysicist, and a visiting fellow in astronomy at the University of Sussex.[1] The topical range of his prolific writings include quantum physics, biographies of famous scientists, human evolution, the origins of the universe, climate change and global warming. His also writes science fiction.
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Biography [edit]
John Gribbin graduated with his bachelor's degree in physics from the University of Sussex in 1966. Gribbin then earned his master of science (M.Sc.) degree in astronomy in 1967, also from the Univ. of Sussex, and he earned his Ph.D. in astrophysics from the University of Cambridge (1971).[2][3]
In 1968, Gribbin worked as one of Fred Hoyle's research students at the Institute of Theoretical Astronomy, and wrote a number of stories for New Scientist about the Institute's research and what were eventually discovered to be pulsars.[4]
In 1974 Gribbin, along with Stephen Plagemann published a book titled The Jupiter Effect that predicted that the alignment of the planets in a quadrant on one side of the Sun on March 10, 1982 would cause gravitational effects that would trigger earthquakes in the San Andreas fault, possibly wiping out Los Angeles and its suburbs.[5] Gribbin distanced himself from The Jupiter Effect in the July 17, 1980, issue of New Scientist magazine, stating that he had been "too clever by half".[6]
In February 1982 he and Plagemann published The Jupiter Effect Reconsidered, claiming that the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption proved their theory true despite a lack of planetary alignment. In 1999 Gribbin repudiated it once for all, saying "I don't like it, and I'm sorry I ever had anything to do with it."
In 1984 Gribbin published In Search of Schrodinger's Cat: Quantum Physics and Reality, the book that he is best known for, which continues to sell well 28 years after publication.[7] It has been described as among the best of the first wave of physics popularisations preceding Stephen Hawking's multi-million-selling A Brief History of Time.[8] Gribbin's book has been cited as an example of how to revive an interest in the study of mathematics.[9]
In 2006 Gribbin took part in a BBC radio 4 broadcast as an "expert witness". Presenter Matthew Parris discussed with Professor Kathy Sykes and Gribbin whether Einstein "really was a 'crazy genius' ".[10]
At the 2009 World Conference of Science Journalists, the Association of British Science Writers presented Gribbin with their Lifetime Achievement award.[11]
Reviews of Gribbin's writings [edit]
The conservative political magazine The Spectator described Gribbin as "one of the finest and most prolific writers of popular science around" in a review of Science: A History, which it praises as "the product of immense learning, and a lifetime spent working out how to write in a vivacious way about science and scientists", but criticises failing to give adequate representation to famous women scientists.[8]
Henry Gee, A Senior Editor at Nature, described the Gribbins as "the best science writers around".
A review of The Universe: A Biography in the journal Physics World praised his skill in explaining difficult ideas.[12]
A Wall Street Journal review of Flower Hunters (co-authored with Mary Gribbin) described the writing as "pedestrian" with plenty of domestic detail but failing to convey a larger cultural context. It stated that the book's chapter-length biographical sketches are too often superficial, and criticised the book for glaring omissions of prominent plant collectors.[13]
In a review of The Reason Why, the Times Higher Education states that Gribbin writes on speculative matters and presents some of his theories without supporting evidence, but noted his comprehensive research and lyrical writing.[14]
A review of his biography of Stephen Hawking in the Los Angeles Times expressed concern that Gribbin and White's work had not been edited for American readers and that some readers may be put off as a result, and stated that some of the authors' information regarding an American educational institution was "simply wrong."[15]
Works [edit]
Science [edit]
- (1999) Almost Everyone's Guide to Science: The Universe, Life and Everything, Yale University Press ISBN 0-300-08460-9
- (1999) Get a Grip on New Physics, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London ISBN 0-297-82703-0
- (1999) The Little Book of Science, Barnes and Noble, ISBN 978-0-7607-1687-8
- (2003) Science: A History 1543-2001, Gardners Books ISBN 0-14-029741-3
- (2003) The Scientists: A History of Science Told Through the Lives of Its Greatest Inventors, Random House ISBN 0-8129-6788-7
- (2006) The Fellowship: The Story of a Revolution, Allen Lane ISBN 0-7139-9745-1 (the story of the Royal Society)
- (2009) Flower Hunters, Oxford University Press, with Mary Gribbin, 320 pages ISBN 978-0-19-956182-7
Children's books on science [edit]
- (2003) Big Numbers: A Mind Expanding Trip to Infinity and Back (coauthor Mary Gribbin), Wizard Books (children’s imprint of Icon Books) 2005 edition ISBN 1-84046-661-8
- (2003) How far is up? : Measuring the Size of the Universe (coauthor Mary Gribbin), Icon Books 2005 edition ISBN 1-84046-439-9
- (2008) Time Travel for Beginners (coauthor Mary Gribbin), Hodder Children's ISBN 978-0-340-95702-8
- (2000) Eyewitness: Time & Space, DK Children ISBN 0-7894-5578-1
Predictions [edit]
- (1974) The Jupiter Effect: The Planets As Triggers of Devastating Earthquakes (coauthor Stephen H. Plageman), Random House ISBN 0-394-72221-3; revised edition published as The Jupiter Effect Reconsidered, Vintage Books (New York, NY), 1982 ISBN 0-394-70827-X
- (February 1982) The Jupiter Effect Reconsidered
- (1983) Beyond the Jupiter Effect, Macdonald ISBN 0-356-08686-0
The Sun [edit]
- (1980) The Death of the Sun, Dell Publishing ISBN 978-0-440-51854-9 (also as The Strangest Star: The Scientific Account of the Life and Death of the Sun, 1980, Athlone Press ISBN 978-0-485-11207-8)
- (1991) Blinded by the Light: The Secret Life of the Sun, Bantam ISBN 978-0-593-02064-7
Quantum physics [edit]
- (1984) In Search of Schrödinger's Cat: Quantum Physics And Reality, Bantam Books ISBN 0-553-34253-3
- (1996) Schrödinger's Kittens and the Search for Reality, Back Bay Books ISBN 0-316-32819-7
- (1998) Q Is for Quantum: An Encyclopedia of Particle Physics, Free Press ISBN 0-684-85578-X
- (2002) Quantum Physics (Essential Science), Dorling Kindersley ISBN 978-0-7513-3976-5
- (2007) (French) La physique quantique, Pearson Education ISBN 978-2-7440-7263-5
Evolution and human genetics [edit]
- (1982) The Monkey Puzzle: A Family Tree (coauthor Jeremy Cherfas), Pantheon Books ISBN 0-394-52794-1
- (1988) The One Percent Advantage: The Sociobiology of Being Human, Blackwell Pub ISBN 978-0-631-16004-5
- (1990) Children of the Ice: Climate and Human Origins, Blackwell Pub (with Mary Gribben) ISBN 978-0-631-16817-1
- (1993) Being Human: Putting People in an Evolutionary Perspective, J.M.Dent & Sons (with Mary Gribben) ISBN 978-0-460-86164-9
- (1985) In Search of the Double Helix, McGraw-Hill ISBN 978-0-07-024740-6
- (1985) The Redundant Male: Is Sex Irrelevant in the Modern World? (coauthor Jeremy Cherfas) Paladin ISBN 978-0-586-08503-5
- (2003) The Mating Game, (revised edition of The Redundant Male) Barnes and Noble ISBN 978-0-7607-4543-4
- (2003) The First Chimpanzee: In Search of Human Origins, (coauthor Jeremy Cherfas) Barnes and Noble ISBN 978-0-7607-4542-7
Climate change and other world concerns [edit]
- (1975) Our Changing Climate, Faber and Faber ISBN 978-0-571-10696-7
- (1976) Forecasts, Famines, and Freezes: Climates and Man's Future, Wildwood House Ltd ISBN 978-0-7045-0193-5
- (1977) Our Changing Planet, Wildwood House Limited ISBN 0-690-01693-X
- (1978) Climatic Change, Cambridge University Press ISBN 978-0-521-21594-7
- (1978) The climatic threat: What's wrong with our weather?, Fontana ISBN 978-0-00-634832-0
- (1979) Climate and Mankind, Earthscan, 56 pp ISBN 978-0-905347-12-7
- (1979) Weather Force: Climate and Its Impact on Our World, (co-author: John Man) Putnam Pub Group ISBN 978-0-399-12400-6
- (1981) Carbon Dioxide, Climate, and Man, Intl Inst for Environment, 64 pp. ISBN 978-0-905347-28-8
- (1982) Future Weather and the Greenhouse Effect, Delacorte Press ISBN 978-0-440-02498-9
- (1985) Weather, Macdonald Education, 48 pp. ISBN 978-0-356-11183-4
- (1986) The Breathing Planet, (editor) Blackwell Publishers ISBN 978-0-631-14288-1
- (1988) The Hole in the Sky: Man's Threat to the Ozone Layer (rev. ed, 1993) Bantam ISBN 978-0-553-27537-7
- (1989) Winds of Change, Hodder Arnold ISBN 978-0-340-52283-7
- (1990) Hothouse Earth: The Greenhouse Effect and Gaia, Random House ISBN 978-0-517-07951-5
- (1992) Too Hot to Handle? Greenhouse Effect, Corgi ISBN 978-0-552-54295-1
- (1979) This Shaking Earth (aka Earthquakes & Volcanoes) Sidgwick & Jackson Ltd ISBN 978-0-283-98462-4
- (1996) Watching the Weather, Trafalgar Square ISBN 978-0-09-477380-6
Astronomy and description of the Universe [edit]
- (1976) Astronomy for the Amateur, Macmillan ISBN 978-0-333-18806-4
- (1976) Our Changing Universe: The New Astronomy, Dutton ISBN 978-0-87690-216-5
- (1977) White Holes: Cosmic Gushers in the Universe, Delacorte Press/E. Friede ISBN 978-0-440-09529-3
- (1979) Timewarps, Delacorte Press/E. Friede ISBN 978-0-440-08509-6
- (1981) Future Worlds, Springer ISBN 978-0-306-40780-2
- (1982) Cosmology Today, (editor and contributor) IPC Media ISBN 978-0-85037-518-3
- (1983) Spacewarps: Black Holes, White Holes, Quasars, and the Universe, Delta ISBN 978-0-14-022531-0
- (1992) In Search of the Edge of Time: Black Holes, White Holes, Worm Holes, Bantam Books ISBN 978-0-593-02409-6 (US title Unveiling the Edge of Time, Three Rivers Press. 1994 reprint: ISBN 0-517-88170-5)
- (1994) Time and Space, as Eyewitness: Time and Space, (2000) DK Children ISBN 978-0-7894-5578-9
- (1996) Companion to the Cosmos, John and Mary Gribbin, Little: ISBN 0-316-32835-9
- (1997) Time and the Universe (Whats the Big Idea), (children's) Hodder & Stoughton ISBN 978-0-340-65590-0
- (1998) The Case of the Missing Neutrinos: And Other Phenomena of the Universe, Fromm Intl. ISBN 978-0-88064-199-9
- (1998) The Search for Superstrings, Symmetry, and the Theory of Everything, Little, Brown and Company ISBN 978-0-316-32975-0
- (1998) Watching the Universe, Constable ISBN 978-0-09-478230-3
- (2001) Space: Our Final Frontier, BBC Books ISBN 978-0-563-53713-7
- (2001) Hyperspace: The Universe and Its Mysteries, (also pub as Space: Our Final Frontier) DK ADULT ISBN 978-0-7894-7838-2
- (2008) Galaxies: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, USA ISBN 978-0-19-923434-9
- (2007) The Universe: A Biography, Allen Lane ISBN 0-7139-9857-1
- (2008) From Here to Infinity: The Royal Observatory Greenwich Guide to Astronomy, (with Mary Gribbin) National Maritime Museum ISBN 978-0-948065-78-1 republished in 2009 as From Here to Infinity: A Beginner's Guide to Astronomy, Sterling ISBN 978-1-4027-6501-8
- (2011) Alone in the Universe: Why Our Planet Is Unique, John Wiley & Sons ISBN 978-1-118-14797-9
Origins of the Universe [edit]
- (1976) Galaxy Formation: A Personal View, Wiley ISBN 978-0-470-32775-3
- (1982) Genesis: The Origins of Man and the Universe, Delacorte Press ISBN 978-0-385-28321-2
- (1986) In Search of the Big Bang, Bantam ISBN 0-553-34617-2
- (1993) In the Beginning: The Birth of the Living Universe (In the Beginning, Viking ISBN 978-0-670-84927-7
- (1994) In the Beginning: After COBE and before the Big Bang, Bulfinch Press ISBN 978-0-316-32833-3
- (1997) Origins: Our Place in Hubble's Universe, Constable and Robinson ISBN 978-0-09-477550-3 (as Empire of the Sun, ’98; as Cosmos ’06)
- (2001) The Birth of Time: How Astronomers Measured the Age of the Universe, Yale University Press ISBN 0-300-08914-7 (2009 edition ISBN 978-0-300-08914-1)
Novels [edit]
- (1980) The Sixth Winter (with Douglas Orgill) (novel) Simon & Schuster ISBN 978-0-671-25016-4
- (1982) Brother Esau (with Douglas Orgill) (novel) Harper & Row ISBN 978-0-06-039016-7
- (1988) Double Planet (with Marcus Chown) (novel) Victor Gollancz ISBN 978-0-575-04357-2
- (1990) Father to the Man (novel) Tor Books ISBN 978-0-8125-3850-2
- (1991) Ragnarok (with D.G. Compton) (novel) Gollancz ISBN 978-0-575-05110-2
- (1991) Reunion (with Marcus Chown) (novel) Gollancz ISBN 978-0-575-04860-7
- (1993) Innervisions (novel) Penguin Books ISBN 978-0-14-017447-2
- (2009) Timeswitch (novel) PS Publishing ISBN 978-1-906301-61-3
- (2011) The Alice Encounter (novella) PS Publishing ISBN 978-1-84863-138-0
Biographies [edit]
- (1992) Stephen Hawking A Life in Science (coauthor Michael White), National Academies Press ISBN 0-452-26988-1, 2002 edition: ISBN 0-309-08410-5
- (1993) Einstein : A Life in Science, (coauthor Michael White) Simon & Schuster ISBN 0-671-01044-1
- (1995) Darwin: A Life in Science, (coauthor Michael White) Dutton Adult ISBN 978-0-525-94002-9
- (1997) Darwin in 90 Minutes, (with Mary Gribbin) Constable and Robinson ISBN 978-0-09-477050-8 (Part of a series including: Curie ISBN 978-0-09-477020-1, Einstein ISBN 978-0-09-477130-7, Faraday ISBN 978-0-09-477100-0, Galileo ISBN 978-0-09-477110-9, Halley ISBN 978-0-09-477030-0, Mendel ISBN 978-0-09-477120-8, Newton ISBN 978-0-09-477040-9)
- (1997) Richard Feynman: A Life in Science, (coauthor Mary Gribbin) Penguin Books ISBN 0-14-025334-3
- (2003) FitzRoy: The Remarkable Story of Darwin's Captain and the Invention of the Weather Forecast, Yale University Press ISBN 0-300-10361-1
- (2005) Annus Mirabilis: 1905, Albert Einstein, and the Theory of Relativity, (coauthor Mary Gribbin) Chamberlain Bros. ISBN 1-59609-144-4 (includes DVD)
- (2009) He Knew He Was Right: The Irrepressible Life of James Lovelock and Gaia (co-author Mary Gribbin), Allen Lane. ISBN 978-1-84614-016-7
References [edit]
- ^ "A change in the weather by Gary Turbak" The Rotarian magazine, Aug 1980, p.17
- ^ Profile of John Gribbin at David Higham
- ^ Profile of John Gribbin at a Popular Science site (not related to the magazine)
- ^ Mitton, Simon (2011). Fred Hoyle: A life in science. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. p. 268. ISBN 978-0-521-18947-7.
- ^ Kruszelnicki, Karl S.. "Planetary Alignment - Part 2". Dr Karl. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
- ^ Gedney, Larry (February 8, 1982). "The Jupiter Effect: Article #526". Alaska Science Forum. University of Alaska Fairbanks Geophysical Institute. Retrieved 2008-05-09.
- ^ Kurutz, Steven (December 3, 2009). "How to Boost Book Sales? For "Get a Grip on Physics," Tiger Woods’ Crash Helped". The Wall Street Journal Speakeasy Blog (New York, NY: Dow Jones & Company, Inc.). Retrieved 2011-12-25.
- ^ a b Macfarlane, Robert (September 28, 2002). "Quod erat demonstrandum: Science: a history, 1543-2001, by John Gribbin". Spectator Book Club, book reviews. The Spectator. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
- ^ Kenyon, Georgina (August 25, 2002). "Firing interest in maths lessons". BBC News World Edition, UK: Education. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
- ^ Parris, Matthew (December 26, 2006). "Albert Einstein". Great Lives. BBC Radio 4. Retrieved 2011-12-26. In the BBC radio 4 broadcast, Parris refers to Gribbin as their "expert witness". This is not to downplay the impressive credentials mentioned for Kathy Sykes.
- ^ Loder, Natasha, ABSW chair (January 16, 2010). "ABSW 2009: A year in review". News and Events. Association of British Science Writers. Retrieved 2011-12-25.
- ^ Rowan-Robinson, Michael (June 2007). "Life, the universe and everything". Physics World (Institute of Physics Publishing): 46–47. Retrieved 2011-12-23.
- ^ Garmey, Jane (May 10, 2008). "The Age of Botanical Exploration: Flower Hunters by Mary and John Gribbin". Books, Wall Street Journal, page W8. Retrieved 2011-12-29.
- ^ Dartnell, Lewis; Darracott-Cankovic, Chloe (May 12, 2011). "The Reason Why: The miracle of life on earth". The Times Higher Education. TSL Education Ltd. Retrieved 2011-12-30.
- ^ Kevles, Bettyann (June 9, 1992). "Book Review: Scientist's biography loses a bit in 'translation': Stephen Hawking: A life in science, by Michael White and John Gribbin, Dutton, $23; 304 pages". Los Angeles Times online collections. Los Angeles Times.
External links [edit]
- John Gribbin official website
- John Gribbin's old homepage at Sussex University
- John Gribbin: Penguin UK author profile
- Brief interview by American Scientist magazine, 2005
- List of publications
- John Gribbin entry at Encyclopedia of literature and science
- John Gribbin at Kirkus Reviews
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