{"product_id":"9780192804945","title":"Ben Franklin Stilled the Waves: An Informal History Pouring Oil on Water with Reflections on the Ups and Downs of Scientific Life in General","description":"\u003cp\u003eBenjamin Franklin was the first to report the phenomenon of oil's power to still troubled waters and to speculate on why it happened. A century later Lord Rayleigh performed an identical experiment. Irving Langmuir did it with minor variations in 1917, and won a Nobel Prize for it. Then Langmuir's work was followed by a Dutch pediatrician's in 1925. p Each experimenter saw a little more in the result than his predecessor had seen, and the sciences of physics, chemistry and biology have all been illuminated by the work. p Charles Tanford reflects on the evolving nature of science and of individual scientists. Recounting innovations in each trial, he follows the classic experiment from Franklin's drawing room to our present-day institutionalized scientific establishments and speculates on the ensuing changes in our approach to scientific inquiry.\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Oxford University Press, USA","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47010809643248,"sku":"9780192804945","price":25.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780192804945_p0.jpg?v=1763662598","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780192804945","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}