《Passionate Minds》是2007年Random House US出版社出版的圖書，作者是David Bodanis。
基本介紹
- 中文名：Passionate Minds
- 作者：David Bodanis
- 出版社：Random House US出版社
- ISBN：9780307237217
內容簡介,作者簡介,
內容簡介
It was 1733 when the poet and philosopher Voltaire met Emiliedu Ch?telet, a beguiling—and married—aristocrat who would one daypopularize Newton’s arcane ideas and pave the way for Einstein’stheories. In an era when women were rarely permitted any seriousschooling, this twenty-seven-year-old’s nimble conversation andunusual brilliance led Voltaire, then in his late thirties, towonder, “Why did you only reach me so late?” They fell immediatelyand passionately in love.Through the prism of their tumultuous fifteen-year relationshipwe see the crumbling of an ancient social order and the birth ofthe Enlightenment. Together the two lovers rebuilt a dilapidatedand isolated rural chateau at Cirey where they conducted scientificexperiments, entertained many of the leading thinkers of theburgeoning scientific revolution, and developed radical ideas aboutthe monarchy, the nature of free will, the subordination of women,and the separation of church and state.But their time together was filled with far more than reading andintellectual conversation. There were frantic gallopings acrossFrance, sword fights in front of besieged German fortresses, and adeadly burning of Voltaire’s books by the public executioner at thebase of the grand stairwell of the Palais de Justice in Paris. Thepair survived court intrigues at Versailles, narrow escapes fromagents of the king, a covert mission to the idyllic lakesideretreat of Frederick the Great of Prussia, forays to the royalgambling tables (where Emilie put her mathematical acumen tolucrative use), and intense affairs that bent but did not breaktheir bond.Along with its riveting portrait of Voltaire as a vulnerableromantic, Passionate Minds at last does justice to the supremelyunconventional life and remarkable achievements of Emilie duCh?telet—including her work on the science of fire and the natureof light. Long overlooked, her story tells us much about women’slives at the time of the Enlightenment. Equally important, itdemonstrates how this graceful, quick-witted, and attractive womanworked out the concepts that would lead directly to the “squared”part of Einstein’s revolutionary equation: E=mc2.Based on a rich array of personal letters, as well as writingsfrom houseguests, neighbors, scientists, and even police reports,Passionate Minds is both panoramic and intimate in feeling. It isan unforgettable love story and a vivid rendering of the birth ofmodern ideas.From the Hardcover edition.
作者簡介
DAVID BODANIS taught a survey of intellectual history at the University of Oxford for many years and is the author of several books, including Electric Universe, The Secret House, and the bestselling E=mc2. Originally from Chicago, Bodanis lived in France for a decade and currently lives in London, England.From the Hardcover edition.
