P.G. De Gennes' Impact on Science

The astonishing career of physicist Pierre-Gilles de Gennes is celebrated in this 2-volume work, which presents essays describing the lines of research inspired by specific de Gennes' publications, followed by a reprinted facsimile of the original publication. Vol. One offers 7 essays on solid state and liquid crystals, including an essay on magnetism by Jacques Friedel (Academie des Sciences, Paris, France), followed by the original 1958 paper he co-authored with de Gennes; superconductivity at high temperature in the cuprates, by Julien Bok (ESPCI ParisTech, France), followed by the 2007 essay by de Gennes and Guy Deutscher; and an essay on liquid crystals, by Pawel Pieranski (Universite Paris-Sud, France), followed by 1976 lecture notes on the topic by de Gennes. Vol. 2, on soft matter and biophysics, follows the same scheme, with essays on the n = 0 discovery, polyelectrolytes, and polymers in confined geometries, among other topics. The essays are well-illustrated in b&w and color. Not indexed. Annotation c2010 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)