Recap

Scientific Creativity

Author Clifford Pickover discussed his latest work on scientific laws and the great minds behind them, and also touched on such topics as time travel, parallel universes and alien life. Some of the best scientific laws have the widest applications, he said. For instance, Fick's Law of Diffusion can explain such disparate areas as insect communication and the migration of early humans. And Newton's Law of Cooling has been used to determine the time of a person's death.

Pickover noted that some laws have the ability to change our way of thinking, such as Heisenberg's Uncertainty Principle and Hubble's Law of Cosmic Expansion (the universe is constantly expanding). Stephen Hawking is one of the most recognized scientists of our day, for his laws about black holes, he added.

There's often a correlation between creative genius and near-madness or depression, Pickover reported, suggesting that great minds are tuned differently. Tesla was obsessive and quirky, and had a fear of women's pearl earrings, he detailed.

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Pickover Images

Dr. Cliff Pickover sent us images from his book Archimedes to Hawking, relating to scientific creativity and discovery. Click here to view.