The race for Nobel. A Story of Cosmology, Ambition and the Highest Scientific Award (Losing the Nobel Prize: A Story of Cosmology, Ambition, and the Perils of Science's Highest Honor)
Brian Keating has written a book about cosmology. It doesn’t seem that way, but he actually did. The book begins with the prologue, in which we get acquainted with the church of Alfred Nobel, which annually 10 In December, he holds a ritual where thousands of idolaters gather in Stockholm and watch the presentation of gold porters. This is how the author describes the presentation of the Nobel Prizes, which are the most prestigious scientific awards in the world. Bryan then recounts how Alfred came to such a life through death through the creation of dynamite and an error in the obituary, where he was called a merchant of death, although not Alfred himself died, but his brother. As a result, there was a famous will, which ordered to create a prize in his name and give it annually to outstanding scientists.
After this prologue, the author turns to questions of cosmology and how the whole world came into being. After all, this topic is his scientific path, which almost brought him to the Nobel Prize. (The title of the book is “Losing the Nobel Prize.”). The author immediately tells about the project BICEP2, in which he participated and about which there was a live broadcast from Harvard. 2014 year. This broadcast was watched by millions of people and there was announced an epochal event.
And then the author makes a flashback and goes to winter at the polar station, his childhood, where his idol was Galileo, acquaintance with Andrew Lange, who became his "father" in terms of science. Bryan paints modern science as a highly competitive environment where scientists have to share limited budgets for basic research. In the end, the interaction looks more like a zero-sum and Nash equilibrium game. (Remember the prisoner dilemma, not as a cooperative game where Pareto balance is possible.
The author of the book gives three problems of the Nobel Prize.
- The recognition of merit
- The money problem
- The problem of cooperation He then proposes a reformation of the prize to bring it closer in spirit to what Alfred originally wanted in his will.
Anyway, I read this book in one breath and would even watch the film adaptation - I think it would be great:)
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