Euclid's Window

Leonard Mlodinow has a PhD, has been a member of the facaulty of the California Institute of Technology, a television writer in Hollywood, as well as developing many award winning CD-Roms. He is Vice President of Emerging Technologies and r&D at Scholastic Inc and lives in New York city.

Part 1 The story of Euclid: the first revolution; the geometry of taxation; among the seven sages; the secret society; Euclid's manifesto; a beautiful woman, a library and the end of civilization. Part 2 The story of Descartes: the revolution in place; the origin of latitude and longitude; the legacy of the rotten Romans; the discreet charm of the graph; a soldier's story; iced by the Snow Queen. Part 3 The story of Gauss: the curved space revolution; the trouble with Ptolemy; a Napoleonic hero; the fall of the fifth postulate; lost in hyperbolic space; some insects called the human race; a tale of two aliens; after 2,000 years, a face-lift. Part 4 The story of Einstein: revolution at the speed of light; relativity's other Albert; the stuff of space; probationary technical expert, third class; a relatively Euclidean approach; Einstein's apple; from inspiration to perspiration; blue hair triumphs. Part 5 The story of Witten: the weird revolution; ten things I hate about your theory; the necessary uncertainty of being; clash of the Titans; a message in a Kaluza-Klein bottle; the birth of strings; particles, schmarticles!; the trouble with strings; the theory formerly known as strings.