Fragile Objects: Soft Matter, Hard Science and the Thrill of Discovery Book

After he received the Nobel Prize for physics in 1991, students, schools and science clubs throughout the French-speaking world invited Pierre-Gilles de Gennes to lecture about his work in science, about the work of a scientist, and about the role of science in the modern world. This absorbing and beautifully written book emerged from those lectures and from the lively discussions, probing questions and spontaneous replies that followed. Over the past few decades we have learned a great deal about the behavior of such materials as liquid crystals, emulsions and colloids, polymers, and complex molecules. These materials, called "soft matter" ("matière fragile" in French), have neither the rigid structure and crystalline symmetry of a solid nor the uniformity and disorder of a fluid or a gas. They have unusual and fascinating properties: some change their viscosity at our beck and call; others form layers of two-dimensional liquids; some are polarized, their molecules all oriented in the same direction and turning in unison at our command; others make up the foams, bubbles, waxes, gums, and many other items we take for granted every day. De Gennes, one of the world's leading experts on these strange forms of matter, here addresses topics ranging from soft-matter physics---the formation of rubber, the nature and uses of gum arabic, the wetting and de-wetting of surfaces, and the mysterious properties of bubbles and foams---to the activities of science: the role of individual or team work, the relation of discovery to correction, and the interplay of conscience and knowledge. In the best tradition of science writing, this book teaches us about both our world and ourselves. About the Authors: P.G. de Gennes was born in Paris, France. He studied physics at the École Normale, receiving his Ph.D. in 1957, at the Atomic Energy Center in Saclay, where he worked with A. Abragam and J. Friedel, and at the University of California, Berkeley, working with C. Kittel. His early research concerned neutron scattering and magnetism. After serving in the French Navy he returned to physics research, at the CNRS in Orsay, where he started the group on superconductors; in 1971 he became a Professor at the Collège de France. His research turned to soft matter in 1968, when he began to study liquid crystals; he has since also worked on problems of polymer physics, the dynamics of wetting, and the physical chemistry of adhesion. Among his many honors are: The Nobel Prize for Physics, the Wolf Prize (Israel), and the Holweck and Ampère prizes (British and French Physical Societies). J. Badoz was also born in Paris; he studied at the École Supérieure de Physique et Chimie in Paris, obtaining his PhD in 1957. He continued his researches first at the CNRS, and since 1963 at the École Supérieure de Physique et Chimie; since 1972 he has been the school's scientific director. His research has chiefly focused on the interactions of light and condensed matter, an particularly on polarization phenomena. FROM THE REVIEWS: PHYSICS TODAY "Reading the book can be compared to strolling through a magnificent garden of fragile objects. DeGennes gently guides the reader past the beautiful landscape of soft matter and tells us how it was uncovered. We see many colorful examples of fragile objects that help us understand the unusual properties of these mysterious forms of matter...I immensely enjoyed reading FRAGILE OBJECTS and intend to use many of its examples in my lectures. I highly recommend it to any reader who is interested in condensed matter physics and science at large."Read More