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Nikola Tesla: Engineer with Electric Ideas (Movers, Shakers, and History Makers)
By Emily Hudd. 2021
Nikola Tesla was a scientist and inventor in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Among his many inventions and experiments,…
he helped create the modern electricity system. Learn more about Tesla's life as a famous inventor!Dorothy Vaughan: NASA's Leading Human Computer (Movers, Shakers, and History Makers)
By Deirdre R. Head. 2021
In 1949, Dorothy Vaughan became the first African American woman to lead a team at NASA's Langley Research Center. Her…
work as a mathematician was an important part of helping the United States explore space. Learn more about Vaughan's life as a famous mathematician!Bright Dreams: The Brilliant Inventions of Nikola Tesla
By Tracy Dockray. 2020
Young Nikola Tesla got a shock when he rubbed his cat's fur. That small spark lit his imagination forever. Covering…
his early years to his eventual success in the world of electricity, Bright Dreams showcases Tesla's incredible journey of discovery and perseverance. Author-illustrator Tracy Dockray conveys Tesla's busy and imaginative world with collage-style artwork and informative sidebars.Jerome Lemelson: The Man Behind Industrial Robots (Little Inventor)
By Lucia Raatma. 2020
Why is Jerome Lemelson important? His inventions helped create industrial robots, cassette players, and more! Readers follow his journey from…
struggling inventor to a multimillionaire with more than 600 patents. This story of determination is filled with engaging text and colorful images, all reviewed by Smithsonian experts.Charles Proteus Steinmetz
By Robert W. Bly. 2018
Revered in the late 19th and early 20th centuries as a genius, but largely forgotten today, Steinmetz made the modern…
world possible through his revolutionary work on AC electricity transmission, the technology underlying todays power grid. More than just a great scientist and engineer, Steinmetz was also one of the most colorful characters in American life. Standing just four feet tall with a pronounced spine curvature, Steinmetz was as well known for his fiery political opinions, his fierce advocacy for social progress and education, his unusual home life, and his private menagerie as for his technical achievements.Tower Dog: Life Inside the Deadliest Job in America
By Doug Delaney. 2017
An insider's look at the rough and tumble workers throughout America who are risking their lives--and losing them at an…
alarmingly high rate--all in the name of connectivity.What is the price of staying connected, of that phone in your hand or that watch on your wrist?Recent TV shows would have you believe that the most dangerous job in America is a crab fisherman, or maybe even an ice road trucker. But what U.S. Department of Labor unequivocally recognizes as the most dangerous job in America belongs to the tower dog, the men and women who work on cell towers across the country, building the networks that keep us all connected.In Tower Dog: Life Inside the Deadliest Job in America, Douglas Scott Delaney, a tower dog for more than fifteen years, draws readers into this dark and high-stakes world that most don't even know exists, yet rely on every minute of every day. This risk-laden profession has been covered by NBC Dateline, Frontline, The Wall Street Journal, and The Washington Post, but none of these reports have provided the real, inside story of these men and women who have always lived on the edge of society; a fascinating mix of construction crews and thrill-seekers. Delaney is a brash and illuminating guide, and Tower Dog gives us the real experience of what it's like for the workers balanced precariously above the clouds.The Price of Health: The Modern Pharmaceutical Enterprise and the Betrayal of a History of Care
By Michael Kinch, Lori Weiman. 2021
From "pharma bros" to everday household budgets, just how did the pharmaceutical industry betray its own history—and how can it…
return to its tradition of care?It&’s an unfortunate and life-threatening fact: one in five Americans has skipped vital prescriptions simply because of the cost. These choices are being made even though we have reached a point in the conveyance of medical options where cancers can be cured and sight restored for those blinded by rare genetic disorders. How, in this time of such advancements, did we reach a point, where people cannot afford the very things that could save their lives? As the COVID-19 global pandemic has pointed out, we need the leadership of scientists, researchers, public health officials and lawmakers alike to guide us through not only in times of a global health crisis, but also during far more mundane times. For the first time in decades, people from all walks of life face the same need for medicine. It is time to discuss the tough questions about drug pricing in an open, honest and, hopefully, transparent manner. But first we must understand how we, as a society, got here. Medicines are arguably the most highly regulated—and cost-inflated—products in the United States. The discovery, development, manufacturing and distribution of medicines is carried out by an ever more complex and crowded set of industries, each playing a part in a larger &“pharmaceutical enterprise&” seeking to maximize profits. But this was not always the case. The Price of Health is the reveals the story of how the pharmaceutical enterprise took shape and led to the present crisis. The reputation of the pharmaceutical industry is suffering from self-inflicted wounds and its continued viability, indeed survival, is increasingly questioned. Yet the drug makers do not shoulder all the blame or responsibility for the current price crisis. Deeply researched, The Price of Heatlh gives us hope as to how we can still right the ship, even amidst the roiling storm of a global pandemic. How have medicines have been made and distributed to consumers throughout the years? What sea of changes that have contributed to rising costs? Some individuals, actions, and systems will be familiar, others may surprise. Yet the combined implications of these actions for will be surprising and at times shocking to both industry professionals and average Americans alike. Like so much else in human history, the history of the pharmaceutical enterprise is populated mostly by well-intended and even noble individuals and organizations. Each contributed to the formation or maintenance of structures meant to improve the quality and quantity of life through the development and distribution of medicines. And yet systems originally created to do good have often been subverted in ways contrary to the motivations of their creators. Only by understanding this disconnect can we better tackle the underlying problems of the industry head on, preventing foreseeable, and thus avoidable, medical calamities to come.First Responder: Life, Death, and Love on New York City's Frontlines: A Memoir
By Jennifer Murphy. 2021
One woman's incredible story of life on the front lines as an emergency medical worker in New York City.On the…
streets of New York City, EMTs and paramedics do more than respond to emergencies; they eat and drink together, look out for each other&’s safety, mercilessly make fun of one another, date one other, and, most crucially, share terrifying experiences and grave injustices suffered under the city&’s long-broken EMS system. Their loyalty to one another is fierce and absolute. As Jennifer Murphy shows in the gripping and moving First Responder, they are a family. A dysfunctional family, perhaps, but what family isn't? Many in the field of pre-hospital emergency care have endured medical trauma and familial hardship themselves. Some are looking to give back. Some are desperate for family. Some were inspired by 9/11. Still others want to become doctors, nurses, firefighters, cops, and want to cut their teeth on the streets. As rescuers, they never want people to die or get hurt. But if they are going to die or get hurt, first responders want to be there. Despite the vital role they play New York City, EMTs are paid less than trash collectors, and far less than any other first responder makes, even though the burden of medical emergencies fall on the backs of EMTs and medics. Yet for Jennifer and her brothers and sisters, it's a calling more than a job. First responders are constantly exposed to infectious diseases, violence, and death. The coronavirus pandemic did not change that math; the public is just more aware of it. After 9/11, EMT training schools experienced a surge in applications from civilians wanting to become first responders, inspired by rescuers who responded to the terrorist attacks and rushed into the burning towers when everyone else ran out. The same will almost certainly be true post-coronavirus as people are moved by a desire to help in times of crisis in a more direct way. Funny and heartwarming, inspiring and poignant, First Responder follows Jennifer's journey to becoming an EMT and working during and beyond the Covid-19 pandemic. She will bring readers inside an intense world filled with crisis, rescue, grief, uncertainty, and dark humor. First Responder will move readers to a greater understanding and appreciation of those fighting for them—wherever they live—in a world they hardly know or could imagine.Nature's Allies: Eight Conservationists Who Changed Our World
By Larry Nielsen. 1984
It's easy to feel powerless in the face of big environmental challenges—but we need inspiration more than ever. With political…
leaders who deny climate change, species that are fighting for their very survival, and the planet's last places of wilderness growing smaller and smaller, what can a single person do? InNature's Allies, Larry Nielsen uses the stories of conservation pioneers to show that through passion and perseverance, we can each be a positive force for change.In eight engaging and diverse biographies—John Muir, Ding Darling,Aldo Leopold, Rachel Carson, Chico Mendes,Billy Frank Jr., Wangari Maathai, and Gro Harlem Brundtland—we meet individuals who have little in common except that they all made a lasting mark on our world. Some famous and some little known to readers, they spoke out to protect wilderness, wildlife, fisheries, rainforests, and wetlands. They fought for social justice and exposed polluting practices. They marched, wrote books, testified before Congress, performed acts of civil disobedience, and, in one case, were martyred for their defense of nature.Nature's Alliespays tribute to them all as it rallies a new generation of conservationists to follow in their footsteps.These vivid biographies are essential reading for anyone who wants to fight for the environment against today's political opposition. Nature's Allies will inspire students, conservationists, and nature lovers to speak up for nature and show the power of one person to make a difference.The Remarkable Life of William Beebe: Explorer And Naturalist
By Carol Grant Gould. 2004
When William Beebe needed to know what was going on in the depths of the ocean, he had himself lowered…
a half-mile down in a four-foot steel sphere to see-five times deeper than anyone had ever gone in the 1930s. When he wanted to trace the evolution of pheasants in 1910, he trekked on foot through the mountains and jungles of the Far East to locate every species. To decipher the complex ecology of the tropics, he studied the interactions of every creature and plant in a small area from the top down, setting the emerging field of tropical ecology into dynamic motion.William Beebe's curiosity about the natural world was insatiable, and he did nothing by halves. As the first biographer to see the letters and private journals Beebe kept from 1887 until his death in 1962, science writer Carol Grant Gould brings the life and times of this groundbreaking scientist and explorer compellingly to light.From the Galapagos Islands to the jungles of British Guiana, from the Bronx Zoo to the deep seas, Beebe's biography is a riveting adventure. A best-selling author in his own time, Beebe was a fearless explorer and thoughtful scientist who put his life on the line in pursuit of knowledge. The unique glimpses he provided into the complex web of interactions that keeps the earth alive and breathing have inspired generations of conservationists and ecologists. This exciting biography of a great naturalist brings William Beebe at last to the recognition he deserves.Cat Tale: The Wild, Weird Battle to Save the Florida Panther
By Craig Pittman. 2020
It wasn’t so long ago when a lot of people thought the Florida panther was extinct. They were very nearly…
right. That the panther still exists at all is a miracle—the result of a desperate experiment that led to the most remarkable comeback in the history of the Endangered Species Act. And no one has told the whole story—until now. With novelistic detail and an eye for the absurd, Craig Pittman recounts the extraordinary story of the people who brought the panther back from the brink of extinction, the ones who nearly pushed the species over the edge, and the cats that were caught in the middle. This being Florida, there’s more than a little weirdness, too. An engrossing narrative of wry humor, sharp writing and exhaustive reportage, Cat Tale shows what it takes to bring one species back and what unexpected costs such a decision brings.Aldo Leopold's Odyssey, Tenth Anniversary Edition: Rediscovering the Author of A Sand County Almanac
By Julianne Lutz Warren. 2016
In 2006, Julianne Lutz Warren(néeNewton) asked readers to rediscover one of history's most renowned conservationists. Aldo Leopold's Odyssey was hailed…
by The New York Times as a "biography of ideas," making "us feel the loss of what might have followed A Sand County Almanac by showing us in authoritative detail what led up to it. " Warren's astute narrative quickly became an essential part of the Leopold canon, introducing new readers to the father of wildlife ecology and offering a fresh perspective to even the most seasoned scholars. A decade later, as our very concept of wilderness is changing, Warren frames Leopold's work in the context of the Anthropocene. With a new preface and foreword by Bill McKibben, the book underscores the ever-growing importance of Leopold's ideas in an increasingly human-dominated landscape. Drawing on unpublished archives, Warren traces Leopold's quest to define and preserve land health. Leopold's journey took him from Iowa to Yale to the Southwest to Wisconsin, with fascinating stops along the way to probe the causes of early land settlement failures, contribute to the emerging science of ecology, and craft a new vision for land use. Leopold's life was dedicated to one fundamental dilemma: how can people live prosperously on the land and keep it healthy, too? For anyone compelled by this question, the Tenth Anniversary Edition of Aldo Leopold's Odyssey offers insight and inspiration.Where Our Food Comes From: Retracing Nikolay Vavilov's Quest to End Famine
By Gary Paul Nabhan. 2009
The future of our food depends on tiny seeds in orchards and fields the world over. In 1943, one of…
the first to recognize this fact, the great botanist Nikolay Vavilov, lay dying of starvation in a Soviet prison. But in the years before Stalin jailed him as a scapegoat for the country's famines, Vavilov had traveled over five continents, collecting hundreds of thousands of seeds in an effort to outline the ancient centers of agricultural diversity and guard against widespread hunger. Now, another remarkable scientist--and vivid storyteller--has retraced his footsteps. In Where Our Food Comes From, Gary Paul Nabhan weaves together Vavilov's extraordinary story with his own expeditions to Earth's richest agricultural landscapes and the cultures that tend them. Retracing Vavilov's path from Mexico and the Colombian Amazon to the glaciers of the Pamirs in Tajikistan, he draws a vibrant portrait of changes that have occurred since Vavilov's time and why they matter. In his travels, Nabhan shows how climate change, free trade policies, genetic engineering, and loss of traditional knowledge are threatening our food supply. Through discussions with local farmers, visits to local outdoor markets, and comparison of his own observations in eleven countries to those recorded in Vavilov's journals and photos, Nabhan reveals just how much diversity has already been lost. But he also shows what resilient farmers and scientists in many regions are doing to save the remaining living riches of our world. It is a cruel irony that Vavilov, a man who spent his life working to foster nutrition, ultimately died from lack of it. In telling his story, Where Our Food Comes From brings to life the intricate relationships among culture, politics, the land, and the future of the world's food.Soar: A Memoir
By Gail Campbell Woolley. 2017
&“This is a book about life—about living it ravenously, fully, joyously, unendingly, even if you have a death sentence.&” —Donna…
Brazile, former chair, Democratic National Committee When Gail Campbell Woolley was seven, a pediatrician told her mother that Gail suffered from sickle cell anemia, a rare blood disease, and that she would be dead by age thirty-five. While others may have responded to this horrifying news by descending into a fog of self-pity, Gail went in the opposite direction. She decided to live an eventful, exciting life that ultimately included—despite a troubled home life and the systemic racism and sexism of the late twentieth century—academic success, an impressive career, a long and loving marriage, and the ability to leave her unmistakable stamp on every person she met. By the time she finally succumbed to her disease at age fifty-eight in 2015, she had ground that doctor&’s words into dust. Soar, written in the last two years of her life, is Woolley&’s powerfully inspiring story, and its publication checks the last item off her extraordinary bucket list, which also included traveling to every continent except Antarctica. Written in an engaging, no-nonsense voice with a directness that reflects her many years in journalism, Woolley&’s remarkable story not only will move readers to root for this irrepressible, quietly heroic woman but also will push readers to reassess their own approach to life. &“An inspiration for anyone confronting life&’s challenges. Gail has left a legacy of courage and compassion, and her memoir represents a voice that desperately needs to be heard in America right now.&” —Marc Morial, president and CEO, National Urban LeagueNot on My Watch: How a renegade whale biologist took on governments and industry to save wild salmon
By Alexandra Morton. 2021
Alexandra Morton has been called "the Jane Goodall of Canada" because of her passionate thirty-year fight to save British Columbia's…
wild salmon. Her account of that fight is both inspiring in its own right and a roadmap of resistance.Alexandra Morton came north from California in the early 1980s, following her first love--the northern resident orca. In remote Echo Bay, in the Broughton Archipelago, she found the perfect place to settle into all she had ever dreamed of: a lifetime of observing and learning what these big-brained mammals are saying to each other. She was lucky enough to get there just in time to witness a place of true natural abundance, and learned how to thrive in the wilderness as a scientist and a single mother. Then, in 1989, industrial aquaculture moved into the region, chasing the whales away. Her fisherman neighbours asked her if she would write letters on their behalf to government explaining the damage the farms were doing to the fisheries, and one thing led to another. Soon Alex had shifted her scientific focus to documenting the infectious diseases and parasites that pour from the ocean farm pens of Atlantic salmon into the migration routes of wild Pacific salmon, and then to proving their disastrous impact on wild salmon and the entire ecosystem of the coast. Alex stood against the farms, first representing her community, then alone, and at last as part of an uprising that built around her as ancient Indigenous governance resisted a province and a country that wouldn't obey their own court rulings. She has used her science, many acts of protest and the legal system in her unrelenting efforts to save wild salmon and ultimately the whales--a story that reveals her own doggedness and bravery but also shines a bright light on the ways other humans doggedly resist the truth. Here, she brilliantly calls those humans to account for the sake of us all.Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe: Four Weeks that Shaped a Pandemic
By Lynn Henry, Dr Bonnie Henry. 2021
From the BC doctor who has become a household name for leading the response to the pandemic, a personal account…
of the first weeks of COVID, for readers of Sam Nutt's Damned Nations and James Maskalyk's Life on the Ground Floor.Dr. Bonnie Henry has been called "one of the most effective public health figures in the world" by The New York Times. She has been called "a calming voice in a sea of coronavirus madness," and "our hero" in national newspapers. But in the waning days of 2019, when the first rumours of a strange respiratory ailment in Wuhan, China began to trickle into her office in British Columbia, these accolades lay in a barely imaginable future.Only weeks later, the whole world would look back on the previous year with the kind of nostalgia usually reserved for the distant past. With a staggering suddenness, our livelihoods, our closest relationships, our habits and our homes had all been transformed.In a moment when half-truths threatened to drown out the truth, when recklessness all too often exposed those around us to very real danger, and when it was difficult to tell paranoia from healthy respect for an invisible threat, Dr. Henry's transparency, humility, and humanity became a beacon for millions of Canadians. And her trademark enjoinder to be kind, be calm, and be safe became words for us all to live by.Coincidentally, Dr. Henry's sister, Lynn, arrived in BC for a long-planned visit on March 12, just as the virus revealed itself as a pandemic. For the four ensuing weeks, Lynn had rare insight into the whirlwind of Bonnie's daily life, with its moments of agony and gravity as well as its occasional episodes of levity and grace. Both a global story and a family story, Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe combines Lynn's observations and knowledge of Bonnie's personal and professional background with Bonnie's recollections of how and why decisions were made, to tell in a vivid way the dramatic tale of the four weeks that changed all our lives.Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe is about communication, leadership, and public trust; about the balance between politics and policy; and, at heart, about what and who we value, as individuals and a society.The authors' advance from the publisher has been donated to charities with a focus on alleviating communities hit particularly hard by the pandemic: True North Aid with its Covid-19 response in Northern Indigenous communities, and First Book Canada, with its focus on reading and literacy for underserved, marginalized youth.Voices of Change: Twelve Visions for How to Solve the Climate Crisis
By Various. 2021
In Voices of Change, a group of Canada’s most accomplished young environmentalists outline bold visions for how we can fight…
climate change and create a sustainable way of living. The twelve essays in Voices of Change, by fifteen inspiring youth leading the climate change movement in Canada, explore the most challenging issues around climate change, from sustainability to activism. The contributors, from all across the nation, describe their own work developing successful initiatives that have positively brought about environmental change—from creating a "Library of Things" in Waterloo, Ontario, to an ocean-education program in Medicine Hat, Alberta. The authors of this anthology speak passionately about their own experiences working for climate justice—facing racism, apathy, and a world changed by Covid-19—while also expressing hope and exploring solutions for how youth can fight climate change in Canada and beyond, effecting significant change. The essays in the anthology are: "Solastalgia—Getting Ahead of the Climate Crisis" by Abhayjeet Sachal and Sakhmeet Sachal "Climate Change in the COVID Era" by Asha Mior "Embracing My Inner Child" by Brandon Nguyen "The Intersectionality of Climate Change" by Chúk Odenigbo "The Sustainability of Stuff" by Devon Fernandes "Navigating Enivronmental Hypocrisy" by Erinn Drage "Fostering Social Innovation in Times of Technological Transition" by Eva Wu and Sebastien Molgat "Creating Space for Youth in Climate Decision Making" by Helen Watts "Ocean Activism From a Landlocked Province" by Jasveen Brar"Antarctica and the Power of Art" by Leah Davidson"Art as a Tool For Social Awareness" by Qurat Dar "It Begins with You" by Joel Dragon Smith and Sean Myomi Hougan A passionate call to action, the essays in Voices of Change are vibrant, thoughtful, and determined. Together they offer a powerful blueprint for new ways that we can think about climate change and do our part to bring about solutions that will positively affect the environment and the lives of all Canadians today and in the future. As climate activist Asha Mior says: "The time for action is now. Will you join us?"Women of the Pandemic: Stories from the Frontlines of COVID-19
By Lauren McKeon. 2021
The story of the pandemic is the story of women. This riveting narrative offers an account of COVID-19, reminding us…
of women's leadership and resilience, reflecting back hope and humanity as we all figure out a new normal, together.Throughout history, men have fought, lost, and led us through the world's defining crises. That all changed with COVID-19. In Canada, women's presence in the response to the pandemic has been notable. Women are our nurses, doctors, PSWs. Our cashiers, long-haulers, cooks. In Canada, women are leading the fast-paced search for a vaccine. They are leading our provinces and territories. At home, they are leading families through self-isolation, often bearing the responsibility for their physical and emotional health. They are figuring out what working from home looks like, and many of them are doing it while homeschooling their kids. Women crafted the blueprint for kindness during the pandemic, from sewing masks to kicking off international mutual-aid networks. And, perhaps not surprisingly, women have also suffered some of the biggest losses, bearing the brunt of our economic skydive. Through intimate portraits of Canadian women in diverse situations and fields, Women of the Pandemic is a gripping narrative record of the early months of COVID-19, a clear-eyed look at women's struggles, which highlights their creativity, perseverance, and resilience as they charted a new path forward during impossible times.Evolutionary theory ranks as one of the most powerful concepts of modern civilization. Its effects on our view of life…
have been wide and deep. One of the most world-shaking books ever published, Charles Darwin’s On the Origin of Species, first appeared in print over 130 years ago, and it touched off a debate that rages to this day. Every modern evolutionist turns to Darwin’s work again and again. Current controversies in the life sciences very often have as their starting point some vagueness in Darwin’s writings or some question Darwin was unable to answer owing to the insufficient biological knowledge available during his time. Despite the intense study of Darwin’s life and work, however, many of us cannot explain his theories (he had several separate ones) and the evidence and reasoning behind them, nor do we appreciate the modifications of the Darwinian paradigm that have kept it viable throughout the twentieth century. Who could elucidate the subtleties of Darwin’s thought and that of his contemporaries and intellectual heirs―A. R. Wallace, T. H. Huxley, August Weismann, Asa Gray―better than Ernst Mayr, a man considered by many to be the greatest evolutionist of the century? In this gem of historical scholarship, Mayr has achieved a remarkable distillation of Charles Darwin’s scientific thought and his enormous legacy to twentieth-century biology. Here we have an accessible account of the revolutionary ideas that Darwin thrust upon the world. Describing his treatise as “one long argument,” Darwin definitively refuted the belief in the divine creation of each individual species, establishing in its place the concept that all of life descended from a common ancestor. He proposed the idea that humans were not the special products of creation but evolved according to principles that operate everywhere else in the living world; he upset current notions of a perfectly designed, benign natural world and substituted in their place the concept of a struggle for survival; and he introduced probability, chance, and uniqueness into scientific discourse. This is an important book for students, biologists, and general readers interested in the history of ideas―especially ideas that have radically altered our worldview. Here is a book by a grand master that spells out in simple terms the historical issues and presents the controversies in a manner that makes them understandable from a modern perspective.Philosophical Explorations of the Legacy of Alan Turing: Turing 100 (Boston Studies in the Philosophy and History of Science #324)
By Alisa Bokulich, Juliet Floyd. 2017
This volume presents an historical and philosophical revisiting of the foundational character of Turing's conceptual contributions and assesses the impact…
of the work of Alan Turing on the history and philosophy of science. Written by experts from a variety of disciplines, the book draws out the continuing significance of Turing's work. The centennial of Turing's birth in 2012 led to the highly celebrated "Alan Turing Year", which stimulated a world-wide cooperative, interdisciplinary revisiting of his life and work. Turing is widely regarded as one of the most important scientists of the twentieth century: He is the father of artificial intelligence, resolver of Hilbert's famous Entscheidungsproblem, and a code breaker who helped solve the Enigma code. His work revolutionized the very architecture of science by way of the results he obtained in logic, probability and recursion theory, morphogenesis, the foundations of cognitive psychology, mathematics, and cryptography. Many of Turing's breakthroughs were stimulated by his deep reflections on fundamental philosophical issues. Hence it is fitting that there be a volume dedicated to the philosophical impact of his work. One important strand of Turing's work is his analysis of the concept of computability, which has unquestionably come to play a central conceptual role in nearly every branch of knowledge and engineering.