Yakov I. Perelman

Yakov Isidorovich Perelman ( _ru. Яков Исидорович Перельман; December 4, 1882-March 16, 1942) was a Russian author of many popular science books. Works include "Physics Can Be Fun" and "Mathematics Can Be Fun" (both translated from Russian into English).

YI Perelman was born in 1882 in the town of Byelostok. In 1909, he obtained the diploma of forester from the St. Petersburg Forestry Institute. After the success of "Physics for Entertainment", Perelman set out to produce other books, in which he showed himself to be an imaginative populariser of science. Especially popular were "Arithmetic for entertainment", "Mechanics for entertainment", "Geometry for Entertainment", "Astronomy for entertainment", "Lively Mathematics", " Physics Everywhere", and "Tricks and Amusements".

His famous books on physics and astronomy were translated into various languages by the erstwhile Soviet Union.

The great scientist K.E.Tsiolkovsky always thought highly of the talent and creative genius of Perelman. He wrote of him in the preface of "Interplanetary Journeys": "The author has long been known by his popular, witty and quite scientific works on physics, astronomy and mathematics, which are, moreover written in a marvelous language and are very readable."

Perelman has also authored a number of textbooks and articles in Soviet popular science magazines.

In addition to his educational, scientific and literary activities, he has also devoted much time to editing. He was the editor of magazines "Nature and people" and "In the workshop of nature".

Perelman died from starvation in 1942, during the German Siege of Leningrad [ [http://www.n-t.ru/ri/ms/dz10.htm Доктор занимательных наук. Книги. Наука и техника ] ] .

He is no relation to the Russian mathematician Grigori Perelman, who was born in 1966 to a different Yakov Perelman. However, Grigori Perelman told The New Yorker that his father gave him "Physics for Entertainment", and it inspired his interest in mathematics. [*cite news | last = Nasar | first = Sylvia | coauthors = Gruber, David | title = Manifold Destiny: A legendary problem and the battle over who solved it. | work = The New Yorker | date = 21 August 2006 | url = http://www.newyorker.com/fact/content/articles/060828fa_fact2 | accessdate = 2006-08-24 ]

Books

* "Mathematics Can Be Fun"
* "Astronomia Recreativa"
* "Physics for Entertainment" (1913)
* "Figures for Fun"
* "Fun with Maths & Physics"
* "Arithmetic for entertainment"
* "Mechanics for entertainment"
* "Geometry for Entertainment"
* " [http://books.google.com/books?vid=ISBN0898750563 Astronomy for entertainment] "
* "Lively Mathematics"
* "Physics Everywhere"
* "Tricks and Amusements"

He has also written several books on interplanetary travel ("Interplanetary Journeys, On a rocket to stars, and World Expanses etc.")

"Physics for entertainment"

In 1913 in Russian bookshops appeared a book by the outstanding educationalist, entiled "Physics for entertainment". It struck the fancy of the young who found in it the answers to many of the questions that interested them.

"Physics for entertainment" had not only an interesting layout, it was also immensely instructive. In the preface to the 11th edition, Perelman wrote: "The main objective of "Physics for entertainment" is to arouse the activity of scientific imagination, to teach the reader to think in the spirit of the science of physics and to create in his mind a wide variety of associations of physical knowledge with the widely differing facts of life, with all that he normally comes into contact with".

In the foreword, the book’s author describes the contents as “conundrums, brain-teasers, entertaining anecdotes, and unexpected comparisons,” adding, “I have quoted extensively from Jules Verne, H. G. Wells, Mark Twain and other writers, because, besides providing entertainment, the fantastic experiments these writers describe may well serve as instructive illustrations at physics classes.” The book’s topics included how to jump from a moving car, and why, “according to the law of buoyancy, we would never drown in the Dead Sea.”

References

External links

[http://www.archive.org/details/physicsforentert035428mbp Physics for Entertainment] Free electronic edition at the Internet Archive.

See also

Perel'man (crater)