They were mad, of course. Or evil. Or godless, amoral, arrogant, impersonal, and inhuman. At best, they were well-intentioned but blind to the dangers of forces they barely controlled. They were Faust and Frankenstein, Jekyll and Moreau, Caligari and Strangelove--the scientists of film and fiction, cultural archetypes that reflected ancient fears of tampering with the unknown or unleashing the little-understood powers of nature. In From Faust to Strangelove Roslyn Haynes offers the first detailed and comprehensive study of the image of the scientist in Western literature and film--from medieval images of alchemists to present-day depictions of cyberpunks and genetic engineers.

Reading Popular Physics is a valuable contribution to our understanding of the nature and implications of physics popularizations. A literary critic trained in science, Elizabeth Leane treats popular science writing as a distinct and significant genre, focusing particularly on five bestselling books: Stephen Hawking's A Brief History of Time, Steven Weinberg's The First Three Minutes, James Gleick's Chaos, M. Mitchell Waldrop's Complexity, and Gary Zukav's The Dancing Wu Li Masters. Leane situates her examination of the texts within the heated interdisciplinary exchanges known as the 'Science Wars', focusing specifically on the disputed issue of the role of language in science. Her use of literary analysis reveals how popular science books function as sites for 'disciplinary skirmishes' as she uncovers the ways in which popularizers of science influence the public. In addition to their explicit discussion of scientific concepts, Leane argues, these authors employ subtle textual strategies that encode claims about the nature and status of scientific knowledge - claims that are all the more powerful because they are unacknowledged. Her book will change the way these texts are read, offering readers a fresh perspective on this highly visible and influential genre.

Faust Adaptations, edited and introduced by Lorna Fitzsimmons, takes a comparative cultural studies approach to the ubiquitous legend of Faust and his infernal dealings. Including readings of English, German, Dutch, and Egyptian adaptations ranging from the early modern period to the contemporary moment, this collection emphasizes the interdisciplinary and transcultural tenets of comparative cultural studies. Authors variously analyze the Faustian theme in contexts such as subjectivity, genre, politics, and identity. Chapters focus on the work of Christopher Marlowe, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Adelbert von Chamisso, Lord Byron, Heinrich Heine, Thomas Mann, D. J. Enright, Konrad Boehmer, Mahmoud Aboudoma, Bridge Markland, Andreas Gössling, and Uschi Flacke. Contributors include Frederick Burwick, Christa Knellwolf King, Ehrhard Bahr, Konrad Boehmer, and David G. John. Faust Adaptations demonstrates the enduring meaningfulness of the Faust concept across borders, genres, languages, nations, cultures, and eras. This collection presents innovative approaches to understanding the mediated, translated, and adapted figure of Faust through both culturally specific inquiry and timeless questions.

This book is an interdisciplinary reader on the Faust theme in literature and music from the Reformation to the present. Essays by Faust scholars set the texts in context. Peter Werres introduces the collection with The Changing Faces of Dr. Faustus. Osman Durrani and Gerald Strauss discuss contexts of the Faust Book, given in the English translation The Historie of the Damnable Life and Deserved Death of Doctor John Faustus. David Wootton compares Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus and the English Faust Book. Klaus L. Berghahn’s analysis of transformations of the theme and seventeenth- and eighteenth-century performance announcements contextualize the popular Puppet-Play of Doctor Faust. Works of Faustian music include the ballad The Just Judgment of God shew’d upon Dr. John Faustus, Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust, and Gounod’s Faust. Essays by Henry Bacon and Steven R. Cerf engage the Faust theme in Romantic music and twentieth-century opera. Osman Durrani introduces 19th-Century American Fausts, represented by Hawthorne’s The Birthmark, and excerpts from Ethan Brand and Melville’s Moby Dick. Faust themes in the 20th and 21st centuries are represented by Valéry’s My Faust, Shapiro’s The Progress of Faust, Osman Durrani’s overview of Faust globalized, and Paul M. Malone’s work on the Faust theme in rock opera. A reading list is included.

Stem cells have the ability to differentiate into cells that are found throughout the body. This fundamental property of stem cells suggests that they can potentially be used to replace degenerative cells within the body, and regenerate the functional capacity of organ systems that have deteriorated because of disease or aging. This authoritative textbook provides an overview of the latest advances in the field of stem cell biology, spanning topics that include nuclear reprogramming, somatic cell cloning, and determinants of cell fate; embryonic stem cells for hematopoietic and pancreatic repair; adult stem cells for cardiovascular, neural, renal, and hepatic repair; and manufacturing of stem cells for clinical use.

Introduction -- Evil alchemists and Doctor Faustus -- Bacon's new scientists -- Foolish virtuosi -- Newton: a scientist for God -- Arrogant and godless: scientists in eighteenth-century satire -- Inhuman scientists: the romantic perception -- Frankenstein and the creature -- Victorian scientists: doubt and struggle -- The scientist as adventurer -- Efficiency and power: the scientist under scrutiny -- The scientist as hero -- Mad, bad, and dangerous to know: reality overtakes fiction -- The impersonal scientist -- Scientia gratia scientiae: the amoral scientist -- Pandora's box -- Robots, cyborgs, androids and clones: who is in control? -- The scientist as woman -- Idealism and conscience -- Watershed: the new scientists

At a time when the Manhattan Project was synonymous with large-scale science, physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–67) represented the new sociocultural power of the American intellectual. Catapulted to fame as director of the Los Alamos atomic weapons laboratory, Oppenheimer occupied a key position in the compact between science and the state that developed out of World War II. By tracing the making—and unmaking—of Oppenheimer’s wartime and postwar scientific identity, Charles Thorpe illustrates the struggles over the role of the scientist in relation to nuclear weapons, the state, and culture. A stylish intellectual biography, Oppenheimer maps out changes in the roles of scientists and intellectuals in twentieth-century America, ultimately revealing transformations in Oppenheimer’s persona that coincided with changing attitudes toward science in society. “This is an outstandingly well-researched book, a pleasure to read and distinguished by the high quality of its observations and judgments. It will be of special interest to scholars of modern history, but non-specialist readers will enjoy the clarity that Thorpe brings to common misunderstandings about his subject.”—Graham Farmelo, Times Higher Education Supplement “A fascinating new perspective. . . . Thorpe’s book provides the best perspective yet for understanding Oppenheimer’s Los Alamos years, which were critical, after all, not only to his life but, for better or worse, the history of mankind.”—Catherine Westfall, Nature