Fisher, Len 1942–

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Fisher, Len 1942–

(Leonard R. Fisher)

PERSONAL: Born 1942. Education: Sydney University, B.Sc. (with honors), 1962, M.Sc.; Macquarie University, B.A.; University of New South Wales, Ph.D.; University of Bristol, M.A. (with commendation).

ADDRESSES: Office—Bristol University, HH Wills Physics Laboratory, Tyndall Ave., Bristol BS8 1TL, England. E-mail—Len.Fisher@bristol.ac.uk.

CAREER: Research scientist, writer, and lecturer. Cambridge University, Cambridge, England, former visiting researcher in physiology; University College London, London, England, former associate senior research fellow in anatomy; University of Bristol, Bristol, England, currently visiting honorary research fellow in physics. British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) Radio 4, host of series The Science of DIY, beginning 2003. Consultant for Firmenich (Swiss perfume and flavoring company).

MEMBER: Royal Society of Chemistry (fellow), Royal Australian Chemical Institute (fellow), Pembroke College Cambridge Winnie-the-Pooh Society (honorary member).

AWARDS, HONORS: Science Writer of the Year, American Institute of Physics, 2004.

WRITINGS:

How to Dunk a Doughnut: The Science of Everyday Life, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 2002, Arcade (New York, NY), 2003.

Weighing the Soul: The Evolution of Scientific Beliefs, Weidenfeld & Nicolson (London, England), 2004, published as Weighing the Soul: Scientific Discovery from the Brilliant to the Bizarre, Arcade (New York, NY), 2004.

Author of numerous scientific papers and book chapters. Contributor to periodicals, including London Daily Mail, New Statesman, and London Independent. Author of "The Science of Cooking" series of columns for London Guardian.

WORK IN PROGRESS: Writing about applying physics to medical and biological questions.

SIDELIGHTS: Len Fisher is a successful researcher in chemistry and physics, but he has been equally successful in explaining chemical and physical theories to lay readers. "With wry wit and feline curiosity, he puts the fizz in physics," Wook Kim declared in an Entertainment Weekly review of the author's first book, How to Dunk a Doughnut: The Science of Everyday Life. In that title, Fisher explains why suds form in beer and bubble baths, uses physics to show why doughnuts (and cookies) should be dunked on a close-to-horizontal angle to prevent them from becoming oversaturated and falling apart, and discusses how a boomerang works, among other topics. He then expands on the science behind these phenomena to show how they relate to larger scientific questions. For example, colloidal suspension, the process that allows soap bubbles to form, may also have created the first living cells on Earth, and the actions of moisture wicking and stress fractures that cause dunked cookies to crumble can have the same effect on construction materials. "And," David Pitt added in Booklist, Fisher explains this "all with clarity, wit, and the bare minimum of mathematical equations." In fact, Fisher frequently uses stories to illustrate his points, and these "thoroughly engaging anecdotes serve to bring the process of science and the people who conduct scientific investigations to life," according to a Publishers Weekly contributor. The result, Marcia R. Franklin concluded in Library Journal, is "a fabulously fun and interesting read."

In Weighing the Soul: Scientific Discovery from the Brilliant to the Bizarre (published in England as Weighing the Soul: The Evolution of Scientific Beliefs) Fisher examines the people who do science and the processes by which it has been done over the centuries. He follows the careers of seven scientists, ranging from the Renaissance's Galileo Galilee to twentieth-century physicist Erwin Schrödinger, all of whom propounded theories that were considered ridiculous by their contemporaries. Some, including Galileo and Schrödinger, were eventually deemed to have been correct; others, including a Scottish scientist who tried to determine the weight of the soul by placing dying patients on a scale and watching for a change at the moment of death, came to be considered quacks. Yet, as Fisher explains, many scientific theories seem illogical and improbable at first, and it is difficult to tell at the outset which of these theories will eventually become accepted wisdom and which really are misguided.

Weighing the Soul, like How to Dunk a Doughnut, was praised by critics for making the scientific process accessible to lay readers. A Science News reviewer noted that "Fisher's approach is fresh [and] his explanations are clear," while John Horgan declared in the Lancet that "Fisher is a charming, persuasive narrator, with a gift for lucid explanations and vivid anecdotes." It is "a quirky but winning approach to scientific history," concluded a Kirkus Reviews critic.