Philip Ball

British science writer (born 1962)

For other people named Philip Ball, see Philip Ball (disambiguation).

Philip Ball

Born| 1962 (age 62–63)
Nationality| British
Alma mater|

* Oxford University
* Bristol University

Occupation| Science writer
Notable work| Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another
Website| www.philipball.co.uk

Philip Ball (born 1962) is a British science writer. For over twenty years he has been an editor of the journal Nature, for which he continues to write regularly.[1]

He is a regular contributor to Prospect magazine[2] and a columnist for Chemistry World, Nature Materials, and BBC Future.

## Biography

[edit]

Ball holds a degree in chemistry from Oxford and a doctorate in physics from Bristol University.

Ball's 2004 book Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another won the 2005 Aventis Prize for Science Books. It examines a wide range of topics including the business cycle, random walks, phase transitions, bifurcation theory, traffic flow, Zipf's law, Small world phenomenon, catastrophe theory, the Prisoner's dilemma. The overall theme is one of applying modern mathematical models to social and economic phenomena.[3]

In 2011, Ball published The Music Instinct in which he discusses how we make sense of sound and Music and emotion. He outlines what is known and still unknown about how music has such an emotional impact, and why it seems indispensable to humanity. He has since argued that music is emotively powerful due to its ability to mimic humans and through setting up expectations in pitch and harmony and then violating them.[4][better source needed]

Ball has written a research review on organism-centered evolution.[5][6] He has contributed to publications ranging from New Scientist[7] to The New York Times, The Guardian, the Financial Times, and New Statesman. In June 2004 he presented a three-part serial on nanotechnology, Small Worlds, on BBC Radio 4.

## Selected publications

[edit]

* Designing the Molecular World: Chemistry at the Frontier (1994), ISBN 0-691-00058-1
* Made to Measure: New Materials for the 21st Century (1997), ISBN 0-691-02733-1
* The Self-made Tapestry: Pattern Formation in Nature (1999), ISBN 0-19-850244-3
* H2O: A Biography of Water (1999), ISBN 0-297-64314-2 (published in the U.S. as Life's Matrix)
* Stories of the Invisible: A Guided Tour of Molecules (2001), ISBN 0-19-280214-3 (republished as Molecules: A Very Short Introduction (2003), OUP, ISBN 978-0-19-285430-8)
* Bright Earth: The Invention of Colour (2001), ISBN 0-670-89346-3
* The Ingredients: A Guided Tour of the Elements (2002), ISBN 0-19-284100-9 (republished as The Elements: A Very Short Introduction (2004), OUP, ISBN 978-0-19-284099-8)
* Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another (2004), ISBN 0-434-01135-5
* Elegant Solutions: Ten Beautiful Experiments in Chemistry (2005), ISBN 0-85404-674-7
* The Devil's Doctor: Paracelsus and the World of Renaissance Magic and Science (2006), ISBN 0-434-01134-7[8]
* The Sun and Moon Corrupted, a novel, Portobello Books Ltd, (2008), ISBN 978-1-84627-108-3
* Universe of Stone: A Biography of Chartres Cathedral (2008), ISBN 978-0-06-115429-4
* Shapes, Nature's Patterns, a Tapestry in three Parts (2009), ISBN 978-0-19-923796-8
* Flow, Nature's Patterns, a Tapestry in three Parts (2009), ISBN 978-0-19-923797-5
* Branches, Nature's Patterns, a Tapestry in three Parts (2009), ISBN 978-0-19-923798-2
* The Music Instinct (2010), ISBN 978-1-84792-088-1
* Unnatural, The Heretical Idea of Making People (2011),[9] ISBN 978-1-84792-152-9
* Why Society is a Complex Matter: Meeting Twenty-first Century Challenges with a New Kind of Science (2012), ISBN 978-3-642-28999-6
* Curiosity: How Science Became Interested in Everything (2013), ISBN 978-0-226-04579-5
* Serving the Reich: The Struggle for the Soul of Physics under Hitler (2014), ISBN 978-0-226-20457-4[10][11] Read an excerpt.
* Invisible: The Dangerous Allure of the Unseen (2015), University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0-226-23889-0; (2014), Random House[12]
* Patterns in Nature: Why the Natural World Looks the Way It Does (2016), ISBN 978-0-226-33242-0
* The Water Kingdom: A Secret History of China (2017), ISBN 978-0-226-36920-4
* Beyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew About Quantum Physics is Different (2018), ISBN 978-1-84792-457-5
* How to Grow a Human: Adventures in Who We Are and How We Are Made (2019), ISBN 978-0-00-833178-8[13] ISBN 978-0-00-833177-1
* The Beauty of Chemistry: Art, Wonder, and Science (2021) ISBN 978-0-262-04441-7
* The Elements: A Visual History of Their Discovery (2021) ISBN 978-0-500-02453-9
* The Book of Minds: How to Understand Ourselves and Other Beings, from Animals to AI to Aliens (2022), ISBN 978-0-226-79587-4[14]
* How Life Works: A User's Guide to the New Biology (2023) ISBN 978-1-5290-9599-9[15]
* "A New Understanding of the Cell: Gloppy specks called biomolecular condensates are rewriting the story of how life works", Scientific American, vol. 332, no. 2 (February 2025), pp. 22–27. "Biomolecular condensates now seem to be a key part of how life gets its countless molecular components to coordinate and cooperate, to form committees that make the group decisions on which our very existence depends." (p. 24.)

## Awards

[edit]

Ball's Critical Mass: How One Thing Leads to Another won the 2005 Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books.[16] His book Serving the Reich: The Struggle for the Soul of Physics under Hitler was on the shortlist for the 2014 prize.[17]

Ball was awarded the Physics World Book of the Year 2018 for his book Beyond Weird: Why Everything You Thought You Knew About Quantum Physics Is Different.[18]

In 2019 Ball won the Kelvin Medal and Prize.

Ball's article "Should scientists run the country"[19] won the 2022 award from the Association of British Science Writers for the best opinion piece.[20] He was also awarded the Royal Society's 2022 Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Medal for excellence in a subject relating to the history of science, philosophy of science or the social function of science.[21]

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Philip Ball – Science writer". Philip Ball. Retrieved 24 July 2013.
2. ^ Ball, Philip. "Curse of cursive handwriting". Prospect Magazine. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
3. ^ Harkin, James. (2004). Critical Mass – How One Thing Leads to Another. The Independent.
4. ^ "Music's Mystery". Institute of Art and Ideas. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
5. ^ "Organisms as Agents of Evolution: New Research Review". templeton.org. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
6. ^ "Organisms as Agents of Evolution". templeton.org. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
7. ^ Ball, Philip. "Engineering light: Pull an image from nowhere". New Scientist. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
8. ^ Shackelford, Jole (2007). "Paracelsus, Healer of the German Reformation". Chemical Heritage Magazine. 25 (3): 45. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
9. ^ Conrad, Peter (12 February 2011). "Review of Unnatural: The Heretical Idea of Making People by Philip Ball". The Guardian.
10. ^ Mangravite, Andrew (2015). "Magical Thinking". Distillations. 1 (4): 44–45. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
11. ^ Eckert, Michael (2015). "Review of Serving the Reich: The Struggle for the Soul of Physics Under Hitler Serving the Reich: The Struggle for the Soul of Physics Under Hitler by Philip Ball". Physics Today. 68 (4): 55–56\. doi:10.1063/PT.3.2752.
12. ^ Vickers, Salley (11 August 2014). "Review of Invisible: The Dangerous Lure of the Unseen by Philip Ball". The Guardian.
13. ^ Walter, Patrick (3 December 2019). "Review of How to Grow a Human: Adventures in Who We Are and How We Are Made by Philip Ball". Chemistry World.
14. ^ "ISBN Search – The Book of Minds: How to understand ourselves and other beings, from animals to AI to aliens". isbnsearch.org. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
15. ^ Noble, Denis (5 February 2024). "Book Review of "How Life Works: A User's Guide to the New Biology" by Philip Ball, Pan Macmillan (2023) – It's time to admit that genes are not the blueprint for life – The view of biology often presented to the public is oversimplified and out of date. Scientists must set the record straight, argues a new book". Nature. 626: 254–255\. doi:10.1038/d41586-024-00327-x. Archived from the original on 5 February 2024. Retrieved 5 February 2024.
16. ^ "Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books". Royal Society. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
17. ^ Melissa Hogenboom (10 November 2014). "Materials book wins Royal Society Winton Prize". BBC. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
18. ^ "Beyond Weird by Philip Ball wins Physics World Book of the Year 2018". Physics World. 17 December 2018. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
19. ^ Ball, Philip (27 September 2021). "The big idea: should scientists run the country?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
20. ^ "ABSW Awards 2022: The winners". Association of British Science Writers. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
21. ^ "Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Medal and Lecture | Royal Society". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 22 May 2023.

## External links

[edit]

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