The Complete Adventures Of Mr Tompkins Regular Edition

Since his first appearance over sixty years ago, Mr Tompkins has become known and loved by many readers as the bank clerk whose fantastic dreams lead him into a world inside the atom. This classic provides a delightful explanation of the central concepts in physics, from atomic structure to relativity.

From author Igor Gamow: Mr. Tompkins, the inquisitive bank clerk created by my father, physicist George Gamow, leaps into the 21st century in a new "graphic textbook"! In this mammoth tome, Tompkins meets over ten famous scientists and learns their histories and key concepts! Albert Einstein: gravity Sir Ernest Rutherford: the history of early atomic physics Marie Curie: radioactivity Charles Darwin: evolution through natural selection Gregor Mendel: hereditary traits James Watson, Alfred Hershey, & Martha Chase: DNA Aristotle: the origins of biology Leonardo da Vinci & the Wright Brothers: the origins of flight Rachel Carson: the environmental impact of systemic pesticides Karl von Frisch: the life of bees George Gamow: the Big Bang theory Father created Tompkins in 1937, and since I was born in ''35 I''m in a sense Mr. Tompkins'' older brother. Father thought the audience for his three Tompkins books, Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland (1940), Mr. Tompkins Explores the Atom (1944), and Mr. Tompkins Learns the Facts of Life (1953) . would be the lay public who might glean a little understanding of contemporary science if he explained it in simple, everyday language, clever analogies, and no mathematics. To his astonishment his largest audience was comprised of scientists who actually performed the scientific research he wrote about. His publishing fame grew exponentially, not only among scientists but among young students who were inspired to go into science because of his popular books. Three such students who were inspired and became noted scientists are Sir Roger Penrose, Professor Kip Thorne and Professor Paul D. Beale, (who has written the foreword for this book). To learn that so many scientists were inspired by my father''s work was common during my tenure as a professor. Literally dozens of professional scientists, having seen the Gamow surname on my office door, would visit and tell me "I went into science because of the books of George Gamow." My goal is that THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES OF MR. TOMPKINS will continue to recruit the young students who might become tomorrow''s scientists, and teach them that even the most famous scientist, such as Einstein, Curie, or even Father, comes from humble origins and may one day turn the scientific world on its head with diligent study and determination. As a child in Odessa, Ukraine, he had a passion for literature and science, and by age 24 he wrote what was essentially the first book ever published on quantum mechanics. In 1933 he and my mother escaped the Soviet Union with financial help from Niels Bohr and Marie Curie, and sailed to America, where he became a professor at George Washington University. In 1946, at the Applied Physics Laboratory at Johns Hopkins Laboratory, my father, graduate student Ralph Alpher, and lab employee Robert Herman, used the earliest computers to calculate the origin of the chemical elements. In 1948 Father and Alpher published these findings in a now-famous paper, and were credited with the first experimental evidence for what became known as the "Big Bang" theory of the origin of the universe. (Father hated the name "Big Bang" because it was neither Big and did not go Bang!) But for all his work on the Big Bang, it''s likely Mr. Tompkins that is Father''s greatest legacy. As I visited with dozens of educators on how I could modernize my father''s character and bring him to a new audience, nothing seemed quite right until a colleague introduced me to talented comic book artist/graphic designer Scorpio Steele. Scorpio and I have now worked on THE ADVENTURES OF MR. TOMPKINS for many years, and the entire fruits of our collective labor are contained in this book. Educational graphic novels may possibly be the future of progressive science text books worldwide, and I am delighted that in this class of books I can include THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES OF MR. TOMPKINS.

Mr. Tompkins, the inquisitive bank clerk created by esteemed physicist George Gamow in 1937, returns in a new "graphic textbook" companion to the popular new video series! Join Tompkins as he learns about gravity from Albert Einstein, explores the atom with Ernest Rutherford and gets a radioactive guided tour by Marie Curie!

This book is a supplement to the educational science graphic novel THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES OF MR. TOMPKINS, and contains a glossary, index, and teacher's guides for the first three stories within that book. These three stories feature Albert Einstein explaining gravity, Ernest Rutherford teaching the history of the study of the atom, and Marie Curie discussing her life history and work with radioactivity. These stories were originally created as a series of videos; the first half of the video would be a lecture by me, assuming the role of the bearded Professor from the Mr. Tompkins books written by my father, George Gamow. In those books, Mr. Tompkins would first attend a lecture by the Professor, then fall asleep to learn various scientific concepts. The second half of the video would be an illustrated Mr. Tompkins adventure, and recount the events of Mr. Tompkins' dream and the famous scientist he meets within it. Eventually it was decided to continue THE ADVENTURES OF MR. TOMPKINS as a line of "graphic textbooks" instead of videos, so only the first three stories within THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES OF MR. TOMPKINS have supplemental teacher's guides. These guides include links to the video versions of the Einstein, Rutherford, and Curie episodes. These guides are a terrific, novel way to incorporate the ideas discussed in THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES OF MR. TOMPKINS into the classroom, and I hope you enjoy them. Professor Igor Gamow

THE COMPLETE ADVENTURES OF MR. TOMPKINSIn 1938, my Father George Gamow, created the curious and lovable fictional character, c.G.h. Tompkins. I was born in 1935 so in one very real sense Mr. Tompkins was my kid brother. Father was born in 1904 in Odessa, Russia and showed, as a child , a passion for literature and science. Father was able to make pocket money by challenging everyone and anyone that they could not give him a noun for which he could not find a verse using this noun in a published poem. When he was 24 he published, essentially, the first book ever published on quantum mechanics! In 1933 Father and my Mother escaped the then Soviet Union, with some financial help from Niels Bohr and Madam Curie, and sailed to America. Father accepted a professorship at George Washington University. The Father I knew had very few regrets but one regret he had was that he did not save the return payment receipts from Bohr and Curie. Father and his young student, Ralph Alpha, are credited to be the first to propose the Big Bang Theory of the Universe in 1948. He hated the name "Big Bang" because it was neither Big and did not go Bang. Father wrote three Tompkins books, Mr. Tompkins in Wonderland, 1940, Mr. Tompkins Explores the Atom, 1944, and Mr. Tompkins Learns the Facts of Life, 1953. His audience for these books, so he thought, would be the lay public who might glean a little understanding of contemporary science if he explained it in simple everyday language, no mathematics, and he used clever analogies. To Father's astonishment his largest audience were scientists who, in fact, many did the science he was now explaining. His publishing fame grew exponentially not only amongst scientists but among young students who were inspired to go into science because of his popular books. Two scientists were inspired by his books and became noted scientists, Professor Paul Beale, who wrote the foreword for this book, and world famous Professor Kip Thorn. This was a common story for me because during my tenure as a professor I had literally dozens of professors, having seen my name on my office door, visit me and tell me their stories. "I went into science because of the books of George Gamow". My goal is that my new Tompkins books will do the same in recruiting students who will be tomorrow's scientists. I visited with dozens of educators on how I could modernize my Father's Mr. Tompkins and nothing seemed quite right to me until one of my colleagues introduced me to a graphic artist, Scorpio Steele. We have now worked on our Tompkins series for many years and could not be more pleased with our product. I now appreciate the famous phrase "a picture is worth a thousand words" but in Scorpio's illustrations, it is at least this number, perhaps even a larger number? We also feel that this somewhat new mode of educational communication through graphic art is not only new for our Mr. Tompkins series but may possibly be an example of the future of progressive science text books world wide. Igor Gamow, 2016

An inspirational introduction to the physics of the twenty-first century.

One of the reincarnations of the Mr Tompkins series since the death of the author in 1968, in which Mr Tompkins visits a biologist.

"Being the second in a series of graphic science text-books of the most peculiar dimensions and amazing contents."