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The IceCube chronicles

Nature Physics volume 14, page 6 (2018)Cite this article

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The Telescope in the Ice: Inventing a New Astronomy at the South Pole

  • Mark Bowen
ST. MARTIN'S PRESS: 2017. 432 pp. £21.32

What makes a modern scientific hero? Lone geniuses revolutionizing science through solitary thinking are a thing of the past. Today, most big discoveries are produced by hundreds of scientific minds, so heroic science legends must be more nuanced if they are to bear any resemblance to reality. That makes the modern scientific hero difficult to define. One obvious condition is that he or she made a scientific contribution of great significance. In addition, having taken risks, overcome harrowing obstacles and having persevered in the face of the most adverse conditions are distinguishing features. But modern scientific heroes may also be human and flawed, as long as there is purity in their intentions and they are driven by the search for truth and the thrill of scientific discovery alone. In The Telescope in the Ice, science writer and physicist Mark Bowen attempts to retell the heroic efforts leading to the construction of the neutrino telescope IceCube and portraits the scientists on whose shoulders this success rests.

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  1. Leonie Mueck is Division Editor for the Physical Sciences at PLOS ONE, and tweets at @LeonieMueck.

    • Leonie Mueck
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  1. Leonie Mueck
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Mueck, L. The IceCube chronicles. Nature Phys 14, 6 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1038/nphys4326

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