wnyc.org / 93.9fm / am 820

Edward Dolnick tells an escape story involving God, humanity, and a huge rewrite of cosmic laws. It began in 1665. A plague hit Cambridge University. All of the students were sent home. One of them is a twenty-something Isaac Newton, who spent his forced summer vacation solving "the problem of ...

Edgar Award-winning author Edward Dolnick recounts the story of a group of scientists who set out to read God's mind, but whose work instead culminated in the founding of the Royal Society: the world's first scientific organization. In his book, The Clockwork Universe: Isaac Newton, The Royal Society, and the Birth of the Modern World, Dolnick explains how the 17th century belief that God was a mathematician drove an eccentric band of outsiders, led by Sir Isaac Newton, to some of the world's most profound scientific discoveries.

During WWII, a small-time Dutch painter Han van Meegeren managed to pass off his own paintings as those of Johannes Vermeer. Edward Dolnick’s new book about what’s been called the greatest art hoax of the twentieth century is The Forger’s Spell.

Event: Edward Dolnick will be speaking and signing ...