She was a sixtyyearold widow who had just walked out on. Since 1961 the standard unit of atomic mass has been onetwelfth the mass of an atom of the isotope carbon12. Churchs first novel, and its one of the best, most wellwritten books ive read this year. But she didnt expect to fall in love with her brilliant physics professor, alden whetstone.
A luminous and enthralling story of birds and science, ambition and sacrifice, revolutions both big and small and the late blooming of an unforgettable woman. The atomic weight of love new hampshire state library. Spanning the 1930s to presentday america, church sets. One of the things that made the atomic weight of love come alive was elizabeth j. Elizabeth j church in 1941, at seventeen years old, meridian begins her ornithology studies at the university of chicago. The book opens in chicago during the height of world war ii, where meridian wallace is happily studying ornithology at the university of chicago. At the party meridian and alden host for other physicists and their wives pages 35, meridian feels left out, marooned, as if she doesnt fit ineven in her own home. Our reading guide for the atomic weight of love by elizabeth j. Church takes us from the world war ii years in chicago to the vast sunparched canyons of new mexico in the 1970s as we follow the journey of a driven, spirited young woman, meridian wallace, whose scientific. It is there, in 1941, she meets physics professor alden whetstone, who challenges her mind and appreciates her intellect, unlike the boys she meets in her classes.
Church takes us from the world war ii years in chicago to the vast sunparched canyons of new mexico in the 1970s as we follow the journey of a driven, spirited young woman, meridian wallace, whose scientific ambitions are subverted by the. Meridian wallace is seventeen when she leaves her home and goes to the university of chicago to study ornithology. Atomic mass and average atomic mass some basic concepts of chemistry duration. Church takes us from the world war ii years in chicago to the vast sunparched canyons of new. The difference between atomic weight and atomic mass became known when f. Atomic weight definition, the average weight of an atom of an element, formerly based on the weight of one hydrogen atom taken as a unit or on 116 0. Review of the atomic weight of love by elizabeth j.
A novel kindle edition by church, elizabeth j download it once and read it on your kindle device, pc, phones or tablets. Church takes us from the world war ii years in chicago to the vast sunparched canyons of new mexico in the 1970s. An elegant glimpse into the evolution of love and womanhood. Aston, the inventor of the mass spectrometer 1927 used his new device to study neon. The atomic weight of love is a book that surprised me. The atomic weight of love the atomic weight of love is a work of historical fiction that follows the life of meridian meri wallace. Since both quantities in the ratio are masses, the resulting value is. Paperback 372017 library binding, large print 612016 mp3 cd 11292016. If love, as they say, is blind, how do we ever see the beloved accurately, beyond the images we create of the person we want to see. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read the atomic weight of love. Find books like the atomic weight of love from the worlds largest community of readers. Flight requires defiance of gravity and is really, when you think about it, a bold act. We first meet her in the 1940s, as a naive 17 yearold.
The atomic weight of love sounded like a quiet book to me, but the process of transformation from caterpillar to butterfly is a quiet thing, too, and thats what this story reminds me of. A r or atomic weight is a dimensionless physical quantity defined as the ratio of the average mass of atoms of a chemical element in a given sample to the atomic mass constant. In 1941, a bright and spirited young woman named meridian wallace begins her studies in ornithology at the university of chicago. Her whole life is ahead of her, and her plans for it include intense study at college, to be followed by a graduate degree focusing. The first pages begin with older meredith reflecting on her life, and then we start from the beginning and follow meredith as a young girl through to middle age. She is soon drawn to alden whetstone, a brilliant, complicated physics professor who opens her. It is an average of relative isotope masses for an element from samples collected all over the earth, so this value is subject to change as new element sources are discovered. We first meet her in the 1940s, as a naive 17 yearold studying to become an ornithologist at the university of chicago and someone who by all accounts, has a promising career ahead of her. Atomic weight of love is the best book i have read since tony doerrs all the light we cannot see. In the spirit of the aviators wife and loving frank, this resonant debut spans the years from world war ii through the vietnam war to tell the story of a woman whose scientific ambition is caught up in her relationships with two very different. Churchs use of music, books, movies, advertisements, and television to fully realize the time setting of the novel in addition to the expected war news tidbits, numerous times church refers to the release of a book or movie to help ground the story firmly in time, reminding us of the broader mind. Reading guide for the atomic weight of love by elizabeth. The atomic weight of love audiobook by elizabeth j. Exquisitely capturing the claustrophobic eras of 1940s and 1950s america, the atomic weight of love also examines the changing roles of women during the decades that followed.
The professor at the front of the lecture hall paused for dramatic effect, but as far as i could see, i was the only fully engrossed member of the audience. Churchs debut novel, the atomic weight of love, is one of those multilayered books that has one thinking about the road not taken, as well as the changing roles of women through the years. A setting in time atomic weight of love reading my way. The atomic weight of love is a work of historical fiction that follows the life of meridian meri wallace. Elizabeth j church capturing the claustrophobic eras of 1940s and 1950s america, the atomic weight of love also examines the changing roles of women during the decades that followed.
Its a fascinating account of meridian wallace, a scienceminded woman who falls in love with a brilliant man working on big thingsin this case, the atomic bomb. Goodreads members who liked the atomic weight of love also liked. Church posted on 052016 by rhapsodyinbooks this engrossing book is about a wouldbe ornithologist in the 1940s, meridian meri wallace, who, while a student at the university of chicago, meets physicist alden whetstone twenty years meris senior, and agrees to give up. And in meridian wallace we find an unforgettable heroine whose metamorphosis shows how the womens movement opened up the world for a whole generation. Atomic weight, also called relative atomic mass, ratio of the average mass of a chemical elements atoms to some standard. Elizabeth churchs debut novel on nuclear war and womens liberation fails to take flight.