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.
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]
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)
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] (Bodley Head, 2018)
Awarded the Royal Society’s 2022 Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Medal[19] for excellence in a subject relating to the history of science, philosophy of science or the social function of science.
^"Organisms as Agents of Evolution: New Research Review". templeton.org. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
^"Organisms as Agents of Evolution". templeton.org. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
^Ball, Philip. "Engineering light: Pull an image from nowhere". New Scientist. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
^Shackelford, Jole (2007). "Paracelsus, Healer of the German Reformation". Chemical Heritage Magazine. 25 (3): 45. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
^Conrad, Peter (12 February 2011). "Review of Unnatural: The Heretical Idea of Making People by Philip Ball". The Guardian.
^Mangravite, Andrew (2015). "Magical Thinking". Distillations. 1 (4): 44–45. Retrieved 22 March 2018.
^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.
^Vickers, Salley (11 August 2014). "Review of Invisible: The Dangerous Lure of the Unseen by Philip Ball". The Guardian.
^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.
^"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.
^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.
^"Royal Society Winton Prize for Science Books". Royal Society. Retrieved 25 September 2015.
^Melissa Hogenboom (10 November 2014). "Materials book wins Royal Society Winton Prize". BBC. Retrieved 11 November 2014.
^"Beyond Weird by Philip Ball wins Physics World Book of the Year 2018". Physics World. 17 December 2018. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
^"Wilkins-Bernal-Medawar Medal and Lecture | Royal Society". royalsociety.org. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
^Ball, Philip (27 September 2021). "The big idea: should scientists run the country?". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 22 May 2023.
^"ABSW Awards 2022: The winners". Association of British Science Writers. Retrieved 22 May 2023.