New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2001. First edition - A clearly written and well-researched account of the life of the Norwegian scientist At 31, he "set out on a lifelong, increasingly compulsive quest to discover the origins of the aurora borealis.. from the ice mountains of Norway to the deserts of Africa, against a backdrop of war and political upheaval. Along the way, Birkeland made some remarkable discoveries and inventions, such as the idea of hearing aids for deaf patients; of making caviar from cod roe; and of using the force of cathode rays to propel rockets.. . Ultimately, [his] obsession with the workings of the cosmos cost him his health, his happiness, and his sanity - perhaps even his life. He spent his final days in exile in Egypt, and died in 1917 in Japan, under suspicious circumstances, his groundbreaking theories unheralded; he was cheated of the Nobel Prize by a rival. But now Birkeland?s ideas are considered to have been prophetic, and they have furthered our understanding not only of the Northern Lights but also of electromagnetism, comets, and the sun." Illustrated. Select bibliography. xii, 289 pp.