Scientific/Technical Translations * Michael Basler

Business Contact:

Dr. Michael Basler, Scientific/Technical Translations, Ernst-Bloch-Ring 30, D-07743 Jena, Germany

Phone: +49 (0) 3641 368978

Fax: +49 (0) 3641 364276

eMail: Business Mail  

Private Homepage:  http://michael-basler.net
 

Main field of activity:

Translation of foreign patent applications in the fields of computer hardware/software, electronics, physics, technology in general.

Translation of text books as well as popular science books in the fields of physics, mathematics, astronomy.

Language combinations: English (rarely Russian) into German

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I have been translating science books besides my work at university since 1991. With growing experience I found this an interesting task. I have been working as a full time translator since 1997.

The following is a list of books I translated up to now. While I highly recommend all of them I may be not free of bias, though.

A. Linde, Elementarteilchen und inflationärer Kosmos, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, Berlin, Oxford, 1993, ISBN 3-86025-036-1.

(from the Russian),
Original Title: Fisika elementarnych castic i inflacionnaja kosmologia, Nauka, Moskva, 1990.

This is a comprehensive treatment of the concept of the inflationary cosmos, having been developed by Prof. Linde himself. While it's written in the style of a text book it's actually close to a monograph. I find it's didactically well done, but you sure need quite a certain background on general relativity and quantum field theory to really comprehend it. 


 S.  L. Sallas, E. Hille, Calculus, Einführung in die Differential- und Integralrechnung, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, Berlin, Oxford, 1994, ISBN 3-86025-130-9.

(from the American, translated together with T. Lange and K. H. Lotze)
Original Title: Calculus, John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 1990.

I have been told this is a classical text on US universities, and that's probably right. It's a didactic masterpiece, enclosing just the necessary basics to comprehend Calculus. All less important stuff is omitted, but a lot of examples are presented. Contrary to some other "lower level" introductions all proofs are given, or at least sketched. I'd highly recommend it.

D. W. Jordan, P. Smith, Mathematische Methoden für die Praxis, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, Berlin, Oxford, 1996, ISBN 3-86025-359-X.

(from the English)
Original Title: Mathematical Technique. An Introduction for the Engineering, Physical and Mathematical Sciences, Oxford University Press 1994.

This book describes the main mathematical techniques used by engineers in their everyday life. It just presents the recipes and a lot of examples while only few proofs are given. I found a very valuable aspect a disk provided with the German book (to be ordered separately by readers of the original version) including 30 ready-to-run example Mathematica (©) programs.

B. Burke Hubbard, Wavelets, Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, Boston, Berlin, 1997, ISBN 3-7643-5688-X.

(from the American)
Original Title: The World According to Wavelets: The Story of a Mathematical Technique in the Making, A K Peters, Ltd., Wellesley, MA 1995.Wavelets

Wavelets are a fascinating generalization of the well known Fourier transformation technique, providing a trade-off between representing a signal in space or in frequency only. As a starting point for some further reading on wavelets (being a quite recent subject) I suggest the wavelet resources page. But wavelets are not at all for mathematicians only - some recent very effective file compression methods are based on them, to name only one application.

This book, while including a comprehensive collection of references, is neither a text book nor a monograph - it's a popular treatment. The first half - which anyone interested in math should be able to comprehend - is free of any formulas at all. Even the second half being written "In the language of mathematics" should be comprehensible by anyone with a basic education in math - not necessarily involving calculus. Throughout the book you can find a lot of (verbal) references to what original workers said about wavelets - sometimes naturally controversial. I'd be glad if the reader would enjoy reading it the same way I enjoyed translating it.

Professionelle Schaltungstechnik, Band 6, Franzis'-Verlag, München, 1997

(from the American)
Original Title: Rudolf F. Graf, Encyclopedia of electronic circuits, Vol. 2, TAB BOOKS Inc., Blue Ridge Summit, PA, 1988..
(Strangely enough neither does the translation include the name of the translator nor that of the original author.)

This is vol. 6 of an eight volume comprehensive and successful Encyclopedia of electronic circuits edited by Franzis'. It contains more than 700 circuits (which I fortunately did not have to draw) together with more or less detailed descriptions (which I had to translate). You will find nearly all kinds of circuits one can imagine - starting from alarm circuits, converters, oscillators, receivers up to touch switch circuits. While the subject is probably not this exciting as wavelets, it will sure be a valuable tool for those actually having to assemble a certain device .

T. W. Körner: Mathematisches Denken. Vom Vergnügen am Umgang mit Zahlen, Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, Boston, Berlin, 1998, ISBN 3-7643-5833-5

(from the English)
Original Title: The Pleasures of Counting, Cambridge University Press, 1996.

The main goal of this 700pp volume book is showing how mathematicians are doing mathematics. It is not a text book of completed mathematics but shows mathematics in its making. This is done by presenting five large areas where math has been useful. Examples range from the use of statistical methods (The appearance of epidemics...) via mathematical formulation of physical law (Special relativity...) algorithms, cryptology (The math of the enigma...) to differential equations (Growth and decay...). This book is a masterpiece and really fun reading. Moreover, if you have a closer look into this book, you may even detect several remarks, which might prove useful for your life beyond math.

Jeff Foust, Ron Lafon: PC @stronomie: Unendliche Weiten auf Ihrem PC, mitp-Verlag, Bonn, 2000, ISBN 3-8266-0618-3

(from the American)
Original Title: Astronomer's Computer Companion, no starch press, San Francisco, 2000.

Do you belong to those people, like me, with a life-long weakness for the starry night? Or, are you even an avid amateur astronomer spending every other night on the telescope? If so, you really should consider getting this book.

The presentation is aimed at making a connection between astronomy and computers. Indeed, there are already numerous PC astronomyconnections - you only have to find them. Astronomer's Computer Companion helps you to localize astronomy stuff on your PC as quickly and simply as possible .

The first third of the book is a complete introduction to astronomy which starts with our earth and ends up with black holes, quasars, and the like. Contrary to similar presentations, all the material is mixed with numerous links to relevant Internet pages and hints to useful astronomy programs. The second part is a systematic outline of on-line and off-line resources in astronomy including newsgroups, on-line services, search engines and the like on the one hand side and planetarium programs, satellite tracking software and observational programs and such on the other hand.

The last third is an extended appendix with reference to the accompanying CD-ROM. This CD-ROM is a jewel in its own. It contains more than a hundred Freeware, Shareware and Demo versions of astronomy software. Besides it comprises an extended collection of stunning pictures and animations from the Hubble Space Telescope and other sources. Not enough, the CD-ROM contains the complete book as a .pdf file with click-able links! No need to type in all those weird http://&%$ addresses by hand.

Jan Axelson: USB Professionell, mitp-Verlag, Bonn, 2001, ISBN 3-8266-0698-1

(from the American, translated together with G. Franken)
Original Title: USB Complete - Everything You Need to Develop Custom USB Peripherals, Lakeview Research, 1999.

The restrictions of the numerous PC interfaces like parallel, serial, gameport, PS/2,... became more and more evident during the last years. Partly they are too slow for modern devices, moreover they are incompatible to each other and most of all - who hasn't ever looked into his or her PC only to detect the last PCI slot already being filled.

The USB aims to solve (nearly) all of those problems. While it's specification was defined as early as in 1996, it took nearly three more years for USB interfaces (the small flat jacks on your PC) being integrated into standard PCs by default and USB peripherals becoming more widely used.

The Book is not so much written for the end user of USB devices but focuses is aimed on developers and programmers. After an introduction into the goals of the USB the books explains data transfers modes and protocols. Next, you'll find an example for the selection of the proper controller chip for your device. Finally, the book describes test procedures for the newly developed devices and softwares. Further chapters concentrate on concrete programming of the firmware for a device. While the focus of the representation is on Windows as the operating system, the German edition contains several additions on Linux as well.

Source code for the example programs - which can be taken as a basis for modification - are included on a CD-ROM. One of the advantages of the book is its clear organization. This makes it easy for the practician as the main target of the book to find relevant information quickly.

Philip S. Harrington: Sonnen- und Mondfinsternisse beobachten, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, 2002, ISBN 3-8274-1329-X

(from the American)
Original Title: Eclipse! The What, Where, When, Why & How Guide to Watching Solar & Lunar Eclipses, John Wiley & Sons, New York, 1997.

"Amongst all the wonders of the wonderful sciences there is no science which deals with such a gorgeous spectacle as is exhibited by the queen of sciences, astronomy, at the moment when the earth is gradually shrouded in darkness and when around the smiling orb of day there appears the matchless crown of the corona..." (S. A. Mitchell, Eclipses of the Sun, 1923). Few people can resist the fascination of eclipses, notably those of thEclipse with diamond ringe sun. Even, if they end up like me, in a terrible storm, while trying to catch the famous total eclipse in 1999.  This book is less a deep treatment of all the theoretical aspects of eclipses (while it, of course, includes an introduction into the celestial mechanics of such events). Instead, written by an avid, if not addicted, observer of eclipses, it is brimful of practical experience, tips, tricks etc. Anyone, who is going to seriously watch eclipses, should have read this book, and, moreover, should have it handy during his or her excursion. 

Besides practical instructions on how observe and/or photograph eclipses, including long-time planning, the book includes a complete treatment of all eclipses, sun and moon, between 2001 and 2017. Every treatment comprises a map of visibility, remarks on best places to visit (occasionally, how to reach them), tables on contact times, several tables on visibility in  bigger cities, and more.
Paul A. Tipler, Gene Mosca, Physik für Wissenschaftler und Ingenieure, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, 2004, ISBN 3-8274-1164-5 (2nd German Edition)

(from the American, translated together with R. M. Dohmen, C. Heinisch, W. Kuhn, A. Schleitzer, and M. Zillgitt)
Original Title: Physics for scientists and engineers, W. H. Freeman and Co., New York and Basingstoke 2003.

The "Tipler" is pretty much a (if not the) Standard Physics Text for engineering students. It is clearly written and famous for its numerous examples and applications, Engineering students have been working with it ever since the first German edition became available in the 1990s. After two more US Editions with more or less complete re-arrangement (and re-rearrangement) of material, a new German edition was due. This is one of the new four-color representations which excels in examples, try-it-yourself-examples, put-it-in-context-Examples, practice problems, and more. Examples have a two-column representation, where you can hide the calculations on the r.h.s. and try them yourself along the verbal hints on the l.h.s., before comparing.

Indeed, typesetting of this book (which was essentially done by the translators, with only a final conversion step by the typesetters) with its four-color-representation and numerous special elements and formulas using LaTeX was a real challenge. But I think the result is promising. At least my younger son, as an engineering student himself, liked it.
David Mills et. al. Arbeitsbuch zu Tipler/Mosca, Physik für Wissenschaftler und Ingenieure, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, 2005, ISBN 3-8274-1165-3 (2nd German Edition)

(from the American, translated together M. Zillgitt)
Original Title: Instructor's Solutions Manual for Tipler/Mosca's Physics for Scientists and Engineers, W. H. Freeman and Co., New York and Basingstoke 2004.

The Tipler textbook (see above) includes a host of problems without solutions. These include simple questions to check understanding of the concept (A ball is thrown straight up. What is the velocity of the ball at the top of its flight?) up to problems needing several pages full of formula. This manual comprises complete and detailed solutions to all problems attached to the various chapters of the text book.
Michael F. Ashby, David R. H. Jones, Werkstoffe 1: Eigenschaften, Mechanismen und Anwendungen, Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, 2006, ISBN 978-3-8274-1708-4

(from the English, translated together with C. Heinisch, B. Schäfer, and M. Zillgitt)
Original Title: Engineering Materials 1, Butterworth-Heinemann, Burlington, 2005.

This is one of the classical textbook (1st English Edition in 1980) on materials science. It starts with a treatment of bonding between atoms and tAshby/Jones Werkstoffehe structure of solids. Based on this, it concentrates on elastic moduli (Young's modulus etc.) and includes topics like yield strength and tensile strength, brittle fracture, toughness, fatigue failure and all those properties an engineer needs to know when selecting materials for a special purpose. Included are chapters on oxidation and corrosion as well as friction, abrasion and wear. Notably, the book contains a treatment of economic aspects like price and availability of certain materials, quite at the beginning.

Although I am not an engineer myself, I found the presentation indeed well-done and balanced and moreover well-written (which I  wouldn't say of all engineering texts). Notably, I enjoyed the "case studies" at the end of each chapter presenting a few practical problems in context (like selection of a material for a telescope mirror in chapter 7).
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While I started translating books, focus of my work shifted with time. I am still doing and enjoying translating books until today, but my main activity are patent applications now, being an interesting topic in its own right. In doing so, I specialized in the field of computers and electronics, mainly. There is actually a large and growing need in translations of patent applications as well as applications for patented design. The European Patent Office in Munich being mostly responsible for handling those applications filed 64 035 patents alone in 1996. In addition there are patent applications being submitted directly to the German Patent Office from abroad, which have to be translated, too.