Gifts for those who like science

Here's my list of gifts for the technophile or science minded. These are gift ideas that have appealed to scientifically inclined people and technical people we know.

Expensive ($900 USD and up)

• LCD (flatscreen) computer monitor, 17" or larger. Any modern Apple display is a good choice and will work with essentially any modern Apple or non-Apple computer. Can also be had for lower prices in smaller sizes.
• A telescope. My own is a Celestron Nexstar-5 which is portable yet high powered. A "Scmidt-casgrain" or "Matsokov" type is small but powerful. The "automated GOTO" feature on ones like this is really cool any makes then really easy to use even for people with no prior experience. Meade also makes similar compact computerized telescopes.
• Night-vision binoculars or 'monocular'. These can be found in several forms, most importantly they are specified as first through 4th generation, with the performance and cost increasinmg with the generation. As of 2004 4th generation was reserved for professionals (like the military), 3rd gen was too costly for me but was readily available, and first generation was vastly inferior to the rest.
• Technological artwork (look under sculptures). This particular artist produces objects that combine technology in the form of functioning computer circuitry and art. (Like most original artwork, you have to email the artist for prices and such.)
• A DVD recorder isn't a science gift, per se, but it will appeal to many with a technological bent. It can also be used for some interesting experiments. The E100 is the coolest with the largest number of supported formats and options DVR-E100 top-of-the-line DVD recorder, player can also record video to hard disk for editing and other manipulations. eCost was cheaper last time I looked and they also sell the Home Theater DVD Recorder with 120GB Hard Drive DMR-E100HS Silver

Moderate ($80 to $900) (a wide price-range)

• An adapter to attach a camera to a telescope.
• Radio controlled toys. Even for adults these are often amusing, if they are of the fancier variety.
• A levitron magnetic top.
• Binoculars
• RoboCub Walking Talking Robot with Wireless Remote
• Electronic (radio) locators to attach to keys and other items you your family might misplace.

Inexpensive

• Well, there's always these neat mugs and stuff with a science theme, but maybe that's how you got here in the first place.
• Glass beakers for use as drinking glasses.
• A leatherman-style multipurpose knife (like a swiss army knife) with screwdrivers and other tools in it (instead of merely knives).
• A fancy flashlight, either with a fancy (eg. magnesium) case or based on a set of LED's.
• An internet domain name!
• A mug or shirt with a scientific theme.
• A good book on astronomy, recent physics, nanotechnology, new computer science, cognitive science:
  • Astronomy: a great choice, even for somebody with a good prior knowledge, but also for a beginner, is the book The Great Atlas of the Stars, by Serge Brunier. It has wonderful photos of interesting astronimical objects, good descriptive text, and plastic overlays for the photos to allow you to identify key features while also being able to compare the unadorned raw photo.
    
  • Astronomy: Nightwatch: A Practical Guide to Viewing the Universe> is a good introductory book on doing your own observing, but anybody with a substantial ongoing interested in astronomy may have outgrown it, and also may already have at least one copy.
  • The book by Isaac Asimov called "The World of Carbon" is a really wonderful introduction to scientific thinking, the understanding or how things work, and chemistry in particular. It's an old book (I read it as a teen), but the science is timeless and well-established. Asimov was himself a chemist before he became a science fiction writer, and this is a realy inspiring science book (with no fiction) -- the kind of book that makes a kid want to become a chemist, which exactly the kind of effect it had on me. Unfortunately, it's out of print, so it will be a bit tricky to find, but you can probably get it used online.
• A science fiction book (book list to come).

• Programming macromedia Flash, from amazon.com or Amazon.ca .

More ideas for science gifts (mirror)