This engaging collection offers readers the unique experience of being on hand to witness some of the most epic breakthrough in the history of science. From ancient Greeks Thales and Pythagoras to Enrico Fermi, Francis Watson and James Crick, and even Dolly the Sheep, Science Firsts provides an unparalleled opportunity to peer over the shoulders of great scientists as they become the first to set eyes on new worlds. Over the course of thirty-five concise, superbly written accounts, science writer Robert Adler takes readers on an lively journey through nearly three millennia of epic scientific discovery, offering accessible explanations of the science involved along with vivid historical and biographical details that help place the discoveries and their discoverers in context for contemporary readers.
Autorentext
ROBERT E. ADLER, Ph.D., is a freelance science writer who contributes frequently to Nature and other leading scientific publications. He lives in northern California, where he is currently working on his second book for Wiley, highlighting advances in medicine.
Inhalt
Acknowledgments.
Introduction.
1. Thales and Natural Causation.
2. Anaximander Orders the Cosmos.
3. Pythagoras Numbers the Cosmos.
4. Atoms and the Void.
5. Aristotle and the Birth of Biology.
6. Aristarchus, the Forgotten Copernicus.
7. Archimedes's Physics.
8. Ibn al-Haitham Illuminates Vision.
9. Copernicus Moves the Earth.
10. Galileo Discovers the Skies.
11. Kepler Solves the Planetary Puzzle.
12. Van Leeuwenhoek Explores the Microcosm.
13. Newton: Gravity and Light.
14. A Breath of Fresh Air.
15. Humphry Davy, Intoxicated with Discovery.
16. Visionaries of the Computer.
17. Darwin's Great Truth.
18. A Genius in the Garden.
19. Mendeleev Charts the Elements.
20. In the Realm of Radioactivity.
21. Planck's Quantum Leap.
22. Wired on Wireless.
23. Rutherford Dissects the Atom.
24. Einstein: Matter, Energy, Space, and Time.
25. Wegener Sets the Continents Adrift.
26. Hubble's Expanding Universe.
27. Out of Africa.
28. Fermi and the Fire of the Gods.
29. McClintock's Chromosomes.
30. A Bit of Genius.
31. The Dynamic Duo of DNA.
32. Echoes of Creation.
33. We Are Not What We Seem.
34. Planetary Pioneers.
35. After Dolly, Life Will Never Be the Same.
References and Further Reading.
Index.