Beginning with the Classical Greek philosophers of science, who
left us the first written copies of atomic theory, this fully
packed volume describes a range of discoveries and discoverers. The
scientists who feature in Adler's essays include the Greek
cosmologists, Aristotle, Kepler, Newton, Darwin, Rutherford and
Einstein. The topics he covers are all landmarks in scientific
progress - for example, the first maps of the earth and the cosmos,
the telescope, electricity, the radio, the splitting of the atom,
the molecular study of DNA, the beginnings of modern anthropology.
The book concludes with a chapter on Dolly the sheep. Adler's book
is written for the intelligent lay-person, someone who has no
technical knowledge of science but is curious about the world and
how it came to be the way it is. His essays put each scientist, and
each discovery, in the context of time as well as showing how the
discipline of science has systematically developed in the West.
This is a fair-minded book. Chapter 8, 'Ibn al-Haitham illuminates
vision', acknowledges Europe's debt to the Islamic empire which had
preserved the knowledge of the Greek philosophers, and in the early
Middle Ages expanded upon it. The chapter on DNA not only
celebrates the achievement of Crick and Watson but notes the
enormous contribution of Rosalind Franklin, the woman whose
experimental data, some freely given and some obtained by more
devious means, gave the Nobel Prize-winning pair the crucial final
clues to the structure of genetic coding units. While Science
Firsts is not exactly light reading, it aims to inform rather than
intimidate, and is an excellent introduction to the scientists who
shaped our world. (Kirkus UK)
A fascinating collection of stories about key Firsts in science
Pythagoras intuited that the earth was round.
Charles Darwin discovered the source of nature’s intricate diversity.
Marie Curie traced radioactivity to the atom.
Edwin Hubble discovered the expanding universe.
Albert Einstein reshaped our views of matter and energy, space and time.
Lynn Margulis showed that nature is far more promiscuous and creative than Darwin dreamed.
These brilliant men and women are part of a very special group–scientists who made truly original, groundbreaking discoveries. Science Firsts tells the stories of thirty-five of the most important firsts in the history of science. You’ll encounter such extraordinary figures as Enrico Fermi, the first to unleash the power of the atom; Joseph Priestley, the first to produce oxygen and glimpse photosynthesis in action; and Guglielmo Marconi, the first to make wireless communication a reality. Science Firsts reveals how these incredible minds ventured into previously unseen territory to satisfy their hunger for knowledge and, in doing so, changed the course of history.
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