Title: The scientists : an epic of discovery /
Authors: Robinson, Andrew, 1957-
Publisher: Thames & Hudson,
Year: 2012
Subjects: Science history; Science; Scientists Biography; Discoveries in science; Science History
Abstract: An intriguing and illuminating read for science buffs, those fascinated by the lives and minds of great men and women, and anyone curious about how we came to understand the physical world. Copernicus, Crick, Watson, Galileo, Marie Curie: these are some of the forty pioneers behind modern science whose stories are explored here. The scientists come from around the globe and represent multiple nationalities American, English, German, French, Dutch, Czech, Indian, Japanese, and more. Often unorthodox thinkers, they frequently had to struggle against hostile contemporaries to gain recognition for their ideas and discoveries. All the major scientific disciplines are covered, including astronomy, biology, biochemistry, chemistry, computing, ecology, geology, medicine, neurology, physics, and psychology, as well as mathematics.
Contents: On the shoulders of giants -- Universe. Nicolaus Copernicus: inventory of the solar system; Johannes Kepler: analyst of planetary motion; Galileo Galilei: laying the foundations of modern science; Isaac Newton: the laws of motion and gravity; Michael Faraday: seminal experiments in electromagnetism; James Clerk Maxwell: the electromagnetic nature of light and radiation; Albert Einstein: thought experiments in space, time and relativity; Edwin Powell Hubble: astronomer of an expanding universe -- Earth. James Hutton: the earth's stable system; Charles Lyell: earth's present as the key to its past; Alexander von Humboldt: adventurous explorer and pioneering ecologist; Alfred Wegener: meteorologist and proponent of continental drift -- Molecules and matter. Robert Boyle: experimental investigations into the nature of matter -- Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier: the founder of modern chemistry -- John Dalton: the development of atomic theory --^