In 1665, when an epidemic of the plague forced Cambridge University to close, Isaac Newton, then a young, undistinguished scholar, returned to his childhood home in rural England. Away from his colleagues and professors, Newton embarked on one of the greatest intellectual odysseys in the history of science: he began to formulate the law of universal gravitation, developed the calculus, and made revolutionary discoveries about the nature of light. After his return to Cambridge, Newton's genius was quickly recognized and his reputation forever established. This biography also allows us to see...
In 1665, when an epidemic of the plague forced Cambridge University to close, Isaac Newton, then a young, undistinguished scholar, returned to his chi...
Alexander Graham Bell forever changed the world. The telephone and his many other landmark inventions rank among the most transforming and enduring of the modern era. But it was his work with the deaf, teaching as well as inventing tools to ease communication, that he considered his life's work. The son of a speech therapist father and hearing impaired mother, his stellar achievements in sound reproduction and aviation give proof that he fit his own definition of an inventor. He said, "An inventor a man who looks upon the world and is not contented with things as they are. He wants to improve...
Alexander Graham Bell forever changed the world. The telephone and his many other landmark inventions rank among the most transforming and enduring of...
An engaging biography that captures the excitement of the early days of nuclear physics, Ernest Rutherford tells the story of the down-to-earth New Zealander who became one of the foremost pioneers of subatomic physics. Rutherford's achievements were numerous and included: * Inventing a detector for electromagnetic waves * Discovering the existence of alpha and beta rays in uranium radiation * Creating (with Frederick Soddy) the "disintegration theory" of radioactivity, which regards radioactive phenomena as atomic -- not molecular -- processes * Demonstrating that the...
An engaging biography that captures the excitement of the early days of nuclear physics, Ernest Rutherford tells the story of the down-to-ear...
Born in Poland in 1473, Nicolaus Copernicus launched a quiet revolution. No scientist so radically transformed our understanding of our place in the universe as this curious bishop's doctor and church official. In his quest to discover a beautiful and coherent system to describe the motions of the planets, Copernicus placed the sun in the center of the system and made the earth a planet traveling around the sun. Today it is hard to imagine our solar system any other way, but for his time Copernicus's idea was earthshaking. In 1616 the church banned his book Revolutions because it contradicted...
Born in Poland in 1473, Nicolaus Copernicus launched a quiet revolution. No scientist so radically transformed our understanding of our place in the u...
