Overview

Be on hand to witness some of the most monumental scientific discoveries of the past three millennia 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.

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Reviews

...a fascinating collection of stories about key 'firsts' in the history of science... (Materials World, December 2002) ...I think scientists and lay readers alike would find this book worthwhile and enjoyable, because of its historical sweep and depth. Something of a Christmas cracker this one... (Chemistry in Britain, December 2002) ...stylishly written...each topic is given the space to breath...an excellent reference list containing a wealth of popular science titles... (Physics World, February 2003) ...this fascinating book is complimented by black and white photographs... (The Alchemist, 19 September 2003)

...a fascinating collection of stories about key a firstsa in the history of science... (Materials World, December 2002) ...I think scientists and lay readers alike would find this book worthwhile and enjoyable, because of its historical sweep and depth. Something of a Christmas cracker this one... (Chemistry in Britain, December 2002) ...stylishly written...each topic is given the space to breath...an excellent reference list containing a wealth of popular science titles... (Physics World, February 2003) ...this fascinating book is complimented by black and white photographs... (The Alchemist, 19 September 2003)

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)

Author Information

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.

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