Includes bibliographical references and index.

Some of the greatest minds of science are profiled in a series of engaging portraits. On Giants' Shoulders Explore the greatest minds in the history of science with some of the top scientific thinkers of today. Archimedes Galileo Galilei Sir Isaac Newton Antoine Lavoisier Michael Faraday Charles Darwin Jules Henri Poincar Sigmund Freud Marie Curie Albert Einstein Francis Crick James Watson The story of science is the greatest adventure of the human mind over the last 2,500 years, as scientists have progressively advanced humankind's understanding and control of the universe. Yet for many, the scientific theories that underpin the modern world can be hard to grasp. On Giants' Shoulders elucidates the milestones in the history of science, focusing on twelve individuals and their extraordinary breakthroughs. From a layman's perspective, acclaimed journalist and author Melvyn Bragg discusses the life, work, and legacy of these remarkable people with leading scientists and historians in each field, including Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Dawkins, Roger Penrose, Martin Rees, Oliver Sacks, John Gribbin, and Paul Davies. Ranging from the foundation of hydrostatics in the third century B.C. to the discovery of DNA's structure in our own time, this is an accessible, thought-provoking, and fascinating account of the seminal discoveries of the past and their originators. The book also illuminates the issues with which scientists are wrestling today, poised on their forerunners' shoulders to carry scientific inquiry into the next millennium. "This is an enchanting book, because it is a book produced by a clever man listening intently ... Science is not, in truth, a daunting alien territory. But characteristically it seems to want to tell us the answers dogmatically, before we are sure what questions we would like to ask. On Giants' Shoulders asks just those kind of questions."--Lisa Jardine, The Times (London) "Nobody in the media has worked harder than Melvyn Bragg to promote science as a culture and scientists as creators. In a sea of indifference to the educational and cultural nature of science, he seems to be the only person with perception."--Professor Sir Harry Kroto The Sunday Times (London).

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