ÿ Did you know that Christopher Columbus did not discover America, or that after a Greek scholar found a way of measuring the Earth, it was 1300 years before the rest of the world would believe him? Or that nitrocellulose explosive was discovered when an inventor spilt some chemicals in the kitchen and blew up his wife?s apron? This book by a former career scientist deals with a fascinating range of discoveries over the centuries, related to everything from geology and astronomy to atomic theory, zoology and men who discovered continents. It also gives revealing information about the colourful lives of some of the people whose findings changed the world, and often their own lives, for ever.

From the ranging curiosity of Leonardo da Vinci to the dedication and sacrifice of Marie Curie, Inventors Who Changed the World is a young child's first introduction to the brilliant people who taught us the meaning of perseverance and innovation. Simple text and adorable illustrations tell the contributions of nine renowned inventors from around the world: Cai Lun, Leonardo da Vinci, Marie Curie, Thomas Edison, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Grace Hopper, Johannes Gutenberg, and Louis Pasteur. Inspire your own little inventor with the words of these inventive heroes who changed the world.

A profusely illustrated history of one of the hottest medical/biological sciences of all: virology – personalized in crediting the people who began the science concerned with invisible mysterious disease agents, and continuing to cite those who are still unraveling the nature of many of the most important pathogens of today.

Many of the scientific breakthroughs of the twentieth century were first reported in the journal Nature. A Century of Nature brings together in one volume Nature's greatest hits—reproductions of seminal contributions that changed science and the world, accompanied by essays written by leading scientists (including four Nobel laureates) that provide historical context for each article, explain its insights in graceful, accessible prose, and celebrate the serendipity of discovery and the rewards of searching for needles in haystacks.

170u can climb back up a stream of radiance to the sky, and back through history up the stream of time. 1 -Robert Frost topics that he judged to be important in brain his From the last years of the second millennium, tory leading into the end of the century, and was we can look back on antecedent events in neuro undertaken in response to the enthusiasm gener science with amazement that so much of modern ated by exhibition at several national and interna biomedical science was anticipated, or even said or done, in an earlier time. That surprise can be tional meetings of a series oflarge posters for which matched by appreciation for what the pioneer Magoun wrote a 27-page brochure. The posters investigators, with no inkling that they were creat were viewed by a multitude of young neuroscien ing a discipline, contributed to its emergence as a tists who wanted more, as well as by mature inves productive force in human progress. In today's tigators who were warmly pleased to see familiar names and faces from the past. The acclaim was reductionist atmosphere, in which research at the molecular level is producing breathtaking new accompanied by a veritable deluge of requests for knowledge throughout biology, the student may an illustrated, expanded publication.

In 1675, Antony van Leeuwenhoek, an unlearned haberdasher from Delft, placed a drop of rainwater under his microscope and detected thousands of tiny animals in it. Leeuwenhoek proceeded to examine the microscopic activity of his spittle, teeth plaque, and feces, and as the result of his findings the field of bacteriology was born. Some two hundred years later, Wilhelm Conrad Roentgen, a professor of theoretical physics at the University of Wurzburg, invited his wife to his laboratory, asked her to place her hand on an unexposed photographic plate, turned on an electric current, and showed this terrified woman a picture of the bones of her hand. And so came the discovery of the X-ray. This absorbing book is the first to describe these and eight other monumental medical discoveries throughout history, bringing to life the scientific pioneers responsible for them and the excitement, frustrations, and jealousies that surrounded the final achievements. Two distinguished physicians, Meyer Friedman and Gerald W. Friedland, have drawn on their many years of experience as well as on that of world-renowned antiquarian book dealers, physician collectors of old and new medical publications, and medical school professors to single out these medical breakthroughs from thousands of candidates, and, in several cases, to provide information never before available. Their engrossing stories of the ten most significant discoveries will be read with enjoyment by anyone fascinated by the mysteries of medicine.