What do you think?
Rate this book
Lives
Lives of the Scientists: Experiments, Explosions
Scientists have a reputation for being focused on their work—and maybe even dull. But take another look. Did you know that it’s believed Galileo was scolded by the Roman Inquisition for sassing his mom? That Isaac Newton loved to examine soap bubbles? That Albert Einstein loved to collect joke books, and that geneticist Barbara McClintock wore a Groucho Marx disguise in public? With juicy tidbits about everything from favorite foods to first loves, the subjects of Kathleen Krull and Kathryn Hewitt’s Lives of the Experiments, Explosions (and What the Neighbors Thought) are revealed as creative, bold, sometimes eccentric—and anything but dull.
96 pages, Hardcover
First published July 9, 2013
11 people are currently reading
297 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews
September 2, 2019
This is the first book that I read for 'Science September'. I have had Kathleen Krull's and Kathryn Hewitt's book with me for a while – it was gifted to me by one of my favourite friends who got a signed copy for me when she met Kathleen Krull. I have been waiting for a special moment to read it and this was it.
'Lives of the Scientists' gives brief biographies of twenty scientists. Around half of them are twentieth century scientists, while the others lived during earlier centuries. The book describes their work, but more importantly, paints a portrait of them as normal human beings, describing how they lived, and the interesting things they said and did. Each biography is between two to six pages long, and every one of them has beautiful accompanying illustrations which depict the concerned scientist and her / his work. The book features many of the major scientists that all of us know about, like Galileo, Newton and Einstein, but it also features important scientists that readers like me didn't know about, like Caroline Herschel, George Washington Carver, Barbara McClintock, Grace Murray Hopper and Chien-Shiung Wu. Barbara McClintock won the Nobel Prize and so she is not exactly unknown, but I don't know why I haven't heard of her before, and I don't know why she is not celebrated more. The book features a good number of women scientists, which is a wonderful thing.
There were many parts of the book which made me smile, like the description that Edwin Hubble was very handsome like a movie star, how when someone asked Einstein a question, to which he didn't know the answer, he replied, "I don't know. I am no Einstein", how Marie Curie disapproved of her daughter's high heels, how one of the bosses of computer scientist Grace Murray Hopper once said, "Grace was a good man", and how she later won the 'Computer Science Man of the Year' award (some of my friends would call that as 'the day irony died' :) ). One of my favourites was about Galileo – how he insulted people who disagreed with him, including his own mother (and how his mother hauled him in front of the Inquisition for that), and how he was great at wielding insults – that particular part made me laugh. You should read the book to find out why.
The book also touches on some of the issues that are faced by women in science – how typically a young woman's family discouraged her from pursuing a scientific career, how if the young woman surmounted this, it was hard for her to get admission into the right college and course of study she wanted to pursue, how after all that it was hard to get a job as a scientist, and after she had climbed all those mountains, professional recognition still eluded her and her accomplishments were not recognized at the right time. This theme is a feature of the lives of all the women scientists featured in the book and their biographies bring that out very insightfully and beautifully.
The other interesting thing which came out in some of the biographies was how important the support of parents and family is to an aspiring scientist. For example, Edwin Hubble wanted to study astronomy, but his father, who was intimidating, forced him to study law (Can you imagine that? One of the greatest astronomers was trained as a lawyer!) and Hubble later taught Spanish in high school, and he could become an astronomer only after his father passed. It was unbelievable to read that and we have to really thank our lucky stars that one of the greatest astronomers really survived his parent's bullying and became an astronomer by the skin of the teeth.
The scientist I felt the closest to, was Isaac Newton. It was really surprising, because I am not a big fan of Newton, though I admire him for his accomplishments, because he always felt like an unapproachable, unlikeable person to me. But it looks more and more to me that he was a person who liked being left alone, and who liked pursuing his intellectual interests in solitude, and he liked sitting in his room with a paper and pen / pencil in front of him and travelling to his intellectual worlds. Other scientists too loved solitude, like Marie Curie and Barbara McClintock, and even Charles Darwin kept away from fame, publishing his findings more than twenty years after he made his famous journey. But Newton seems to have been an extreme case of that. In today's world, this kind of behaviour is not really appreciated, because what is expected and treasured today is teamwork and interpersonal skills and presentation and promoting one's own work, and Newton was the very antithesis of that. He would have been totally out-of-place in today's world, but he wouldn't have cared about that, and I'll always have a soft corner for him for that.
I loved 'Lives of the Scientists'. It is a beautiful introduction to the lives of many important scientists. It is a great book for both children and grown-ups. It is very inspiring. It looks like a deceptively simple book, but it has lots of layers and depth to it, which are revealed when we read slowly and contemplate on what it says. I have read and loved Kathleen Krull's books before, and I have to say that this is one of my favourites. Kathryn Hewitt's illustrations are so beautiful and gorgeous and they bring the stories alive in every page.
Have you read 'Lives of the Scientists'? What do you think about it?
'Lives of the Scientists' gives brief biographies of twenty scientists. Around half of them are twentieth century scientists, while the others lived during earlier centuries. The book describes their work, but more importantly, paints a portrait of them as normal human beings, describing how they lived, and the interesting things they said and did. Each biography is between two to six pages long, and every one of them has beautiful accompanying illustrations which depict the concerned scientist and her / his work. The book features many of the major scientists that all of us know about, like Galileo, Newton and Einstein, but it also features important scientists that readers like me didn't know about, like Caroline Herschel, George Washington Carver, Barbara McClintock, Grace Murray Hopper and Chien-Shiung Wu. Barbara McClintock won the Nobel Prize and so she is not exactly unknown, but I don't know why I haven't heard of her before, and I don't know why she is not celebrated more. The book features a good number of women scientists, which is a wonderful thing.
There were many parts of the book which made me smile, like the description that Edwin Hubble was very handsome like a movie star, how when someone asked Einstein a question, to which he didn't know the answer, he replied, "I don't know. I am no Einstein", how Marie Curie disapproved of her daughter's high heels, how one of the bosses of computer scientist Grace Murray Hopper once said, "Grace was a good man", and how she later won the 'Computer Science Man of the Year' award (some of my friends would call that as 'the day irony died' :) ). One of my favourites was about Galileo – how he insulted people who disagreed with him, including his own mother (and how his mother hauled him in front of the Inquisition for that), and how he was great at wielding insults – that particular part made me laugh. You should read the book to find out why.
The book also touches on some of the issues that are faced by women in science – how typically a young woman's family discouraged her from pursuing a scientific career, how if the young woman surmounted this, it was hard for her to get admission into the right college and course of study she wanted to pursue, how after all that it was hard to get a job as a scientist, and after she had climbed all those mountains, professional recognition still eluded her and her accomplishments were not recognized at the right time. This theme is a feature of the lives of all the women scientists featured in the book and their biographies bring that out very insightfully and beautifully.
The other interesting thing which came out in some of the biographies was how important the support of parents and family is to an aspiring scientist. For example, Edwin Hubble wanted to study astronomy, but his father, who was intimidating, forced him to study law (Can you imagine that? One of the greatest astronomers was trained as a lawyer!) and Hubble later taught Spanish in high school, and he could become an astronomer only after his father passed. It was unbelievable to read that and we have to really thank our lucky stars that one of the greatest astronomers really survived his parent's bullying and became an astronomer by the skin of the teeth.
The scientist I felt the closest to, was Isaac Newton. It was really surprising, because I am not a big fan of Newton, though I admire him for his accomplishments, because he always felt like an unapproachable, unlikeable person to me. But it looks more and more to me that he was a person who liked being left alone, and who liked pursuing his intellectual interests in solitude, and he liked sitting in his room with a paper and pen / pencil in front of him and travelling to his intellectual worlds. Other scientists too loved solitude, like Marie Curie and Barbara McClintock, and even Charles Darwin kept away from fame, publishing his findings more than twenty years after he made his famous journey. But Newton seems to have been an extreme case of that. In today's world, this kind of behaviour is not really appreciated, because what is expected and treasured today is teamwork and interpersonal skills and presentation and promoting one's own work, and Newton was the very antithesis of that. He would have been totally out-of-place in today's world, but he wouldn't have cared about that, and I'll always have a soft corner for him for that.
I loved 'Lives of the Scientists'. It is a beautiful introduction to the lives of many important scientists. It is a great book for both children and grown-ups. It is very inspiring. It looks like a deceptively simple book, but it has lots of layers and depth to it, which are revealed when we read slowly and contemplate on what it says. I have read and loved Kathleen Krull's books before, and I have to say that this is one of my favourites. Kathryn Hewitt's illustrations are so beautiful and gorgeous and they bring the stories alive in every page.
Have you read 'Lives of the Scientists'? What do you think about it?
November 11, 2013
With 7 out of 20 short biographies being about women, and 5 out of 20 being non caucasian, this probably has a surprisingly heavy focus on minorities (counting women in the minority group) which is laudable. This follows the typical format Krull has established for this series: short chapters from 2 -6 pages in length on each person. Krull doesn't hesitate to bring in people from ancient times that are not known. For example, her first chapter is on Zhang Heng is an Ancient Chinese astronomer who influenced generations of Chinese scientists. Krull emphasizes that she wrote this not to tell about their discoveries or importance but what they were like as people as much as possible. Clearly their scientific achievements are a good part of each chapter. But what she loves to do is find trivia that might arouse kids' curiosity to read more on each person. Who knew that Gallileo was not the only person to receive a very belated apology from churches on how he was treated? The Church of England issued one to Darwin in 2008. Or that the Baby Einstein company pays so much in royalties that Einstein is one of the highest earning dead celebrities? What I found interesting is that her bibliography for further reading includes mostly adult titles, at least judging from the number of university presses listed for the publisher of these books. I suspect this is no mistake on Krull's part: she likely suspects that if a kid is interested enough to read further, they can manage the adult material just fine.
I suspect this title could be useful in the common core era of trying to get broadly based nonfiction into the hands of kids. Librarians may want to take a look at Krull's other collective biographies in this series for recommendations to clueless adults on what their kid might read for school.
I suspect this title could be useful in the common core era of trying to get broadly based nonfiction into the hands of kids. Librarians may want to take a look at Krull's other collective biographies in this series for recommendations to clueless adults on what their kid might read for school.
August 5, 2018
Huh. The title and intro. both suggest looking elsewhere for the ppl's accomplishments, so I thought I'd be disappointed by this quick survey. But I wasn't. I read it to get intros to ppl I'd never heard of before, and found it so fascinatingly written that I read every single one of the bios. And learned a lot.
I'm still thinking that the portrait of Einstein was awfully unflattering... maybe fully true, maybe exaggerated. And I need to figure out the whole segregation and Jim Crow part of history, because I thought I'd learned that we had a brief window of opportunity for former slaves in the 19th c. and that the worst came later as backlash, but G.W. Carver experienced separate water fountains etc. And it's interesting, if not surprising, how many of these brilliant folk were also very hard workers with poor social skills.
My only complaint is the insufficient bibliography. There's a 'further reading' but it's not anywhere near inclusive. Ah well, we have google for casual scholars, and librarians for more academic research, for readers who really want to know more.
I'm still thinking that the portrait of Einstein was awfully unflattering... maybe fully true, maybe exaggerated. And I need to figure out the whole segregation and Jim Crow part of history, because I thought I'd learned that we had a brief window of opportunity for former slaves in the 19th c. and that the worst came later as backlash, but G.W. Carver experienced separate water fountains etc. And it's interesting, if not surprising, how many of these brilliant folk were also very hard workers with poor social skills.
My only complaint is the insufficient bibliography. There's a 'further reading' but it's not anywhere near inclusive. Ah well, we have google for casual scholars, and librarians for more academic research, for readers who really want to know more.
April 18, 2022
I enjoyed the humour that each story was written with. Will definitely keep reading books in this series and by this author!
August 4, 2013
Lives of the Scientists has many interesting bits of information on twenty people who's passion and/or obsession greatly changed science and societies view on science. I would rather give this book a 3.5, sadly goodreads does not allow half-star ratings. The idea behind this non-fiction read: giving a more personal side to each of the scientist (each getting anywhere from 2-6 pages dedicated to them) was great. However, I felt that the text often was written at a higher level than the interest level. A brief description about some of the larger vocabulary or a better description about the branches of science being discussed would have been helpful to readers.
August 16, 2023
Reading “Lives of the Scientists: Experiments, Explosions (and What the Neighbors Thought)” written by Kathleen Krull is really interesting and enchanting. This book shares readers about humorous anecdotes of famous scientists in the world. Krull subtly combines scientists’ funny stories and their exciting discoveries in science, which gives readers a sight to the lives of these great scientists.
The book covers twenty dazzling scientists around the world, and each of them are unique to others. It not only introduces the life of scientists but also describes the view of others who lives around them, such as their neighbors or mates. Some scientists make huge mistakes, and some scientists are imperfect in family’s role. Readers can learn scientists’ characters and environments and have a better understanding on their social status. Some of them are born in a rich family, some of them live in a time of war and turmoil, and some of them encounter other people’s taunt and pressure.
It is good for readers to know their experiences as well as their scientific discoveries. Ibn Sīnā lives in a time of turmoil, and his enemies want to kill him. In this circumstance, he continuously write fifty pages everyday and even when riding the horse, he write papers on horseback. His scientific discoveries impact the science of Arabia and to the world. Other scientists, like George Washington Carver, encounter the scorn and taunt from others. Carver grew up during a time when everything was legally divided into “colored” and “white”(57), but he never give up and insisted on contributing his efforts to botany. Moreover, readers can have a brief view of scientific discoveries and theories. The book talks about the function of seismometer from Zhang Hung and origin of telescope from Galileo. These ideas really guide readers to the scope of science.
However, amidst its many merits, the book does have some limitations on its depth. Although it talks about various stories of different scientists, each chapter for every scientists is very brief. It does not explain the specific ideas for the experiment and the theory, which leaves readers hungry for more in-depth exploration in the scientists they enjoy.
All in all, I very recommend this book to high school students. Because of its breadth and interestingness, high school students can cope with it very quickly and easily. They can get the basic information of science before they step into the field of science. This book serves as a teacher who guide students into the scope of science and encourages them to study forward.
The book covers twenty dazzling scientists around the world, and each of them are unique to others. It not only introduces the life of scientists but also describes the view of others who lives around them, such as their neighbors or mates. Some scientists make huge mistakes, and some scientists are imperfect in family’s role. Readers can learn scientists’ characters and environments and have a better understanding on their social status. Some of them are born in a rich family, some of them live in a time of war and turmoil, and some of them encounter other people’s taunt and pressure.
It is good for readers to know their experiences as well as their scientific discoveries. Ibn Sīnā lives in a time of turmoil, and his enemies want to kill him. In this circumstance, he continuously write fifty pages everyday and even when riding the horse, he write papers on horseback. His scientific discoveries impact the science of Arabia and to the world. Other scientists, like George Washington Carver, encounter the scorn and taunt from others. Carver grew up during a time when everything was legally divided into “colored” and “white”(57), but he never give up and insisted on contributing his efforts to botany. Moreover, readers can have a brief view of scientific discoveries and theories. The book talks about the function of seismometer from Zhang Hung and origin of telescope from Galileo. These ideas really guide readers to the scope of science.
However, amidst its many merits, the book does have some limitations on its depth. Although it talks about various stories of different scientists, each chapter for every scientists is very brief. It does not explain the specific ideas for the experiment and the theory, which leaves readers hungry for more in-depth exploration in the scientists they enjoy.
All in all, I very recommend this book to high school students. Because of its breadth and interestingness, high school students can cope with it very quickly and easily. They can get the basic information of science before they step into the field of science. This book serves as a teacher who guide students into the scope of science and encourages them to study forward.
May 17, 2025
The book “Lives of the Scientists” by Kathleen Krull provides eighteen engaging biographies of famous scientists throughout history. It provides the story of the most well-known scientist and scientist that deserve more recognition than they have gotten. This book highlights each scientist's scientific achievements, while also describing their personalities and even all the challenges they faced. I really enjoyed how it simplifies each person’s story to be fascinating for young readers by highlighting the human side of each individual. This book also excites the reader by describing at least one new invention or discovery in each scientist's chapter, like how Zhang Hend invented the first primitive seismometer, or how Marie Curie created the first portable X-ray machine, or even the story of how William Herschel founded Uranus. Although, reading this as an older reader, I wish the stories went into a little more depth even if it was targeted for younger kids. I ended up doing more research on some of the scientists after reading some of the stories when I had questions about topics vaguely mentioned. Overall, I find this a very well written book for young readers interested in science.
May 29, 2019
The Lives of the Scientists is a great basic level science book for kids. From one scientist to the next the person's childhood, upbringing, and education is presented followed by accomplishments in and out of the scientific field and wrapped up with concluding notes. The Book talks about many scientists lives and accomplishments but also explains the individuals' quirks and eccentricities which was nice to see. The science and explanations for things like Marie Curie's work with radioactive elements and here discovery of radon was interesting to read about but the book as a whole remained at a very fundamental level. Reading this as a high schooler in AP Chemistry is a very fast and simple task and nothing more should be expected as the book is written for a very young audience but the authors could have gone into more depth without losing the message and giving a more interested mind something greater to enjoy.
February 10, 2023
*tears* I was reading this pre (before) and during my first favorite class ever— waves in physics. What nostalgia. I love studying the great minds, but pushed them? What sort of longing and aching/craving is this? Is it quantifiable? Does Greek myth even do justice in enveloping the very gravity and dimensions of this kind of transcendental and divine longing?
I aspire to surround myself with minds like Marie Curie’s and Webb’s, and Hubble. It was either James Webb or Hubble who not we’re only genius- abut fit and good looking too—hence why I run. I run to be strong. And then there is Marie Curie and the way she helped the war with her profound discoveries. Man… Einstein was an interesting sucker, I don’t love his relationships but I do love his utilization of imagination and intuition. George Washington carver, what a lovely human figure. Makes me want to go forest bathing.
Yes, I will read this book to my children.
I aspire to surround myself with minds like Marie Curie’s and Webb’s, and Hubble. It was either James Webb or Hubble who not we’re only genius- abut fit and good looking too—hence why I run. I run to be strong. And then there is Marie Curie and the way she helped the war with her profound discoveries. Man… Einstein was an interesting sucker, I don’t love his relationships but I do love his utilization of imagination and intuition. George Washington carver, what a lovely human figure. Makes me want to go forest bathing.
Yes, I will read this book to my children.
June 2, 2018
This is a really cool mid-grade level picture book that does a good and thorough job of telling the stories of great thinkers and scientists from across the globe and across time. The book begins with an ancient Chinese thinker and scientist Zhang Heng born in 78 a.d. who made discoveries in astronomy and earthquakes and who worked for the Emperor of China and ends with Jane Goodall, stopping to talk about Galileo, Newton, Einstein and many more. This is really more book than picture book and spends a good deal of time explaining about the various scientists discoveries. It also goes to great lengths to include people from Asia, the Middle East and many women in it's review of famous scientists.
February 18, 2024
A very fascinating look at some very ingenious and important figures in science throughout the ages, and not just a look at their contributions, but also a bit of what each of them was like personally. Everything from what made them tick to whom they loved, or didn't, these are brief but engaging forays into the lives of people who, knowingly or not, changed our world. Meant for children or even young adults, but truthfully, I was just as interested as an adult. A great read, loads of information, but not loads of tedious text.
August 23, 2019
This book was great to read to my kids. It contains several blurbs about many great scientists from the last century. There are plenty of great minds to draw inspiration from in this and great illustrations to accompany each short biography. I believe bestowing children with examples of people who changed the world through critical thinking, hard work, and perseverance, could help them see themselves as someone with the same potential.
November 27, 2023
As always with these "Lives of…" books by Kathllen Krull, the chapters are short and very interesting, talking about the lives, habits, and quirks of important scientists, focusing on that more than their actual work. The chapters sometimes feel a little rapid fire and thus slightly disjointed, but that didn't really bother me. I enjoyed the variety of scientists talked about, from super famous ones to those I'd never heard of.
March 8, 2022
Another audible version by the same author who wrote Lives of Extraordinary Women, this one didn't disappoint. Again, geared towards school-age children, a lof of interesting information was provided on scientists like Einstein, Gallileo, Crick and Watson, Darwin and many others were provided. Again, a short listen but packs a lot in there. I highly recommend to all.
March 22, 2019
This is a HORRIBLE BOOK FOR KIDS. Maybe kind of interesting for adults. I got this book for my 3nd grader at his scholastic book fair and read about Einstein first. It exposed the fact that he had a child he put up for adoption, left his wife & married his cousin, who he had an affair with.
April 15, 2020
Fun book with mini bios about a lot of famous scientists. I love the illustrations, they're so creative and amusing. I think the students would like reading it in small doses, like if they could pick one scientist to read about.
Read
April 19, 2021Definitely a nice concise overview of many scientific minds. I do take the issue with Einstein's chapter. I have read a couple of books about his first wife, that I think this book was misleading and under researched in terms of her role in his success.
December 23, 2024
I started this thinking my son might be interested in the car or around the house, but it wasn’t quite as juvenile as the cover made it appear. I really enjoyed listening to it though, and thought the tidbit facts were interesting and the stories were well-told.
February 5, 2018
This would be a fabulous book to help students understand that every person is more than their accomplishments.
Those who have achieved most have often over come much.
Those who have achieved most have often over come much.
May 24, 2018
Loved reading this collection on famous scientists with my daughter.
November 7, 2019
My kids enjoyed this book and I did as well. A few we had not heard of or had not known much about.
May 24, 2020
Just as good as the others.
September 19, 2020
Really enjoyed the information this book provided
February 14, 2021
Inspiring, full of anecdotes and educational
April 26, 2021
Better in book than audio IMO.
July 24, 2021
Too dry. We abandoned
August 27, 2021
Kids and parents alike enjoyed listening to this on a family road trip.
June 18, 2023
4th-6th
Loved these small snippets of important scientists' lives! These would be great for a biography activity.
Loved these small snippets of important scientists' lives! These would be great for a biography activity.
September 7, 2023
WONDERFUL, WONDERFUL book! It is filled with so many fascinating information. The Kathryn Hewitt illustrations are beyond AMAZING!
January 24, 2025
Kind of an odd book. Sometimes good and interesting, often not. Listened on audiobook.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 64 reviews