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Great Scientists
The Great Scientists is a lavishly-illustrated collection of essays, each devoted to one of history's greatest scientists.
From the Greek mathematicians Euclid and Archimedes, whose work is even now required reading, to the theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, the greatest practitioners from a wide range of scientific disciplines are represented here. Each essay gives a biographical background for its subject and a description of the main themes of their work, together with concise expositions of some of their key ideas.
The thirty-four chronologically-organized essays in this book add up to a biography of science itself.
John Farndon lives in London and is the author of over 200 books on a wide range of subjects, including the best-selling Harper Collins Children's Encyclopedia, the Dorling Kindersley Pocket Encyclopedia, How the Earth Works, The Wildlife Atlas and many more. His specialty is science, and he has been short-listed three times for the Copus Junior Science book prize.
Alex Woolf is an experienced writer and editor of children's information books, specializing in modern history and science at secondary level. He has written more than twenty books, including Artificial Intelligence and Nazi Germany, both published by Hodder Wayland, and three titles in a series on forensic science, published by Heinemann.
Anne Rooney taught at Cambridge and York Universities, before giving it all up to become a full-time writer. Anne is the author of many non-fiction titles on history, philosophy and science & technology, and was long-listed for the Aventis Science Prize, 2004. Anne lives in Cambridge with her daughters and friend Marcel, a blue lobster.
Liz Gogerly has more than sixteen years' experience in producing non-fiction titles, both as an author and as an editor. She has written biographies of Nelson Mandela, Dian Fossey, Sigmund Freud, Louis Pasteur and Marie Curie, amongst others. Liz is married and lives in Hove with her husband and son.
From the Greek mathematicians Euclid and Archimedes, whose work is even now required reading, to the theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking, the greatest practitioners from a wide range of scientific disciplines are represented here. Each essay gives a biographical background for its subject and a description of the main themes of their work, together with concise expositions of some of their key ideas.
The thirty-four chronologically-organized essays in this book add up to a biography of science itself.
John Farndon lives in London and is the author of over 200 books on a wide range of subjects, including the best-selling Harper Collins Children's Encyclopedia, the Dorling Kindersley Pocket Encyclopedia, How the Earth Works, The Wildlife Atlas and many more. His specialty is science, and he has been short-listed three times for the Copus Junior Science book prize.
Alex Woolf is an experienced writer and editor of children's information books, specializing in modern history and science at secondary level. He has written more than twenty books, including Artificial Intelligence and Nazi Germany, both published by Hodder Wayland, and three titles in a series on forensic science, published by Heinemann.
Anne Rooney taught at Cambridge and York Universities, before giving it all up to become a full-time writer. Anne is the author of many non-fiction titles on history, philosophy and science & technology, and was long-listed for the Aventis Science Prize, 2004. Anne lives in Cambridge with her daughters and friend Marcel, a blue lobster.
Liz Gogerly has more than sixteen years' experience in producing non-fiction titles, both as an author and as an editor. She has written biographies of Nelson Mandela, Dian Fossey, Sigmund Freud, Louis Pasteur and Marie Curie, amongst others. Liz is married and lives in Hove with her husband and son.
40 pages, Paperback
First published August 1, 2005
13 people are currently reading
186 people want to read
About the author
John Farndon
636 books31 followersJohn Farndon is an internationally known author, as well as a playwright, composer and songwriter, whose work has been performed at such theatres as the Donmar and Almeida in London and the Salisbury Playhouse and selected for showcases, such as Beyond the Gate.
He has written hundreds of books, which have sold millions of copies around the world in most major languages and include many best-sellers, such as the award-winning Do Not Open, which received rave reviews in the USA and became a cult-hit as well as featuring on the New York Times and Washington Post best-seller lists. In earlier years, he wrote mostly for children, and has been shortlisted a record four times for the junior Science Book prize. Books such as How Science Works and How the Earth Works each sold over a million copies worldwide. But recently he has written much more for adults.
Many of his books focus on popular science, and in particular earth science, nature, and environmental issues. His Practical Encyclopedia of Rocks and Mineral is widely used as a reference work by geologists, while The Atlas of Oceans, his big book on endangered life in the oceans for Yale in the USA (A&C Black in the UK and Australian Geographic in Australia), garnered glowing reports prepublication from major figures such as the Cousteaus, Carl Safina, Nancy Knowlton and Harm de Blij.
But he has covered a wide range of topics, from contemporary China to the food market. The history of ideas and intellectual curiosity is a particular speciality.
In 2010, his book for Icon Do You Think You're Clever? was a best-seller, reaching the top 20 on Amazon and the top 10 in South Africa and Turkey, and was shortlisted for the Society of Authors Education Award. The follow-up The World’s Greatest Idea was selected as one of the top 50 Wish List books of the year in South Africa.
He has been interviewed extensively on radio and TV stations around the world, and conducted talks, demonstrations and displays at many events, from the Brighton Science Festival to the Oxford Literary Festival.
He has written hundreds of books, which have sold millions of copies around the world in most major languages and include many best-sellers, such as the award-winning Do Not Open, which received rave reviews in the USA and became a cult-hit as well as featuring on the New York Times and Washington Post best-seller lists. In earlier years, he wrote mostly for children, and has been shortlisted a record four times for the junior Science Book prize. Books such as How Science Works and How the Earth Works each sold over a million copies worldwide. But recently he has written much more for adults.
Many of his books focus on popular science, and in particular earth science, nature, and environmental issues. His Practical Encyclopedia of Rocks and Mineral is widely used as a reference work by geologists, while The Atlas of Oceans, his big book on endangered life in the oceans for Yale in the USA (A&C Black in the UK and Australian Geographic in Australia), garnered glowing reports prepublication from major figures such as the Cousteaus, Carl Safina, Nancy Knowlton and Harm de Blij.
But he has covered a wide range of topics, from contemporary China to the food market. The history of ideas and intellectual curiosity is a particular speciality.
In 2010, his book for Icon Do You Think You're Clever? was a best-seller, reaching the top 20 on Amazon and the top 10 in South Africa and Turkey, and was shortlisted for the Society of Authors Education Award. The follow-up The World’s Greatest Idea was selected as one of the top 50 Wish List books of the year in South Africa.
He has been interviewed extensively on radio and TV stations around the world, and conducted talks, demonstrations and displays at many events, from the Brighton Science Festival to the Oxford Literary Festival.
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Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
May 10, 2012
This book gives a nice description of the great scientists from ancient to current times. Author John Farndon breaks down the scientists into time periods. These periods include the ancients, middle ages, the Renaissance, the 17thC, 18C, 19thC and 20th C. So, I am going to just feature one scientist from each time period.
The Ancients:
Archimedes (207-212 BC):
Archimedes greatest discovery was the principle of buoyancy. An object will float when its weight is exactly equal to the up thrust of the displaced water that it is put upon. Knowledge of this principle allowed shipbuilders to produce large ships.
He also devised a system which allows a person to create gigantic numbers by using exponents to raise the number to a power.
He furthermore worked out the volumes and areas of regular shapes such as spheres and cones.
The Middle Ages:
Al-Khwarizmi ( 786 -unknown )-
In attempt to improve calculations in regards to lawsuits, trade, digging canals and other human activity he created algebra.
He also authored a book on geography which improved on the accuracy of previous similar books.
The Renaissance:
Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564)-
Vesalius authored the book “Fabrica” which became the most important medical book of his age. It detailed the human skeleton, veins, the nervous system and the main body organs in such accurate detail that medical students were required to keep it at the dissecting table.
17th Century:
Anton von Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723)-
Leeuwenhoek made homemade microscopes but his most important contribution to science is that he discovered bacteria. From examining water from different sources he identified incredible tiny creatures scurrying about. What he saw are bacteria.
18th Century:
Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778)-
Linnaeus discovered that plants reproduced with a sexual organ. In flowers, he called the stamen (where pollen is made) the bridegroom and the pistils (where seeds are made) the bride. This information became important to farmers because we now know that you need more than one plant on a lot of species to produce fruit. This is because one plant must pollinate the other.
He also developed a binomial system to name all the creatures he could find on earth.
19th Century:
Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)
Pasteur first discovered yeast by studying beer and wine as they age. With yeast he studied why food goes bad. And he determined it goes bad by exposure to microbes in ordinary air. He also noticed that when air is heated the microbes die and the food is preserved. He also discovered that microbes cause infection and disease. So by using sterilized bandages, which killed microbes, surgeries became much safer.
20th Century
Max Plank (1858-1947)
Plank created Quantum Theory which stated that energy is released in tiny invisible chunks.
So, if you want to get a feel for the greatest scientists of history this is a good book to start with.
The Ancients:
Archimedes (207-212 BC):
Archimedes greatest discovery was the principle of buoyancy. An object will float when its weight is exactly equal to the up thrust of the displaced water that it is put upon. Knowledge of this principle allowed shipbuilders to produce large ships.
He also devised a system which allows a person to create gigantic numbers by using exponents to raise the number to a power.
He furthermore worked out the volumes and areas of regular shapes such as spheres and cones.
The Middle Ages:
Al-Khwarizmi ( 786 -unknown )-
In attempt to improve calculations in regards to lawsuits, trade, digging canals and other human activity he created algebra.
He also authored a book on geography which improved on the accuracy of previous similar books.
The Renaissance:
Andreas Vesalius (1514-1564)-
Vesalius authored the book “Fabrica” which became the most important medical book of his age. It detailed the human skeleton, veins, the nervous system and the main body organs in such accurate detail that medical students were required to keep it at the dissecting table.
17th Century:
Anton von Leeuwenhoek (1632-1723)-
Leeuwenhoek made homemade microscopes but his most important contribution to science is that he discovered bacteria. From examining water from different sources he identified incredible tiny creatures scurrying about. What he saw are bacteria.
18th Century:
Carolus Linnaeus (1707-1778)-
Linnaeus discovered that plants reproduced with a sexual organ. In flowers, he called the stamen (where pollen is made) the bridegroom and the pistils (where seeds are made) the bride. This information became important to farmers because we now know that you need more than one plant on a lot of species to produce fruit. This is because one plant must pollinate the other.
He also developed a binomial system to name all the creatures he could find on earth.
19th Century:
Louis Pasteur (1822-1895)
Pasteur first discovered yeast by studying beer and wine as they age. With yeast he studied why food goes bad. And he determined it goes bad by exposure to microbes in ordinary air. He also noticed that when air is heated the microbes die and the food is preserved. He also discovered that microbes cause infection and disease. So by using sterilized bandages, which killed microbes, surgeries became much safer.
20th Century
Max Plank (1858-1947)
Plank created Quantum Theory which stated that energy is released in tiny invisible chunks.
So, if you want to get a feel for the greatest scientists of history this is a good book to start with.
October 30, 2016
What an awesome book! Chronologically listed, amazing, life altering, scientific discoveries and the really interesting biographical information of the deepest thinkers of human history. Short and succinct, entertaining and informative. A definite keeper, to be re-read.
January 18, 2022
A nice brief overview of many scientists. If you want an introduction or to relearn things you have forgotten.
February 12, 2024
An interesting group of biographies for science.
January 7, 2016
Curiosity is what pushes the human race forward. "The Great Scientists" is an informative book with short biographies of many scientists written by John Farndon. "The Great Scientists" contains the element of characterization. At the beginning of each scientist's section, there is a quick description about them. Anton Von Leeuwenhoek's introduction starts as follows, "...was one of the most unassuming scientists who ever lived, spending all of his long life in Deft, where he was a draper," on page 50 of "The Great Scientists."
"The Great Scientists" represents the element of Setting. Robert Hooke's birthdate and birthplace are stated, "Robert Hooke was born on July 18th, 1635 at Freshwater on the Isle of Wight," on page 55 of "The Great Scientists." This is certainly a perfect book for anyone interested in science.
R-4
"The Great Scientists" represents the element of Setting. Robert Hooke's birthdate and birthplace are stated, "Robert Hooke was born on July 18th, 1635 at Freshwater on the Isle of Wight," on page 55 of "The Great Scientists." This is certainly a perfect book for anyone interested in science.
R-4
August 15, 2009
This string of micro-biographies describes the most important scientific discoveries in history. It has excellent photos, drawings and paintings that really add to the experience. By putting them in chronological order, this book does what a show like Nova cannot; it puts all these accomplishments in their historical perspective. Also it is fun to learn some of the personal stories of the scientists.
I enjoyed reading Euclid’s proof of the Pythagorean Theorem. I was surprised that it was not until the 8th century that our ten-digit system of numbers was popularized by al-Khwarizmi. The old medical drawings are interesting, as is the long strange trip of Linus Pauling.
I enjoyed reading Euclid’s proof of the Pythagorean Theorem. I was surprised that it was not until the 8th century that our ten-digit system of numbers was popularized by al-Khwarizmi. The old medical drawings are interesting, as is the long strange trip of Linus Pauling.
August 19, 2013
For whom who are fascinated by science, this book gives you power and energy.
As the writer is following a chronological order to list the scientists, you will see how the science is growing century after century and year after year, until today where it's growing minute after minute and second after second.
As the writer is following a chronological order to list the scientists, you will see how the science is growing century after century and year after year, until today where it's growing minute after minute and second after second.
September 25, 2009
I enjoyed this "bathroom book" very much. Here, in a single, short volume, is what everyone should know about each of the world's greatest scientists, together with colorful pictures and interesting asides about each man or woman.
January 5, 2011
Really enjoyed this book. It was fun to be exposed to some of these scientists, some I have heard of many I hadn't. Very educational and inspiring. Also neat to see the different backgrounds of the scientists.
December 5, 2019
A great collection of history's greatest scientific minds, with 2 - 5 pages devoted to each. Brief and general, but a fascinating read, complete with plenty of visual aides, which I always love in non-fiction.
August 9, 2009
I enjoyed glimpses of how they started and what shaaped them. Very interesting.
June 4, 2014
Very informative. I'm going to read other books in the series now.
500-599-natural-science
November 15, 2019509.212
December 7, 2012
Not a terribly "meaty" read, but very enjoyable
May 22, 2014
Enjoy it very much!
April 29, 2017
A good overview of a number of important scientists. The occasional typo stood out because one would expect an educational book to be carefully reviewed.
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews