A História da Ciência: Por Seus Grandes Nomes

by John Farndon

As histórias contidas nas páginas seguintes revela os esforços de grandes homens que têm em comum a inquietude diante dos fenômenos à sua volta. São todos heróis civilizatórios, à medida em que se recusaram a aceitar a visão que era a mais comum entre os homens de sua época, sejam eles os gregos da Siracusa de Arquimedes, ou os moradores da aldeia global no século em que nós e Stephen Hawking vivemos, a de um universo subjugado à vontade dos deuses.

No entanto, a história que esse livro ilustrado da História Viva conta não é somente a desses heróis; é antes a do desenvolvimento do conhecimento humano e, por extensão, a da civilização. A própria cronologia das conquistas da ciência enfocadas nos capítulos a seguir revela as mudanças de paradigma por que passamos ao longo dos séculos. De início, houve o primado dos gregos - e como devemos a eles! - na Antiguidade. Durante a Idade Média, as conquistas do conhecimento vêm do mundo árabe. O Ocidente adotara a doutrina cristã como fonte para todas as respostas sobre o mundo natural. Somente com o advento da Renascença e a ascensão dos ideais iluministas, o homem passa a ter fé na sua própria capacidade de buscar respostas tendo a razão como instrumento. E as conquistas se multiplicam em todos os campos: do mundo microscópico até a astronomia. Novos campos da ciência surgem e a sociedade se transforma em ritmo acelerado.

Mas a cada passo, o choque com as concepções religiosas provoca atritos. No entanto, a impossibilidade de conter os novos avanços, mesmo com resistências obscurantistas renhidas, revela um novo paradigma histórico, no qual a ciência alcançou uma autoridade maior do que a das crenças religiosas. Afinal, "eppur si muove".

SUMARIO

Capítulo I – Antiguidade e Idade Média
Euclides
Arquimedes
Hiparco e Cláudio Ptolomeu
Cientistas árabes medievais

Capítulo II – Renascença
Leonardo da Vinci
Nicolau Copérnico
André Vesálio
Galileu Galilei

Capítulo III – Século XVII
Christiaan Huygens
Anton von Leeuwenhoek
Robert Hooke
Sir Isaac Newton

Capítulo IV – Século XVIII
Carlos Lineu
James Hutton
Antoine Lavoisier
John Dalton

Capítulo V – Século XIX
Michael Faraday
Charles Babbage
Charles Darwin
Louis Pasteur
Gregor Mendel
Dmitri Mendeleyev
James Clerk Maxwell

Capítulo VI – Século XX
Max Planck
Marie Curie
Albert Einstein
Alfred Wegener

Capítulo VII – Século XX e XXI
Niels Bohr
Edwin Hubble
Dmitri Mendeleyev
Linus Pauling
Francis Crick, James Watson e Rosalind Franklin
Stephen Hawking

Genres: Science, History, Nonfiction, Biography, Childrens

130 pages, Paperback

First published August 1, 2005

About the author

John 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.

Reviews

[Arminius · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Tiffany · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Lucas · Rating 4 out of 5]

A nice brief overview of many scientists. If you want an introduction or to relearn things you have forgotten.

[Henry Kline · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting group of biographies for science.

[Peter · Rating 5 out of 5]

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

[John Holliday · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Sahl · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Marcel · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Matt · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Jordan Taylor · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[The Matriarch Ling · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed glimpses of how they started and what shaaped them. Very interesting.

[Kimberly Hallahan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very informative. I'm going to read other books in the series now.

[Belle Meade School]

509.212

[Ada Macey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not a terribly "meaty" read, but very enjoyable

[Jiimy · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoy it very much!

[Gino Kutcher · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.