The Cat in the Box: A History of Science in 100 Experiments

In The Cat in the Box, prolific science writers John and Mary Gribbin distill the fascinating and oddball history of scientific innovation into a hundred world-changing experiments.

All science is based on curiosity, hypothesis, experimentation, and analysis. This basic formula has been in place for thousands of years, and has led to some of humankind's greatest achievements. From modern feats like cracking the human genome and using gravitational waves to detect a new kind of nova, to harnessing the power of rivers to power mills, it leads back to initial kernels of curiosity and testing.

Renowned science writing duo, John and Mary Gribbin, retell the enlightening, fascinating, and often oddball stories of scientific innovation through the ages in their new book, The Cat in the Box. The tradition of curiosity, experimentation, analysis is rarely a straight road, and you will not believe some of the incredible stories the Gribbins' pull from labs and workshops from around the world.

John Gribbin got his PhD from the Institute of Astronomy in Cambridge (then under the leadership of Fred Hoyle), before working as a science journalist for Nature and later New Scientist. His wife Mary is a teacher with a special gift for communicating difficult concepts. They have co-written several titles for adults and children. John is the “go-to” man for quantum physics and author of many bestselling popular science books, including Schrodinger’s Kittens and the Search for Reality, In Search of Schrodinger’s Cat, and The Scientists. He is a Visiting Fellow at the University of Sussex and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.Mary Gribbin is a teacher with a special gift for communicating difficult concepts. She and her husband, John Gribbin, have co-written several titles for adults and children.