Giants' Shoulders: Great Scientists and Their Discoveries from Archimedes to DNA - Hardcover

Bragg, Melvyn

3.61

127 ratings by Goodreads

9780340712597: Giants' Shoulders: Great Scientists and Their Discoveries from Archimedes to DNA

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0340712597 ISBN 13: 9780340712597

Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton, 1998

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The story of science unfolds in this account of the lives and extraordinary discoveries of 12 of its greatest figures - Archimedes, Galileo, Newton, Lavoisier, Faraday, Darwin, Poincare, Freud, Einstein, Marie Curie and Crick and Watson. Exploring their impact and legacy with leading scientists of today, including Stephen Jay Gould, Oliver Sacks, Lewis Wolpert, Susan Greenfield, Roger Penrose and Richard Dawkins, Melvyn Bragg illuminates the core issues of science past and present, and seeks to convey the excitement and importance of the scientific past.

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Review:

So many of us are blessed--or at least affected--by the fruits of science, yet how many of us really understand how we got them? Scientific creativity, like all other kinds, is a product of its times, but we can learn much from looking at the lives of its greatest practitioners; as a sizable side benefit, these lives are often tremendously entertaining. Author and BBC radio host Melvyn Bragg understands this well, and invited many of the great modern interpreters of science to discuss the lives and work of 12 greats, from Archimedes to Watson and Crick, and published the cream in On Giants' Shoulders. These are no dry transcripts, though; Bragg has a genius for selecting the most intriguing quotes and selections from both his guests and his subjects and weaving them into his own engrossing narrative. His many novels have tightened up his prose so well that he can make even a discussion of the genesis of relativity a page-turner. He couldn't have invented better material, either: Newton's notorious snobbery, Darwin's almost-naive sincerity, and Lavoisier's turbulent life and untimely death make for compelling stories indeed (one almost wonders how they had time to change the world). His guests, including luminaries such as Lewis Wolpert, Richard Dawkins, Oliver Sacks, and Roger Penrose, consistently cut to the heart of their subjects' importance and tie it all up neatly in the last chapter, "Where Are We Now?" An important question, of course, and one that can be better answered from On Giants' Shoulders. --Rob Lightner

From the Back Cover:

Explore the greatest minds in the history of science with some of the top scientific thinkers of today. Archimedes Galileo Galilei Sir Isaac Newton Antoine Lavoisier Michael Faraday A3 Charles Darwin Jules Henri PoincarT Sigmund Freud Marie Curie Albert Einstein Francis Crick James Watson

The story of science is the greatest adventure of the human mind over the last 2,500 years, as scientists have progressively advanced humankind's understanding and control of the universe. Yet for many, the scientific theories that underpin the modern world can be hard to grasp.

On Giants' Shoulders elucidates the milestones in the history of science, focusing on twelve individuals and their extraordinary breakthroughs. From a layman's perspective, acclaimed journalist and author Melvyn Bragg discusses the life, work, and legacy of these remarkable people with leading scientists and historians in each field, including Stephen Jay Gould, Richard Dawkins, Roger Penrose, Martin Rees, Oliver Sacks, John Gribbin, and Paul Davies.

Interviewed by journalist Melvyn Bragg, a selection of scientists discuss twelve of the pioneers of science history--and the fascinating personalities behind the discoveries.

What makes this book work so well is that Bragg is a fine journalist applying his skills as an outsider to blow away the pretensions and reveal some of the mechanics and motivations of what is still a remarkably closed world. --New Scientist

Each life is pored over in a brief but brilliant intellectual post mortem with the help of prominent contemporary scientists. . . Here are the paranoia, the blind alleys of research, the rivalry, and many collisions of intellectual heavyweights. . . On Giants' Shoulders holds delights for both scientist and layperson.--Kevin O'Sullivan, Irish Times

Each chapter has the pace and liveliness of a round table discussion. . . In a surprisingly brief space, one can thus taste a flavor of true debate as each contemporary scientist brings in their own angle.--Susan Greenfield, Independent on Sunday

Bragg explores the contribution made by great scientists, from Archimedes to Crick and Watson, to the development of our understanding of the world. What makes the result special is Bragg's unusual relationship to his subject. His gentle probing, and the selection of material, addresses exactly the questions about science and scientists that interest outsiders.--John Gribbin, The Independent

Ranging from the foundation of hydrostatics in the third century b.c. to the discovery of DNA's structure in our own time, this is an accessible, thought-provoking, and fascinating account of the seminal discoveries of the past and their originators. The book also illuminates the issues with which scientists are wrestling today, poised on their forerunners' shoulders to carry scientific inquiry into the next millennium.

This is an enchanting book, because it is a book produced by a clever man listening intently. . . Science is not, in truth, a daunting alien territory. But characteristically it seems to want to tell us the answers dogmatically, before we are sure what questions we would like to ask. On Giants' Shoulders asks just those kind of questions.--Lisa Jardine, The Times (London)

Nobody in the media has worked harder than Melvyn Bragg to promote science as a culture and scientists as creators. In a sea of indifference to the educational and cultural nature of science, he seems to be the only person with perception.--Professor Sir Harry Kroto, The Sunday Times (London)

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