The cat in the box : a history of science in 100 experiments

Gribbin, Mary (author.). Gribbin, John, 1946- (author.).

Summary:

"This book distills the history of science into 100 epic experiments that have fueled our understanding of Earth and the Universe beyond. Everything in the scientific world view is based on experiment, including observations of phenomena predicted by theories and hypotheses, such as the bending of light as it goes past the Sun. As the Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman said, "If it disagrees with experiment, it is wrong." From the discovery of microscopic worlds and gravitational waves, to the weighing the Earth, to making electricity, this stunning book by renowned science writers John and Mary Gribbin tells the enlightening, fascinating, and somewhat oddball story of scientific innovation."--Amazon.com.

Record details

ISBN: 1631064150
ISBN: 9781631064159
Physical Description: 288 pages : illustrations (some color), color map, portraits (some color) ; 26 cm
Publisher: New York, NY : Race Point Publishing, an imprint of The Quarto Group, 2017.
Copyright: ©2017

Content descriptions

General Note:	Originally published: Great Britain : William Collins, 2016.
Bibliography, etc. Note:	Includes bibliographical references (page 280) and index.
Formatted Contents Note:	The upward thrust of water -- Measuring the diameter of the Earth -- The eye as a pinhole camera -- Dissecting the human body -- Measuring the magnetic field of the Earth -- Measuring inertia -- Circulation of the blood -- Weighing the atmosphere -- Resisting the squeeze -- Revealing the microscopic world -- All the colors of the rainbow -- The speed of light is finite -- Vitamin at sea -- Conducting the lightning -- The heat of ice -- Steaming ahead -- Breathing plants and pure air -- Opening up the solar system -- Animal heat, but no animal magic -- Twitching frogs and electric piles -- Weighing the Earth -- Boring experiments on heat -- The first vaccine -- Feeling invisible light -- Cosmic rubble -- Flying high with hydrogen -- Light is a wave -- Discovering atoms -- Electrifying science -- Quantifying chemistry -- Thinking about the power of fire -- A random walk -- The magnetism of electricity -- The death of vitalism -- Making electricity -- An uplifting experience -- Blood heat -- Trumpeters on a train -- The speed of ice -- Absorbing radiant heat -- The leviathan of Parsonstown -- Controversy and controls -- From fire light to star light -- Prevention is better than cure -- Pinning down the speed of light -- Death to bacteria -- The flowering of evolution theory -- The benzene snake dance -- The monk and the peas -- The importance of nothing -- Feeling the squeeze -- The speed of light is constant -- Sparking radio into light -- Noble gases and a noble Lord -- The birth of biochemistry -- Enter the X-ray -- Enter the electron -- Radioactivity revealed -- Knocking electrons with light -- A Pavlovian response -- Journey to the center of the Earth -- Inside the atom -- A ruler for the universe -- The discovery of nucleic acids -- Evolution at work -- Something to brag about -- Light from the darkness -- Electron waves and quantum duality -- Taking the rough with the smooth -- An antibiotic breakthrough? -- Splitting th atom -- Making vitamin C -- Probing proteins -- Artificial radioactivity -- The cat in the box -- Fission gets heavy -- The first nuclear reactor -- The first programmable computer -- Discovering the role of DNA -- Jumping genes -- The Alpha helix -- Making the molecules of life -- Masers and lasers -- Magnetic stripes and sea-floor spreading -- Detecting the Ghost particle -- A vital vitamin -- The breathing planet -- The echo of the Big Bang -- Clocking into relativity -- Making waves in the universe -- The pacemaker of ice ages -- the world is non-local -- The ultimate quantum experiment -- The accelerating universe -- Mapping the human genome -- Fifteen equals three times five -- Making matter massive -- The composition of the universe -- Experiment 101.