Table Of Content100 Greate st
Sci ence Dis cov er ies
of All Time
Kend all Ha ven
Westport, Con nect i cut • Lond on
Li brary of Con gress Cat a log ing-in-Pub li ca tion Data
Ha ven, Kend all F.
100 great est scie nce dis cov er ies of all time / Kenda ll Ha ven.
p. cm.
Inc ludes bibl iog raphi c al refe re nces and ind ex.
ISBN-13: 978-1-59158-265-6 (alk. pap er)
ISBN-10: 1-59158-265-2 (alk. pap er)
1. Dis cov er ies in sci ence. I. Tit le. II. Ti tle: One hund red great est
scie nce dis cov er ies of all time.
Q180.55.D57H349 2007
509—dc22 2006032417
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Copyr ight © 2007 by Kenda ll Hav en
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ISBN: 978-1-59158-265-6
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10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Con tents
CCoonn tteennttss
Ack nowle dgm ents..............................................ix
In tro duc tion...................................................xi
How to Use this Book...........................................xv
Lev ers and Buoya ncy............................................3
The Sun Is the Cent er of the Univ erse ...............................5
Hu man Anat omy ...............................................7
The Law of Falli ng Obj ects .......................................9
Plan e tary Mo tion ..............................................11
Ju pi ter’s Moons ...............................................13
Hu man Cir cu la tory Sys tem ......................................15
Air Press ure ..................................................17
Boyle’s Law..................................................19
The Ex is tence of Cells ..........................................21
Uni ver sal Grav i ta tion...........................................23
Fos sils.......................................................25
Dist ance to the Sun.............................................27
Bac te ria......................................................29
Laws of Mot ion ...............................................31
Ord er in Nat ure................................................33
Gal ax ies .....................................................36
The Na ture of Elec tric ity ........................................38
Oceans Con trol Global Weather...................................40
Ox y gen......................................................43
Pho to syn the sis ................................................45
Con ser va tion of Mat ter..........................................47
The Na ture of Heat.............................................49
Eros ion of the Earth ............................................51
Vac ci na tions..................................................53
In fra red and Ul travi o let .........................................55
An es the sia....................................................57
At oms.......................................................59
Elec tro chem i cal Bond ing........................................61
The Ex is tence of Mol e cules......................................63
Elec tro mag ne tism..............................................65
First Di no saur Fos sil............................................67
Ice Ages .....................................................69
Cal o ries (Units of Ene rgy).......................................71
Con ser va tion of En ergy .........................................73
v
vi Con tents
Dopp ler Ef fect ................................................75
Germ The ory .................................................77
The The ory of Evol ut ion ........................................79
Atomic Light Sig nat ures.........................................81
Elec tro mag netic Ra di a tion/Ra dio Waves............................83
He red ity .....................................................86
Deep-Sea Life.................................................88
Pe ri odic Chart of El e ments.......................................90
Cell Di vi sion..................................................92
X-Rays ......................................................95
Blood Types..................................................97
Elec tron .....................................................99
Vi rus.......................................................101
Mi to chon dria ................................................103
Ra dio ac tiv ity.................................................105
At mo spheric Lay ers...........................................107
Hor mones...................................................109
E = mc2.....................................................111
Rel a tiv ity ...................................................114
Vi ta mins....................................................117
Ra dio ac tive Dat ing............................................119
Func tion of Chro mo somes......................................121
An ti bi ot ics ..................................................124
Fault Lines ..................................................126
Su per con duc tiv ity.............................................128
Atomic Bond ing..............................................131
Iso topes.....................................................133
Earth’s Core and Mant le........................................136
Con ti nen tal Drift..............................................138
Black Holes .................................................140
Ins ul in......................................................142
Neurotransmitters.............................................144
Hu man Evo lu tion.............................................146
Quan tum The ory..............................................148
Ex pand ing Uni verse...........................................150
Un cer tainty Prin ci ple ..........................................153
Speed of Light ...............................................155
Pen i cil lin....................................................158
An ti mat ter...................................................160
Neu tron.....................................................163
Cell Struct ure ................................................165
The Func tion of Genes.........................................167
Eco sys tem...................................................169
Weak and Strong Force ........................................171
Me tab o lism..................................................174
Con tents vii
Coe la canth ..................................................176
Nu clear Fis sion...............................................178
Blood Plasma ................................................181
Semi con duc tor Tran sis tor.......................................183
The Big Bang ................................................185
Def i ni tion of In for ma tion.......................................188
Jumpin’ Genes ...............................................190
Fu sion......................................................192
Or i gins of Life ...............................................194
DNA.......................................................196
Seafloor Spreadi ng............................................199
The Nat ure of the Atm os phere...................................201
Quarks .....................................................203
Quas ars and Puls ars ...........................................205
Com plete Evo lu tion ...........................................208
Dark Mat ter .................................................211
The Nat ure of Din o saurs .......................................213
Plane ts Exi st Around Other Stars.................................215
Ac cel er at ing Uni verse .........................................218
Hu man Ge nome ..............................................220
Ref er ences ..................................................223
Ap pen dix 1: Dis cov er ies by Sci en tific Field ........................229
Ap pen dix 2: Sci en tists .........................................233
App end ix 3: The Next 40.......................................237
In dex.......................................................239
Ac knowl edg ments
I owe a great deal of thanks to those who have helped me res earch and shape these en-
tries. The lib rari a ns at the Sonoma County Publ ic Lib rary and those at the Sonoma State
Charles Schultz Lib rary have been inv alua ble in helpi ng me loc ate and rev iew the many
thous ands of refe re nces I used for this work. I owe a spec ial thanks to Roni Berg, the love of
my life, for her work in both shapi ng these ind iv idu al ent ries and in crea ti ng the 100 fun
facts you will read in this book. Fin ally, I owe a great thank you to Barbara Ittner, the Li-
brari es Unl imi ted edi t or who steadf astly supp orted and enc oura ged me to crea te this book
and whose wisd om and in sights shaped it and are reflected on every page.
ix
In tro duc tion
IInn ttrroo dduucc ttiioonn
Disc ove ry! The very word sends ting les surgi ng up your spine. It quicke ns your pulse.
Dis cove ri es are the mo ments of “Ah, ha! I und ers tand!” and of “Eur eka! I found it!”
Eve ryo ne longs to disc over somet hing—anyt hing! A disc ove ry is findi ng or obs erv ing
somet hing new—somet hing unk nown or unn ot iced bef ore. It is not ici ng what was alw ays
there but had been overl ooked by all bef ore. It is stretchi ng out into unt ouched and un-
charted reg ions. Disc ove ri es open new hor iz ons, prov ide new ins ights, and crea te vast for-
tunes. Dis cove ri es mark the progr ess of hum an civi l iz at ions. They advance human
knowledge.
Courtr oom ju ries try to dis cover the truth. Ant hrop olo gists disc over art if acts from past
hum an civi l iz at ions and cult ures. Peop le und erg oi ng psyc hot hera py try to discover
themselves.
When we say that Col umb us “disc ove red” the New World, we don’t mean that he cre-
ated it, dev elo ped it, des igned it, or inv ented it. The New World had alw ays been there. Na-
tives had lived on it for thous ands of years be fore Co lumb us’s 1492 arr ival. They knew the
Car ibb ean Isl ands long bef ore Col umb us arr ived and cert ainly didn’t need a Eur op ean to
disc over the isl ands for them. What Col umb us did do was make Eur op ean soc ie ti es aware
of this new cont in ent. He was the first Eur op ean to loc ate this new land mass and put it on
the maps. That made it a discovery.
Dis cov er ies are of ten un ex pected. Vera Ru bin dis cov ered cos mic dark mat ter in 1970.
She wasn ’t search ing for dark matt er. In fact, she didn’t known that such a thing exi sted un-
til her disc ove ry proved that it was there. She even had to inv ent a name (dark matt er) for it
af ter she had dis cov ered its existence.
Somet imes a disc ove ry is built upon prev io us work by other scie nt ists, but more oft en
not. Some dis cove ri es are the re sult of long years of res earch by the disc ove ri ng scie nt ist.
But just as oft en, they are not. Disc ove ri es oft en come sud denly and repr es ent the be ginn ing
points for new fields of study or new foc uses for existing scientific fields.
Why study dis cov er ies? Be cause dis cov er ies chart the di rec tion of hu man de vel op-
ment and prog ress. To day’s dis cov er ies will shape to mor row’s world. Ma jor dis cov er ies
def ine the dir ec tions scie nce takes, what scie nt ists bel ieve, and how our view of the world
changes over time. Eins tein’s 1905 disc ove ry of rela t ivi ty radi c ally alt ered twentieth-
cent ury physi cs. Disc ove ri es chart the path and progr ess of scie nce just as floati ng buoy
mark ers rev eal the course of a twisti ng chan nel through a wide and shall ow bay.
Dis cov er ies of ten rep re sent rad i cally new con cepts and ideas. They cre ate vir tu ally all
of the sharp de part ures from prev io us knowl edge, life, and think ing. These new scie nt ific
disc ove ri es are as imp ort ant to our evol ut ion as are the evol ut iona ry changes to our DNA
that have al lowed us to phys ic ally adapt to our changing environments.
xi
Description:Brimming with fascinating and fun facts about 100 scientific breakthroughs, this collection presents the real stories behind the history of science, at the same time offering a panoramic overview of the history of science and an introduction to some of the most important scientists in history. Grade
