"Seeing Further: The Story Of Science And The Royal Society" ed. by Bill Bryson

Truly global in its outlook, the Royal Society now is credited with creating modern science. Seeing Furtheris an unprecedented celebration of its history and the power of ideas, bringing together the very best of science writing.



Since then, the Royal Society has pioneered global scientific exploration and discovery. Its members have split the atom, discovered the double helix and the electron, and given us the computer and the World Wide Web. Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein, Robert Hooke, Robert Boyle, Joseph Banks, Humphry Davy, John Locke, Alexander Fleming, Stephen Hawking—all have been fellows. Bill Bryson's favorite fellow is the Reverend Thomas Bayes, a brilliant mathematician who devised Bayes' theorem. Its complexity meant that it had little practical use in Bayes' own lifetime, but today his theorem is used for weather forecasting, astrophysics, and even stock-market analysis. A milestone in mathematical history, it exists only because the Royal Society decided to preserve it—just in case.


CONTENTS

BILL BRYSON
1 JAMES GLEICK
2 MARGARET ATWOOD
3 MARGARET WERTHEIM
4 NEAL STEPHENSON
5 REBECCA NEWBERGER GOLDSTEIN
6 SIMON SCHAFFER
7 RICHARD HOLMES
8 RICHARD FORTEY
9 RICHARD DAWKINS
10 HENRY PETROSKI
11 GEORGINA FERRY
12 STEVE JONES
13 PHILIP BALL
14 PAUL DAVIES
15 IAN STEWART
16 JOHN D.BARROW
17 OLIVER MORTON
18 MAGGIE GEE
19 STEPHEN H. SCHNEIDER
20 GREGORY BENFORD
EPILOGUE
INDEX
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
MARTIN REES
FURTHER READING
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
ALSO BY BILL BRYSON
Copyright