The book of science

8700 BCE - 2018 CE

Poetry and commentary reflecting milestones of the history of science

Welcome to The book of science. Come here each week to find poetry and commentary on another milestone of the history of science.

Niobium: atomic number: 41; weight: 92.90637; Transition metal; discovery: 1801—Charles Hatchett.

1801	Discovery of an asteroid Hole in the sky Ceres Commentary	Giuseppe Piazzi, Carl Friedrich Gauss astronomy
1800	Wave nature of light Aether What is space? Commentary	Thomas Young physics
1799	Placebo effect Believing Sugar pills Think positive! Commentary	John Haygarth medicine
1799	Electric battery Luigi Galvani It didn’t just happen Remote control Commentary	Alessandro Volta electromagnetism
1799	Humboldt’s voyage Plants and animals Humboldt County Commentary	Alexander von Humboldt philosophy of science zoology
1798, 1828	Beryllium Atomic number 4 Gems Stuff with flaws Commentary	Paris, Berlin—Louis Nicolas Vauquelin, Friedrich Wöhler, Antoine Bussy elements
1798	‘Weighing’ the world Torsion balance Sequence of results Commentary	John Michell, Henry Cavendish geodesy
1798	Population pressure Pressure of liberty Overpopulation Commentary	Thomas Robert Malthus theoretical biology

You may jump to some parts of The book of science directly by selecting menu items:

About, more about this book
Contents, a table of milestones in the history of science, arranged chronologically
Elements, tables for the chemical elements
Scientists, index of scientists, by last name
Sciences, index of sciences
Eponymous, index of milestones named after scientists
Keywords, index of keywords in poems and titles
Search, where you can search the book by word or phrase

You may read subsets of The book of science as separate volumes. These generally contain only the last poem on each milestone from the full book: