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

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This week (starting 19 April 2025)

In 1796, Georges Cuvier and John Hunter founded the science of comparative anatomy.

1796

Comparative anatomy A genius of his time Only bones Commentary

Georges Cuvier, John Hunter comparative anatomy

Recently

1796	Origin of our solar system Idealizing chaos Transforms Commentary	Pierre-Simon Laplace astronomy
1796	Vaccination Eradication Terms Commentary	Edward Jenner immunology
1794 - 1843	Yttrium Named after Ytterby Atomic number 39 Rare earths Commentary	Åbo, Stockholm—Johan Gadolin, Carl Gustaf Mosander elements
1791, 1820	Galvanometer Personal connections Moving the dial Commentary	Luigi Galvani, Hans Christian Ørsted, Johann Schweigger electromagnetism
1791-1910	Titanium Atomic number 22 Places Commentary	Creed, Berlin, Stockholm, Troy—William Gregor, Martin Heinrich Klaproth, Jöns Jacob Berzelius, Matthew Hunter elements
1790, 1808	Strontium Atomic number 38 Minerals Commentary	London—Adair Crawford, William Cruikshank, Humphry Davy elements
1789, 1841	Uranium Atomic number 92 Unstable Commentary	Berlin, Paris—Martin Heinrich Klaproth, Eugène-Melchoir Péligot elements
1789, 1824	Zirconium Atomic number 40 Leshem, Liguria Commentary	Berlin, Stockholm—Martin Heinrich Klaproth, Jöns Jacob Berzelius elements
1785	Coulomb’s law History Analogies Commentary	Charles-Augustin de Coulomb electromagnetism
1785	Earth cycles Hutton’s unconformity Endless cycles Commentary	James Hutton geology
1784	Black hole Einstein taught Eye splice Commentary	John Michell astrophysics

Parts of this book

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
  • Periodic table of the elements
  • Index of elements by year of discovery
  • Index of elements by atomic number
• 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

Related works

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:

• Elements of elements of science
• The booklet of science

This web site also includes other works by Tom Sharp and work by other poets.