While the discoveries of scientists and mathematicians often lead to new technologies, they also can change our philosophies and the way we look at the world. For example, for many scientists, the Heisenberg Uncertainty Principle means that the physical universe literally does not exist in a determinist form but is rather a mysterious collection of probabilities. Advances in the understanding of electromagnetism led to the invention of the radio, television, and computers. Understanding of thermodynamics led to the invention of the car.
As will become apparent as you peruse this book, the precise scope of science and mathematics has not been fixed through the ages, nor is it easily delimited. I have taken a rather wide view and have included topics that touch on engineering and applied physics, advances in our understanding of the nature of astronomical objects, and even a few topics that are quite philosophical. Despite this large scope, most areas of science have in common a strong reliance on mathematical tools to aid scientists in their understandings, experiments, and predictions about the natural world.
Albert Einstein once remarked that “the most incomprehensible thing about the world is that it is comprehensible.” Indeed, we appear to live in a cosmos that can be described or approximated by compact mathematical expressions and physical laws. However, beyond discovering these laws of nature, scientists often delve into some of the most profound and mind-boggling concepts that humans have ever contemplated—topics ranging from relativity and quantum mechanics to string theory and the nature of the Big Bang from which the universe evolved. Quantum mechanics gives us a glimpse of a world that is so strangely counterintuitive that it raises questions about space, time, information, and cause and effect. However, despite the seemingly mysterious results of quantum mechanics, this field of study is applied in numerous fields and in technologies that include the laser, the transistor, the microchip, and magnetic resonance imaging.
This book is also about the people behind many of the great ideas of science and mathematics. Physics, for example, is the foundation of modern science, and it has fascinated men and women for centuries and included some of the world’s greatest and most intriguing minds, such as Isaac Newton, James Clerk Maxwell, Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Richard Feynman, and Stephen Hawking. These individuals have helped change the way we think about at the universe. In the fields of medicine, Ambroise Paré and Joseph Lister changed how we deal with injuries and diseases. Consider the use of ligatures to stem the flow of blood during surgeries, for example, as performed by the French surgeon Paré (1510–1590) or the use of antiseptic surgery, which was promoted by British surgeon Lister (1827–1912) and his use of carbolic acid (now called phenol) as a means for sterilizing wounds and surgical instruments, which dramatically reduced post-operative infections. Beyond these kinds of practical accomplishments, Marie Curie, the physicist and chemist who conducted groundbreaking research on radioactivity, also reminds us about the adventure in science, stating: “I am among those who think that science has great beauty. A scientist in his laboratory is not only a technician: he is also a child placed before natural phenomena which impress him like a fairy tale. . . . If I see anything vital around me, it is precisely that spirit of adventure, which seems indestructible and is akin to curiosity.”
Welcome to The Science Book, which ranges from theoretical and eminently practical topics to the odd and perplexing. We’ll encounter mysterious dark energy, which may one day tear apart galaxies and end the universe in a terrible cosmic rip, and the blackbody radiation law, which started the science of quantum mechanics. The Copernican System, evolution, antibiotics, the Periodic Table, the steam engine, and anesthesia all make an appearance in this book. We’ll travel through time and space, leaping through the ages, from the creation of bronze (c. 3300 BCE), iron smelting (c. 1300 BCE), and the development of Roman concrete (c. 125) to the first industrial synthesis of polyethylene (1933), which is the most common plastic in the world today. In biological arenas, we’ll witness the cultivation of wheat and the domestication of animals, and explore the fossil record, food webs, and insect dance language.
It may seem unusual to some readers to see so many mathematical entries in a book about science. However, I have intentionally emphasized mathematics. After all, mathematics has permeated every field of scientific endeavor and plays an invaluable role in biology, physics, chemistry, economics, sociology, and engineering. Mathematics can be used to help explain the colors of a sunset or the architecture of our brains. Mathematics helps us build supersonic aircraft and roller coasters, simulate the flow of Earth’s natural resources, explore subatomic quantum realities, and image faraway galaxies. Mathematics has changed the way we look at the cosmos.
Math is also supremely important in student studies of science and helps pupils better understand scientific principles, assisting those in both high school and college to find relationships between scientific hypotheses and data collected, and to better understand the significance of findings. Papers in technical journals in psychology, biology, engineering, chemistry, physics, geology, and many more areas are replete with formulas, calculations, graphs, statistics, and mathematical models.
In history, mathematical theories have sometimes been used to predict phenomena that were not confirmed until years later. Maxwell’s Equations, for example, predicted radio waves. Einstein’s field equations suggested that gravity would bend light and that the universe is expanding. Physicist Paul Dirac once noted that the abstract mathematics we study now gives us a glimpse of physics in the future. In fact, his equations predicted the existence of antimatter, which was subsequently discovered. Similarly, mathematician Nikolai Lobachevsky said that “there is no branch of mathematics, however abstract, which may not someday be applied to the phenomena of the real world.”
Each book entry is short, at most only a few paragraphs in length. This format allows readers to jump in to ponder a subject, without having to sort through a lot of verbiage. In selecting milestones for this book, I considered whether the scientific milestone was influential in shaping the contemporary world and/or directing the river of humanity’s history. The milestones, as a whole, are also meant to provide the general reader with a sense of wonder of the breadth and diversity of scientific discovery and accomplishment. Similarly, the milestones had a strong impact on humanity, culture, and thinking about the world. Finally, I should note these milestones are selected from the Sterling Milestone Series, which include my own three books—The Math Book, The Physics Book, and The Medicine Book—as well as entries from The Psychology Book, The Biology Book, The Chemistry Book, The Space Book, and The Engineering Book. Readers are urged to consult these books for additional milestones in these fields.
Purpose and Chronology
Examples of scientific and mathematical principles are all around us. My goal in compiling The Science Book is to provide a wide audience with a brief guide to important ideas and thinkers, with entries short enough to digest in a few minutes. Most entries are ones that interested me personally. Alas, not all of the great science and mathematics milestones are included in this book in order to prevent the book from growing too large. Thus, in celebrating the wonders of science in this short volume, I have been forced to omit many important scientific marvels. Nevertheless, I believe that I have included a majority of those with historical significance and that have had a strong influence on science, society, or human thought. Occasional text in bold type points the reader to related entries. Additionally, a small “See also” section near the bottom of each entry helps weave entries together in a web of interconnectedness and may help the reader traverse the book in a playful quest for discovery.
The Science Book reflects my own intellectual shortcomings, and while I try to study as many areas of science as I can, it is difficult to become fluent in all aspects, and this book clearly reflects my own personal interests, strengths, and weaknesses.
I am responsible for the choice of pivotal entries included in this book and, of course,
for any errors and infelicities. This is not a comprehensive or scholarly dissertation, but rather it is intended as recreational reading for students of science and mathematics and interested lay people. I welcome feedback and suggestions for improvement from readers, as I consider this an ongoing project and a labor of love.
This book is organized chronologically, according to the year associated with an entry. For many entries, we used dates that are associated with the discovery of a concept or property. Of course, dating of entries can be a question of judgment when more than one individual made a contribution. Often, the earliest date is listed where appropriate, but sometimes a date refers to when a concept gained particular prominence. Many of the older dates in this book, including the “bce dates,” are only approximate. Because this book has entries ordered chronologically, be sure to use the index when hunting for a favorite concept, which may be discussed in entries that you might not have expected.
Who knows what the future of science and mathematics will offer? Toward the end of the nineteenth century, the prominent physicist William Thomson, also known as Lord Kelvin, proclaimed the end of physics. He could never have foreseen the rise of quantum mechanics and relativity—and the dramatic changes these areas would have on the field of physics. Physicist Ernest Rutherford, in the early 1930s, said of atomic energy: “Anyone who expects a source of power from the transformation of these atoms is talking moonshine.” In short, predicting the future of the ideas and applications of physics is difficult, if not impossible.
In closing, let us note that discoveries in science and mathematics provide a framework in which to explore the subatomic and supergalactic realms, and the concepts of physics allow scientists to make predictions about the universe. Many fields in this book cover areas in which philosophical speculation can provide a stimulus for scientific breakthroughs. Thus, the discoveries in this book are among humanity’s greatest achievements. For me, science and mathematics cultivate a perpetual state of wonder about the limits of thoughts, the workings of the universe, and our place in the vast space-time landscape that we call home. The biological and medical entries similarly coax us to wonder about the functioning of the tissues and cells—and provide hope that most of the horrific health ravages of humankind will one day be a thing of the past.
Our brains, which evolved to make us run from lions on the African savanna, may not be constructed to penetrate the infinite veil of reality. We may need mathematics, science, computers, brain augmentation, and even literature, art, and poetry to help us tear away the veils. For those of you who about to embark on reading the The Science Book from cover to cover, look for the connections, gaze in awe at the evolution of ideas, and sail on the shoreless sea of imagination.
—Clifford A. Pickover
c. 18,000 BCE
Ishango Bone • Clifford A. Pickover
In 1960, Belgian geologist and explorer Jean de Heinzelin de Braucourt (1920–1998) discovered a baboon bone with markings in what is today the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Ishango bone, with its sequence of notches, was first thought to be a simple tally stick used by a Stone Age African. However, according to some scientists, the marks suggest a mathematical prowess that goes beyond counting of objects.
The bone was found in Ishango, near the headwaters of the Nile River, the home of a large population of upper Paleolithic people prior to a volcanic eruption that buried the area. One column of marks on the bone begins with three notches that double to six notches. Four notches double to eight. Ten notches halve to five. This may suggest a simple understanding of doubling or halving. Even more striking is the fact that numbers in other columns are all odd (9, 11, 13, 17, 19, and 21). One column contains the prime numbers between 10 and 20, and the numbers in each column sum to 60 or 48, both multiples of 12.
A number of tally sticks have been discovered that predate the Ishango bone. For example, the Swaziland Lebombo bone is a 37,000-year-old baboon fibula with 29 notches. A 32,000-year-old wolf tibia with 57 notches, grouped in fives, was found in Czechoslovakia. Although quite speculative, some have hypothesized that the markings on the Ishango bone form a kind of lunar calendar for a Stone Age woman who kept track of her menstrual cycles, giving rise to the slogan “menstruation created mathematics.” Even if the Ishango was a simple bookkeeping device, these tallies seem to set us apart from the animals and represent the first steps to symbolic mathematics. The full mystery of the Ishango bone can’t be solved until other similar bones are discovered.
SEE ALSO Dice (c. 3000 BCE), Sieve of Eratosthenes (c. 240 BCE), Antikythera Mechanism (c. 125 BCE) Slide Rule (1621).
The Ishango baboon bone, with its sequence of notches, was first thought to be a simple tally stick used by a Stone Age African. However, some scientists believe that the marks suggest a mathematical prowess that goes beyond counting of objects.
c. 11,000 BCE
Wheat: The Staff of Life • Michael C. Gerald with Gloria E. Gerald
Wheat was one of the first crops to be cultivated and stored on a large-scale basis, transforming hunter-gathers into farmers, and it was instrumental in the establishment of city-states leading to the Babylonian and Assyrian empires. Wheat originally grew wild in the Fertile Crescent of the Middle East and in southwestern Asia. The archeological evidence traces the origins of wheat to wild grasses, such as wild emmer (Triticum dicoccum), which was gathered for food in Iraq in 11,000 BCE, and einkorn (T. monococcum), grown in Syria 7800–7500 BCE. Wheat was farmed in the Nile Valley of Egypt before 5000 BCE, where Joseph of the Hebrew Bible was overseeing grain stores in 1800 BCE.
A natural hybrid, wheat was derived from cross-pollination of grains. Over thousands of years, farmers and breeders have cross-hybridized grains to maximize the qualities they deemed most desirable. During the nineteenth century, single genetic strains were selectively produced that possessed the traits they were seeking. With a growing understanding of Mendelian inheritance, two lines were crossbred, and the progeny inbred for ten or more generations to obtain and maximize specific characteristics. The twentieth century saw the development and planting of hybrids selected on such desirable characteristics as large kernels, short straw, hardiness to cold, and resistance to insects and to fungal, bacterial, and viral diseases.
In recent decades, bacteria have been used to transfer genetic information to produce transgenic wheat. Such genetically modified crops (GMC) have been engineered to produce greater yields, require less nitrogen to grow, and offer greater nutritional value. In 2012, the whole genome of bread wheat was completed and found to have 96,000 genes. This marks an important step in continuing the production of genetically modified wheat, in which more specific desirable characteristics can be inserted in specific loci on the wheat chromosomes.
As rice is a dietary staple in Asia, so is wheat in Europe, North America, and western Asia. Wheat is the most widely consumed cereal grain in the world, and world trade in wheat is greater than all other crops combined.
SEE ALSO Agriculture (c. 10,000 BCE), Domestication of Animals (c. 10,000 BCE), Rice Cultivation (c. 7000 BCE) Green Revolution (1961).
This Chinese farmer is carrying bushels of dry wheat, as did his ancestors for thousands of years.
c. 10,000 BCE
Agriculture • Michael C. Gerald with Gloria E. Gerald
From small groups of hunter-gathers living off the land and foraging berries and other edible plants, agriculture, a type of applied biology, evolved to domestication and cultivation of crops. This active involvement originated at different times and places, and to various extents based on environmental conditions: archeological evidence suggests its origin dated from the end of the Ice Age, as early as 14,500 to 12,000 years ago. The earliest agricultural successes coexisting with the rise of great ancient civilizations appeared in major river valleys where the annual river flooding not only provided water but also a consistent source of silt, a natural fertilizer. These included the birthplace of agriculture in the Fertile Crescent
between the Tigris and Euphrates Rivers in Mesopotamia and the Nile in Egypt; Indus in India; and the Huang in China.
Explanations for the adoption of agriculture and its consequences vary: Some experts contend that it was intended to meet the increasing food needs in ever-burgeoning populations, needs that could not be satisfied by food gathering or hunting. Alternatively, agriculture may not have originated in response to food scarcity but rather that the population in a given area increased significantly only after stable sources of food had been established. Evidence supporting each has been adduced. Whereas in the Americas, villages sprang up after the development of crops, villages and towns in Europe appeared earlier than or at the same time as agricultural advances.
Agricultural success depended not only upon the whims of nature providing favorable climatic conditions but also upon the ability of early farmers to utilize irrigation, crop rotation, fertilizers, and domestication—the conscious selection of developing plants whose characteristics increased their utility. Tools intended for the simple acquisition of wild foods were replaced by those for production, such as the plow and those powered by animals. The earliest domesticated crops include rye, wheat, and figs in the Middle East; rice and millet in China; wheat and some legumes in the Indus Valley; maize, potatoes, tomatoes, pepper, squash, and beans in the Americas; and wheat and barley in Europe.
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