Draws on diaries, letters, and family interviews to discuss the lesser-known achievements and scientific insights of the Nobel Prize-winning scientist, documenting how she was compromised by the prejudices of a male-dominated society.

DNA and RNA explores Friedrich Miescher's major scientific discovery in 1944 when he isolated DNA for the first time, forever changing our understanding of the building blocks of the human body. The book looks at Miescher's path to isolating DNA and the ways that his work influenced James Watson and Francis Crick, who discovered the double helix in 1957. DNA and RNA describes the many ways that these discoveries are relevant to our lives, as well...

Gravity addresses the natural phenomenon that both philosophers and mathematicians have been curious about for centuries and the science that makes it all possible. It begins in the time of Aristotle, where the book explains why and how the evolution of thought contributed to the understanding of force, acceleration, and resistance-the early pieces to the puzzle of gravity. Once the basics have been established, the text dives headfirst into Albert...

New Frontiers in Astronomy describes critical discoveries that shape the way we look at our universe, such as the Big Bang Theory and the acceleration of the universe. These discoveries paved the way for more recent leaps in the field of astronomy, namely the existence of dark matter. These discoveries also demonstrate the way teams of scientists work simultaneously to prove theories and draw important conclusions.

The Theory of Relativity traces Albert Einstein's groundbreaking ideas, special and general relativity, from the discoveries in physics that laid their foundation to relativity's application to today's world. The book presents scientific formulas, in-depth explanations of abstract concepts, and a detailed look at how Einstein's theories influence everyday technology, like television and GPS. Along the way, the text demonstrates the importance of theoretical...

The genesis of our universe has captured the imagination of astronomers throughout history. The development of the big bang theory is a story of heated debates, a race to discovery, and persistent scientists who refused to give up. This book includes biographies of Arno Penzias, Robert Wilson, Ralph Alpher, and more. The book presents proven scientific facts about our universe alongside questions that today's astrophysicists work tirelessly to answer....

Over time, Benjamin Franklin's kite and key experiment has taken on mythic proportions. Franklin's experiment established the relationship between lightning and electricity, but it would take the research of Alessandro Volta to discover how humans can generate electrical currents without relying on weather systems. Electricity establishes the history of a scientific discovery that fundamentally changed the way people live their lives. Tracing the...

The discovery of electricity fundamentally changed day-to-day life. Yet after electricity's discovery, scientists worked to find the best way to harness electrical currents. Today, semiconductors are known as the key components of transistors and integrated circuits. Semiconductors shows how Michael Faraday paved the way for three men (John Bardeen, William Shockley, and Walter Brattain) to invent transistors, changing history forever. The book investigates...