100 Greatest Discoveries

Thirteen discoveries that help explain why matter and energy behave as they do: -Galileo's law of falling bodies -Isaac Newton's conclusions of universal gravity -Newton's laws of motion -The second law of thermodynamics -Experiments in electromagnetism -Albert Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity and his equation E=mc2 -Quantum theory -Calculations on the nature of light -James Chadwick's discovery of the neutron -The development of superconductivity -Murray Gell-Mann's proposal of quarks -The discovery of the strong and weak nuclear forces

Twelve landmark steps to understanding the Earth's structure: -Richard Oldham's theory of a liquid core -Inge Lehmann's conclusion that the core is solid iron -Alfred Wegener's premise of continental drift -Harry Hess's findings on seafloor spreading -Plate tectonics -Leon Teisserenc de Bort's discovery of atmospheric layers -The theory of global warming -Victor Hess's studies of cosmic rays -Bernard Brunhes's assertion of magnetic field reversal -Charles Lyell's ideas on geological change -Bertram Boltwood's formulas for radiometric dating -Milutin Milankovitch's ideas on periodic ice ages

Thirteen achievements in medicine: Andreas Vesalius's anatomical charts -William Harvey's breakthrough on blood circulation -Karl Landsteiner's identification of blood groups -The development of anesthesia -Wilhelm Roentgen's discovery of X-rays -Louis Pasteur's establishment of bacteriology -Frederick Hopkins's recognition of the importance of vitamins -The discovery and isolation of penicillin -The development of sulfa drugs -Edward Jenner's invention of vaccine -The discoveries of insulin, oncogenes, and the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)

Thirteen crucial benchmarks in the history of what may be the oldest science: -Ancient awareness that the planets move -Copernican cosmology -Johannes Kepler's laws of planetary motion -Galileo's discovery of Jupiter's moons -Edmund Halley's comet prediction -William and Carolyn Herschel's galactic mapping -Einstein's General Theory of Relativity -Edwin Hubble's proof that the universe is expanding -Karl Jansky's discovery of galactic radio waves -Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson's detection of the cosmic microwave background -Observations of gamma ray bursts -The discovery of extrasolar planets -The "big rip" theory

Ten milestones that have helped to tell life's story: -Walter Alvarez's asteroid theory of dinosaur extinction -The first identification of dinosaur fossils Stanley Miller's simulation of the early atmosphere, leading to organic compound formation -Robert Ballard's discovery of hydrothermal vent ecosystems -Charles Walcott's analysis of the Burgess Shale -The Linnaean classification system -Darwin's theory of natural selection -Donald Johanson's "Lucy" -Mary Leakey's Laetoli footprints -And Michel Brunet's Toumai skull

Thirteen building blocks in a science that may be the foundation of the modern world: -Joseph Priestly and Antoine Lavoisier's discovery of oxygen -John Dalton's atomic theory -Avogadro's Law -Friedrich Woehler's synthesis of urea -Friedrich Kekule's studies of molecular structure -Dmitry Mendeleyev's Periodic Table -Humphry Davy's electrolysis -J. J. Thomson's discovery of the electron -Niels Bohr's model of atomic structure -Gustav Kirchhoff and Robert Bunson's electromagnetic spectroscopy -Marie Curie's isolation of radioactive materials -John Wesley Hyatt and Leo Baekeland's invention of plastics -The discovery of fullerenes

Thirteen breakthroughs in the science of living things: -Anton van Leeuwenhoek's discovery of micro-organisms -Robert Brown's identification of cell nuclei -Carl Woese's Archaea classification -Walther Flemming and Eduard Strasburger's discovery of mitosis -August Weismann's conclusions on meiosis -Awareness of cell differentiation and stem cells -Pinpointing of mitochondria -Hans Krebs' citric acid cycle -The discoveries of neurotransmitters, hormones and photosynthesis -Arthur George Tansley's ideas on ecosystems -The centuries-long process of studying biodiversity

Thirteen vital contributions to a field tht is now a cornerstone of the life sciences: -Gregor Mendel's rules of heredity -Thomas Hunt Morgan's detection of chromosomal gene location -George Beadle and Edward Tatum's "one gene, one enzyme" concept -Barbara McClintock's discovery of transposons -The acceptance of DNA as the basis of genetic information -James Watson and Francis Crick's double helix -Marshall Nirenberg's genetic code -The discoveries of RNA, restriction enzymes, RNA splicing, and RNA interference -Alec Jeffreys' DNA identification technique -The Human Genome Project.

Ten revelations widely considered to be the most influential in science: -Isaac Newton's laws of motion -Robert Hooke's discovery of cells, coupled with Anton van Leeuwenhoek's discovery of protozoa -Alexander Fleming's detection and isolation of penicillin -Ignaz Semmelweiss's germ theory -Gregor Mendel's laws of heredity -Nicolaus Copernicus's conception of a heliocentric solar system -Dmitri Mendeleev's Periodic Table -Einstein's equation E=mc2, followed by his General Theory of Relativity -Charles Darwin's theory of natural selection