The story of science: from the writings of Aristotle to the Big Bang theory

Part I: THE BEGINNINGS.

The first science texts : the first written attempt to explain the physical world in physical terms

Beyond man : the first big-picture accounts of the universe

Change : the first theory of evolution

Grains of sand : the first use of mathematics to measure the universe

The void : the first treatise on nature to dispense entirely with the divine

The Earth-centered universe : the most influential science book in history

The last ancient astronomer : an alternate explanation for the universe, with better mathematics, but no more proof

Part II: THE BIRTH OF THE METHOD.

A new proposal : a challenge to Aristotle, and the earliest articulation of the scientific method

Demonstration : the refutation of one of the greatest ancient authorities through observation and experimentation

The death of Aristotle : the overthrow of ancient authority in favor of observations and proofs

Instruments and helps : improving the experimental method by distorting nature and extending the senses

Rules of reasoning : extending the experimental method across the entire universe

Part III: READING THE EARTH.

The genesis of geology : the creation of the science of the earth

The laws of the new science : two different theories are proposed as explanations for the Earth's present form

A long and steady history : uniformitarianism becomes the norm

The unanswered question : calculating the age of the Earth

The return of the grand theory : continental drift

Catastrophe, redux : bringing extraordinary events back into Earth's history

Part IV: READING LIFE : (with special reference to us).

Biology : the first systematic attempt to describe the history of life

Natural selection : the first naturalistic explanation for the origin of species

Inheritance : the laws, and mechanisms, of heredity revealed

Synthesis : bringing cell-level discoveries and the grand story of evolution together

The secret of life : biochemistry tackles the mystery of inheritance

Biology and destiny : the rise of neo-Darwinist reductionism, and the resistance to it

Part V: READING THE COSMOS : (reality).

Relativity : the limits of Newtonian physics

Damn quantum jumps : the discovery of subatomic random swerves

The triumph of the Big Bang : returning to the question of beginnings, and contemplating the end

The butterfly effect : complex systems, and the (present) limits of our understanding.