1960, Laser
Hecht, J., Understanding Lasers, Piscataway, NJ: IEEE Press, 2008.
1961, Cracking the Genetic Code for Protein Biosynthesis
Alberts, B., et al., Molecular Biology of the Cell. New York: Garland Science, 2007.
1961, First Humans in Space
In honor of Yuri Gagarin’s status as the first person to travel into space, every April 12 since 2001 has been celebrated as “Yuri’s Night” at space-related parties and events around the world. Find out more about the next Yuri’s Night at yurisnight.net.
1961, Green Revolution
Jain, H., The Green Revolution, Houston, TX: Studium, 2010.
1961, Standard Model
S. Glashow’s discovery of a way to combine the electromagnetic and weak interactions (the latter of which is also referred to as weak nuclear force) provided one of the earlier steps toward the Standard Model. Other key individuals include S. Weinberg and A. Salam.
While on the subject of subatomic particles, note that in 1935, Hideki Yukawa predicted the existence of the meson (later called the pion) as a carrier of the strong nuclear force that binds atomic nuclei. Gluons are involved in interactions among quarks, and are indirectly involved with the binding of protons and neutrons.
Battersby, S., in Tallack, P., ed., The Science Book, London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2001.
1963, Chaos and the Butterfly Effect
Gleick, J., Chaos, NY: Penguin, 1988.
Lorenz, E., J. Atmos. Sci. 20:130;1963.
1963, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy
Mathematician J. Nash is famous for claiming that he was able to overcome his schizophrenia to a large degree by a reasoning process in which he was able to persuade himself of the improbability of the conclusions he was making. By adjusting his thinking about his delusions and the voices he heard, he was able to diminish their hold over him.
1964, Brain Lateralization
Schwartz, J. M., et al., The Mind and the Brain: Neuroplasticity and the Power of Mental Force. New York: Regan Books, 2003.
1964, Quarks
Jones, J., Wilson, W., An Incomplete Education, NY: Ballantine, 1995.
1965, Cosmic Microwave Background
In 1965, R. Dicke, P. J. E. Peebles, P. G. Roll, and D. T. Wilkinson interpreted the results of A. Penzias and R. Wilson and declared the background radiation as a signature of the big bang. The WMAP satellite, launched in 2001, provided additional detail on these fluctuations. The HIGH-altitude BOOMERANG balloon, flown over Antarctica in 1997, 1998, and 2003, also provided observations of the CMB.
Bryson, B., A Short History of Everything, NY: Broadway, 2003.
1966, Dynamic RAM
Wang, D., http://tinyurl.com/kjp5th7.
1967, Endosymbiont Theory
Kozo-Polyansky, B. M., et al., Symbiogenesis: A New Principle of Evolution. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2010.
1967, Heart Transplant
Fitzpatrick, L., tinyurl.com/ylrlnmp.
1967, Saturn V Rocket
Tate, K., http://tinyurl.com/afo3foz.
1969, ARPANET
Stewart, W., http://tinyurl.com/dd4mzc.
1969, First on the Moon
Apollo Lunar Surface Journal: tinyurl.com/2bmqcq.
1972, Genetic Engineering
Voosen, P., http://tinyurl.com/l7a4edl.
1975, Feigenbaum Constant
Feigenbaum, M., “Computer Generated Physics,” in 20th Century Physics, Brown, L. et al., eds., NY: AIP Press, 1995.
May, R., Nature 261:459;1976.
1975, Fractals
Many visually interesting fractals are generated using iterative methods that were first introduced by mathematicians G. Julia and P. Fatou from 1918 to 1920.
Mandelbrot, B., The Fractal Geometry of Nature, W. H. Freeman, NY, 1982.
1977, Public-Key Cryptography
Diffie, W., Hellman, M., IEEE Trans. Info. Theory 22:644;1976.
Hellman, M., Sci. Am. 241:146;1979.
Lerner, K., Lerner, B., eds., Encyclopedia of Espionage Intelligence and Security, Farmington Hills, MI, Gale Group, 2004.
Rivest, R., Shamir, A., Adleman, L., Commun. ACM 21:120;1978.
1978, Theory of Mind
Tomasello, M., The Cultural Origins of Human Cognition. Cambridge, Harvard University Press, 1999.
1979, Gravitational Lensing
Wikipedia’s “Gravitational lens” page at tinyurl.com/ola3h contains visualizations and animations that further explain the concept.
1980, Cosmic Inflation
Other contributors to inflation theory are P. Steinhardt and A. Albrecht. Inflationary theory suggests why magnetic monopoles have not been discovered. Monopoles may have formed in the Big Bang and then dispersed during the inflationary period, decreasing their density to such an extent as to make them undetectable.
Guth, A., The Inflationary Universe, NY: Perseus, 1997.
Musser, G., The Complete Idiot’s Guide to String Theory, NY: Alpha, 2008.
1981, Quantum Computers
Other important names associated with quantum computing include C. Bennett, G. Brassard, and P. Shor.
Clegg, B., The God Effect, NY: St. Martins, 2006.
Kaku, M., Visions, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Kurzweil, R., The Singularity is Near, NY: Viking, 2005.
Nielsen M., Chuang, I., Quantum Computation and Quantum Information, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2000.
1982, Artificial Heart
Long, T., http://tinyurl.com/kjqjd3m.
1984, Telomerase
Telomerase is a reverse transcriptase that creates single-stranded DNA from single-stranded RNA as a template. J. Szostak was also involved in the discovery of telomerase. Shortened telomeres have been associated with Alzheimer’s disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, childhood trauma, and prolonged depression.
Greider, C., Blackburn, E., Scien. Amer. 274:92; 1996.
1984, Theory of Everything
Note that in modern quantum theories, forces result from the exchange of particles. For example, an exchange of photons between two electrons generates the electromagnetic force. At the Big Bang, it was thought that all four forces were really just one force, and only as the universe cooled did the four forces become distinct.
Greene, B., The Elegant Universe, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, 2003.
Kaku, M., Visions, NY: Oxford University Press, 1999.
Lederman, L., Teresi, D., The God Particle (Boston, MA: Mariner, 2006).
1987, Mitochondrial Eve
Sykes, B., The Seven Daughters of Eve: The Science That Reveals Our Genetic Ancestry. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2002.
1990, Domains of Life
Margulis, L., et al., Kingdoms and Domains: An iIllustrated Guide to the Phyla of Life on Earth. New York: Academic Press, 2009.
1990, World Wide Web
Hafner, K., Where Wizards Stay Up Late, New York: Simon & Schuster, 1998.
1994, Global Positioning System (GPS)
Lagunilla, J., Samper, J., Perez, R., GPS and Galileo, New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008.
1998, Dark Energy
Overbye, D., http://tinyurl.com/y99ls7r.
Tyson, N., The Best American Science Writing 2004, D. Sobel, ed., NY: Ecco, 2004.
Tyson, N., Goldsmith, D., Origins, NY: W.W. Norton and Company, 2005.
1998, International Space Station
An animation showing the assembly sequence for the ISS between 1998 and 2011 can be found at tinyurl.com/d4plha.
2003, Human Genome Project
Donovan, A., Green, R., The Human Genome Project in College Curriculum, Lebanon, NH: Dartmouth, 2008.
2004, Spirit and Opportunity on Mars
Jim Bell’s coffee table book Postcards from Mars (New York: Dutton, 2006) and his stereo-viewer book Mars 3-D (New York: Sterling, 2008) showcase the stories and photographic highlights from the Spirit and Opportunity rover missions.
2008, Human Cloning
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In reproductive cloning, the clone is not truly identical since the somatic (body) cell may contain mutations in the DNA, as well as specific methylation patterns. Also, the mitochondrial DNA comes from the donor egg. Note also that the environments in the uterus and in the egg play a role in the development of an embryo and shape some of its characteristics. In plants, clones can be made simply by cuttings of plants. Some variety of grapes used today for making wine are clones of grapes that first appeared 2,000 years ago. For research purposes, cloning can be used to create animals with the same genetic blueprint and thus eliminate many variables during experiments. Areas for possible use include the treatment of Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and other degenerative diseases.
Researchers have made iPS cells from blood and skin and then induced these iPS cells into becoming heart muscles and brain and spinal-cord neurons. Such cells might be used to replace damaged heart tissue. Perhaps by cloning healthy heart cells and injecting them into damaged regions of the heart, certain kinds of heart disease can be ameliorated.
After SCNT, the nucleus-egg combination is stimulated with electricity to trigger cell division.
Bailey, R., foreword to Gralla, J., Gralla, P., Complete Idiot’s Guide to Understanding Cloning, NY: Alpha, 2004.
2009, Large Hadron Collider
The LHC is a synchrotron accelerator.
Bryson, B., https://tinyurl.com/yasm4y2x..
2016, Gravitational Waves
A great collection of free Scientific American articles about the discovery of gravitational waves can be found online at: tinyurl.com/yb2xwrvs.
2017, Proof of the Kepler Conjecture
Donev, A. et al. Science, 303;990;2004.
Hales, T. Ann. Math. 162:1065;2005.
Spizo, G. Kepler’s Conjecture, John Wiley & Sons, 2003.
About the Contributors
Jim Bell, PhD, author of The Space Book, is a professor at Arizona State University’s School of Earth and Space Exploration in Tempe, Arizona, and an adjunct professor in the Department of Astronomy at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. As President of The Planetary Society, he is an active and prolific public commentator on science and space exploration, earning the 2011 Carl Sagan Medal from the American Astronomical Society. Bell has appeared on numerous radio and television shows, including the NBC Today Show and PBS News Hour, as well as programs on the Discovery, National Geographic, and History channels. Author of six books, he has been involved in such NASA robotic exploration missions as the Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR), Mars Pathfinder, the Mars rovers Spirit, Opportunity, and Curiosity, and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. The main belt asteroid 8146 Jimbell is named in his honor.
Marshall Brain, author of The Engineering Book, is best known as the founder of HowStuffWorks.com, and is the bestselling author of the How Stuff Works series (Wiley). He has appeared on Oprah, Dr. Oz, Good Morning America, CNN, Modern Marvels, and in many other media outlets to apply his signature approach to unraveling the mysteries of life. He is also the host of the National Geographic Channel’s Factory Floor with Marshall Brain TV show. He lives in Cary, North Carolina.
Michael C. Gerald, PhD, author of The Biology Book, was Professor Emeritus of Pharmacy at the University of Connecticut and served as dean of the school. He was previously a professor of pharmacology and associate dean at the College of Pharmacy at The Ohio State University and a consultant to the World Health Organization in Geneva. A past member of the Board of Directors of the Patient Access Network Foundation, he authored more than 100 publications and six books, including The Drug Book (Sterling), The Poisonous Pen of Agatha Christie (University of Texas Press), and The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Prescription Drugs (Alpha). He resided with his wife and collaborator, Gloria, in Storrs Mansfield, CT.
Derek B. Lowe, author of The Chemistry Book, has worked for several major pharmaceutical companies on drug discovery projects against schizophrenia, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, cancer, and other diseases. After receiving his PhD in chemistry from Duke University, he was awarded a Humboldt fellowship to do postdoctoral research in Germany and has since handled at least 58 elements of the periodic table as part of his research. His columns on organic and medicinal chemistry are featured in the Royal Society of Chemistry journal Chemistry World, and he has served on the advisory board for Chemical & Engineering News. Having written daily for the popular In the Pipeline blog (blogs.sciencemag.org/pipeline) for over 16 years, Lowe is also a science blog pioneer with 14,000 Twitter followers. He lives in Massachusetts.
Clifford Pickover, author of The Math Book, The Physics Book, and The Medical Book, is a prolific author, having published more than fifty books, translated into over a dozen languages, on topics ranging from science and mathematics to religion, art, and history. He received his PhD from Yale University and has been granted more than 500 US patents. He has also been elected a Fellow for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry for “significant contributions to the general public’s understanding of science, reason, and critical inquiry through scholarship, writing, and work in the media.” His research has received considerable attention from media outlets ranging from CNN and WIRED to The New York Times, and his website, www.pickover.com, has received millions of visits. Pickover has also cultivated an extensive social media presence, exposing a large audience to innovation and creative thinking, with more than 30,000 Twitter followers and 3 million tweet-views a month. The Math Book won the Neumann Prize, awarded every two years for the best book in the history of mathematics aimed at a broad audience.
Wade E. Pickren, author of The Psychology Book, received his PhD in Psychology and the History of Science from the University of Florida. He served as the Historian of the American Psychological Association from 1998 to 2012 and also as the Editor of the APA journal, History of Psychology. Pickren has served as President of the Society for the History of Psychology and also served as President of the Society for General Psychology. Additionally, he is the Editor-in-Chief of the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of the History of Psychology and the forthcoming Cambridge Handbook of the Intellectual History of Psychology. His current writing project is a history of psychology and health for Routledge. Pickren has given talks and workshops on four continents and is author/editor of eight books. He recently retired from a position in higher education and now devotes his time to writing and gardening.
Photo Credits
Because several of the old and rare illustrations shown in this book were difficult to acquire in a clean and legible form, I have sometimes taken the liberty to apply image-processing techniques to remove dirt and scratches, enhance faded portions, and occasionally add a slight coloration to a black-and-white figure in order to highlight details or to make an image more compelling to look at. I hope that historical purists will forgive these slight artistic touches and understand that my goal was to create an attractive book that is aesthetically interesting and alluring to a wide audience. My love for the incredible depth and diversity of topics in science and history should be evident through the photographs and drawings.
© Allegheny Observatory Records, 1850-1967, UA.5.1, University Archives, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System: 91
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CERN: 505
Courtesy of Brookhaven National Laboratory: 303, 345, 347, 435, 443, 483
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ESO: 299
Flickr: Liz West: 417
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Perry Point VA Hospital, Perry Point, MD: 286
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Private collection: 37, 43, 57, 79, 83, 107, 135, 139, 147, 181, 189, 207, 210, 243, 281, 289, 319, 327, 333, 337, 341, 368, 383
Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences: 13
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