Ingeniously organized and eminently browsable, this richly visual volume is divided into six big sections--medicine, transportation, communication, biology, chemistry, and the environment. This remarkable depiction of history tells the story of every Big Idea in our history, seen through the lens of where science is taking us today--and tomorrow.

Table of Contents

• FOREWORD, TIMOTHY FERRIS
• ABOUT THIS BOOK
• HOW TO USE THIS BOOK
• INFORMATION & COMMUNICATION
• Sending Signals
• Linux Operating System
• Open Source
• World Wide Web
• Tim Berners-Lee
• Windows Operating System
• Global Positioning System
• John von Neumann
• Personal Computer
• Public Key Cryptography
• Cell Phone
• C Language
• Email
• Augmented Reality
• Internet
• Moore's Law
• Compact Disc
• Computer Mouse
• Graphical User Interface
• Virtual Reality
• Laser
• Integrated Circuits
• Fiber Optics
• Claude Shannon
• Information Theory
• Holography
• Transistor
• Quantum Computing
• ENIAC
• Communication Satellites
• Alan Turing
• Turing Machine
• Television
• Quantum Mechanics
• Vacuum Tube
• Magnetic Recorder
• Radio
• Radio Waves
• Nikola Tesla
• Alternating Current
• Thomas Edison
• Large-scale Electric Supply Network
• Telephone
• Cloud Computing
• Boolean Logic
• Doppler Effect
• Telegraph
• Electromagnetic Induction
• Ohm's Law
• First Permanent Photograph
• Difference Engine
• Fourier Analysis
• Punch Card
• Electricity
• Binary Numbers / Binary Code
• Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz
• Leibniz Calculator
• Slide Rule
• Castle Clock
• Al-Jazari
• Modern Number System
• Abacus
• Artificial Intelligence
• HEALTH & MEDICINE
• Understanding Ourselves
• Anthony Atala
• Transplantation of Engineered Tissue
• Gene Therapy
• Cord-Blood Transplant
• Artificial Heart
• Eradication of Smallpox
• In Vitro Fertilization
• Magnetic Resonance Imaging
• Computed Tomography
• Regenerative Medicine
• Birth Control Pill
• Ultrasound
• Bionics
• Bone-marrow Transplant
• Polio Vaccine
• Jonas Salk
• Organ Transplant
• Kidney Dialysis
• Antibiotics
• Hospital Blood Bank
• Nuclear Medicine
• Electroencephalogram
• Penicillin
• Insulin Therapy for Diabetes
• Laparoscopic Surgery
• Chemotherapy
• Genetic Medicine
• Electrocardiogram
• Classification of Blood Types
• Viruses
• X-ray Imaging
• Koch's Postulates
• Antiseptic Surgery
• Louis Pasteur
• Germ Theory of Disease
• Epidemiology
• Hypodermic Needle
• Anesthesia
• Blood Transfusion
• Stethoscope
• Smallpox Vaccine
• Clinical Trials
• Nanomedicine
• Anton van Leeuwenhoek
• Bacteria
• Blood Cells
• Public Health Statistics and the Life Table
• Theory of Circulation
• Microscope
• Anatomy Text
• Quarantine
• Experimental Medicine
• Abu al-Zahrawi
• The Method of Medicine
• Hospitals
• Regarding Medical Materials
• Theory of Humors
• Scientific Study of Medicine
• Pandemic Control
• PHYSICS & THE COSMOS
• Exploring the Heavens
• Hubble Telescope
• Inflationary Theory of the Universe
• Standard Model of Particle Physics
• String Theory
• Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation
• Arecibo Observatory
• Laser
• Atomic Clock
• Atomic Bomb
• Nuclear Reactor
• Nuclear Fission
• Quantum Entanglement
• Cyclotron
• Big Bang Theory
• Quantum Gravity
• Uncertainty Principle
• Schrödinger Equation
• Quartz Crystal Oscillator
• General Theory of Relativity
• Noether's Theorem
• Emmy Noether
• Existence of Atoms
• Special Theory of Relativity
• Wave-particle Duality of Light
• Radioactivity
• Speed of Light
• Laws of Thermodynamics
• Quantum Information
• Maxwell's Equations
• Non-Euclidean Geometries
• Marine Chronometer
• Newton's Laws of Motion and Universal Gravitation
• Calculus
• Anchor Escapement
• Pendulum Clock
• Analytic Geometry
• Telescope
• Galileo Galilei
• Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion
• Changing Nature of the Universe
• Copernican System
• Small Nuclear Reactors
• Shen Kuo
• Water-driven Clock
• Magnetic Needle Compass
• Planisphere
• Astrolabe
• Algebra
• Principles of Leverage and Hydrostatics
• Archimedes
• Euclidean Geometry
• Theories of Motion and Causation
• First Theory of Atoms
• Zeno's Paradoxes
• Pythagorean Theorem
• Thales
• Beginning of Natural Philosophy
• Sundial
• Discovery of Earth-like Planets
• CHEMISTRY & MATERIALS
• Manipulating Matter
• Nanolithography
• Bose-Einstein Condensate
• Carbon Nanotubes
• Quantum Dots
• High-temperature Superconductor
• Buckyball
• Scanning Tunneling Microscope
• Molecular Electronics
• Nanotechnology
• Karl Ziegler
• Polyethylene
• Field-ion Electron Microscope
• Technetium-97
• Superfluid
• Nylon
• Room-temperature Superconductivity
• Electron Microscope
• Irving Langmuir
• Monolayer
• Pyrex
• Bohr Model of the Atom
• X-ray Crystallography
• Stainless Steel
• Superconductivity
• Bakelite
• Haber Process
• Liquid Crystals
• Neon Lamp
• J. J. Thomson
• Electron
• Solar Cell
• Molecular Assembler
• Liquefaction of Gases
• Physical Chemistry
• Periodic Table
• Chemical Structure
• Parkesine
• Gold Colloids
• Michael Faraday
• Synthetic Dye
• Bessemer Process
• Atomic Spectra
• Absolute Zero
• Synthesis of Organic Material
• Portland Cement
• Atomic Theory
• Electrolysis
• Green Chemistry
• Electric Cell Battery
• Oxygen
• Antoine Lavoisier
• Latent Heat
• Boyle's Law
• Robert Boyle
• The Sceptical Chymist
• Glass Lenses
• Porcelain
• Steel
• Theory of Five Elements
• Programmable Matter
• BIOLOGY & THE ENVIRONMENT
• The World Around Us
• Human Genome Project
• Mammal Cloning
• Mass Extinction
• Synthetic Insulin
• Carl Woese
• Archaea
• Genome Sequencing
• DNA Sequencing
• Sociobiology
• Genetic Engineering
• Punctuated Equilibrium
• Stephen Jay Gould
• Synthetic Biology
• Gaia Hypothesis
• Endosymbiotic Theory
• Cloning
• Molecular Clock
• Silent Spring
• Genetic Code
• RNA
• Re-creation of Early Atmosphere
• Structure of DNA
• DNA as Genetic Material
• Hans Krebs
• Krebs Cycle
• Modern Synthesis
• Functional Mapping of the Human Brain
• Ecosystem
• Continental Drift
• Epigenetics
• Chromosomes Carry Genes
• Radioactive Dating
• Ecological Succession Theory
• Virus
• Climate Change
• Meiosis
• Santiago Ramón y Cajal
• Neuron Doctrine
• Mitosis
• Mendelian Genetics
• Theory of Evolution
• Cell Theory
• Cell Nucleus
• Age of the Earth
• Lamarckian Inheritance
• Genetically Modified Organisms
• Alexander von Humboldt
• Biogeography
• Photosynthesis
• Extinction
• Uniformitarianism
• Oxygen and Carbon Dioxide
• Classification of Species
• Microbiology
• Fossils
• Cells
• Robert Hooke
• Localization of Brain Function
• Classification of Animals
• Geoengineering
• TRANSPORTATION & SPACE EXPLORATION
• Beyond the Wheel
• Private Manned Spacecraft
• Shuttle Program
• Viking Program
• Victor Wouk
• Hybrid Vehicle
• Apollo 11
• Magnetic Levitation Transportation
• Human Spaceflight
• Sputnik I
• Interstate Highway System
• Nuclear-powered Submarine
• Supersonic Flight
• Electric Car
• V2 Rocket
• Jet Engine
• Liquid-fueled Rocket
• Robert Goddard
• Assembly Line
• Helicopter
• First Motor-powered Aircraft
• Diesel Engine
• Automobile
• Induction Motor
• Otto Engine
• Alligator (Submarine)
• Glider
• George Cayley
• Pneumatic Tire
• Transatlantic Steamship
• Intelligent Traffic
• Carnot Heat Engine
• Nicolas Léonard Sadi Carnot
• Internal Combustion Engine
• Navier-Stokes Equations
• Bicycle
• Macadam
• Railway
• Steamboat
• Steam Locomotive
• Hot-air Balloon
• Bernoulli's Principle
• Daniel Bernoulli
• Newcomen Steam Engine
• Steam Engine
• Newton's Laws of Motion and Universal Gravitation
• Terraforming
• Blaise Pascal
• Public Bus
• Boyle's Law
• Cornelius Drebbel
• Submarine
• Rocket
• Crankshaft
• Flywheel
• Glider
• Abbas Ibn Firnas
• Archimedes’ Principles
• Appian Way
• Chariot
• Ship
• Wheel
• Underwater Exploration
• BIG IDEAS THROUGH TIME
• ABOUT THE AUTHORS