The Big Idea: How Breakthroughs of the Past Shape the Future

Editor: National Geographic
Publication Year: 2011
Publisher: National Geographic Society

Price: Core Collection Only
ISBN: 978-1-42-620810-2
Category: Science - Scientists
Book Status: Available
Table of Contents

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.

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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