Laura Garwin - A Century of Nature. Twenty-One Discoveries that Changed Science and the World [2003][A]

Book Description
Publication Date: December 1, 2003 | ISBN-10: 0226284131 | ISBN-13: 978-0226284132 | Edition: 1
Many of the scientific breakthroughs of the twentieth century were first reported in the journal Nature. A Century of Nature brings together in one volume Nature's greatest hits--reproductions of seminal contributions that changed science and the world, accompanied by essays written by leading scientists (including four Nobel laureates) that provide historical context for each article, explain its insights in graceful, accessible prose, and celebrate the serendipity of discovery and the rewards of searching for needles in haystacks.

Editorial Review
From Booklist
The British journal Nature is an exception to hyperspecialized scientific publications; its prestige, rivaled only by its American counterpart Science, attracts scientists who want their announcements to transcend their respective fields so that, for example, physicists can know what biologists are doing. This imperative to reach beyond the cognoscenti has the happy by-product of making Nature's articles comprehensible to laypersons. Nature's eminence also attracts papers of revolutionary import, making this volume of 21 articles of wide interest. A preface to each article explains its recognition, either immediately or retrospectively, not only as a milestone in its field but also as meaningful for ordinary people. Modern medical technology is the visible result of some papers here (e.g., Paul Lauterbur's announcement of nuclear magnetic resonance imaging), and humanity-shaking developments flowed from papers such as Francis Crick and James Watson's 1953 notice of DNA's structure. This anthology's aura of discovery will absorb avid science fans. Gilbert Taylor

Reviews
"Nature's eminence attracts papers of revolutionary import, making this volume of 21 articles of wide interest. A preface to each article explains its recognition . . . not only as a milestone in its field but also as meaningful for ordinary people. . . . This anthology's aura of discovery will absorb avid science fans."
(Booklist)

"Some of the original papers almost leap off the page. . . . In other cases it is the accompanying essays, many written by those working close to the original research, that bring the papers to life. But whatever the topic--plate tectonics, extrasolar planets, T-cell immunology, the ozone hole, the generation of animal body plans, cloning--the essays also entice the reader into far greater appreciation of the work than can be obtained when it is transmitted through textbooks."(Phil Campbell Nature)

"Laura Garwin and Tim Lincoln give us a handsome little book, a celebration of 21 of the most explosive and influential papers published by Nature in the 20th century. Beginning with the unearthing of the African origins of humanity in 1925 and ending with the identification in 1995 of the first extrasolar planets that may harbor life . . . A Century of Nature is a pleasure to read."(Oren S. Harman JAMA)

“Here is a fascinating romp through many fields of twentieth-century science, as captured by twenty-one classic discoveries originally published in Nature, the leading weekly journal of science. You'll find accounts of the first laser and pulsar and quasar, the discoveries of neutrons and nuclear fission, and finds of the first African ape-men. Comparisons of the original papers themselves with comments by experts placing the paper in perspective today make entertaining reading.” (Jared Diamond, author of Guns, Germs, and Steel)

“A Century of Nature brings together in one volume a collection of the most important documents in the history of many of the sciences. Whether they cover physics or biology, geology or chemistry, astronomy or paleontology, every one of these articles records a discovery that started a new line of research or a new way of thinking. This book provides a much more solid basis for scientific literacy than the many popular books that are devoted to the latest scientific fad.”(Freeman Dyson, Institute for Advanced Study)

From the Inside Flap
Many of the scientific breakthroughs of the twentieth century were first reported in the journal Nature. A Century of Nature brings together in one volume Nature's greatest hits--reproductions of seminal contributions that changed science and the world, accompanied by essays written by leading scientists (including four Nobel laureates) that provide historical context for each article, explain its insights in graceful, accessible prose, and celebrate the serendipity of discovery and the rewards of searching for needles in haystacks.

About the Author
Laura Garwin is the research director of the Bauer Center for Genomics Research at Harvard University. She was North American editor for Nature from 1996 to 2001.
Tim Lincoln is the News and Views editor of Nature.