The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments

From the acclaimed_New York Times_science writer George\nJohnson, an irresistible book on the ten most fascinating\nexperiments in the history of science—moments when a curious soul\nposed a particularly eloquent question to nature and received a\ncrisp, unambiguous reply.

\n
\n

Johnson takes us to those times when the world seemed filled\nwith mysterious forces, when scientists were dazzled by light, by\nelectricity, and by the beating of the hearts they laid bare on the\ndissecting table.

\n
\n

We see Galileo singing to mark time as he measures the pull of\ngravity, and Newton carefully inserting a needle behind his eye to\nlearn how light causes vibrations in the retina. William Harvey\nties a tourniquet around his arm and watches his arteries throb\nabove and his veins bulge below, proving that blood circulates.\nLuigi Galvani sparks electrical currents in dissected frog legs,\nwondering at the twitching muscle fibers, and Ivan Pavlov makes his\nnow-famous dogs salivate at ascending chord progressions.

\n
\n

For all of them, diligence was rewarded. In an instant,\nconfusion was swept aside and something new about nature leaped\ninto view. In bringing us these stories, Johnson restores some of\nthe romance to science, reminding us of the existential excitement\nof a single soul staring down the unknown.

\n\n