Product Description: In this interdisciplinary study of eighteenth-century England, Patricia Fara explores how natural philosophers constructed magnetism as a science, appropriating the skills and knowledge of experienced navigators. For people of this period, magnetic phenomena reverberated with the symbolism of occult mystery, sexual attraction, and universal sympathies; in this maritime nation, magnetic instruments such as navigational compasses heralded imperial expansion, commercial gain, and scientific progress...read more

Product Description: Dr Erasmus Darwin seemed an innocuous Midlands physician, a respectable stalwart of eighteenth-century society. But there was another side to him. Botanist, inventor, Lunar inventor and popular poet, Darwin was internationally renowned for breathtakingly long poems explaining his theories about sex and science...read more

Examines how women have struggled against unequal opportunities, and shows how they succeeded despite the obstacles attacked against them. Combining history, science and biography, this work presents female explorers, mathematicians, astronomers and chemists from all over the world.

Product Description: Memory is both a private, personal phenomenon and a collective interpretation of history by society. The concept of memory has long intrigued scientists, philosophers, and scholars alike. This fascinating volume explores some of the many ways that individuals and societies remember, forget, and commemorate events of the past...read more

Product Description: Isaac Newton has become an intellectual avatar for our modern age, the man who, as even children know, was inspired to codify nature's laws by watching an apple fall from a tree. Yet Newton devoted much of his energy to deciphering the mysteries of alchemy, theology, and ancient chronology...read more

Looks at the history of electricity that came before Benjamin Franklin's experiments with a kite.

Product Description: Recent extraordinary and far-reaching events have transformed our world. The disintegration of the Communist Bloc has reconfigured international relationships, while the ending of apartheid symbolizes human commitment to unity. AIDS ravages developing countries, and it also has reshaped scientific research and cultural attitudes towards sexuality...read more

Product Description: -- Looks at men and women whose discoveries and achievements have changed the world-- Charts, diagrams and archival photographs provide detailed historical facts

Sketches the history of computers, explains the differences between analog and digital computers, and looks at their applications in medicine, business, science, and police work