100 Most Important Science Ideas: Key Concepts from Genetics, Physics and Mathematics - Hardcover

Mark Henderson is science editor of the Times of London.

Joanne Baker has a PhD from the University of Sydney and is the editor of physical science at Science magazine.

Tony Crilly is a reader in mathematical sciences at Middlesex University. He has written and edited many articles and is the author of the acclaimed biography of English mathematician Arthur Cayley.

Introduction

Science is a perpetual source of wonder. From Archimedes' eureka moment in his bathtub, to the splitting of the atom and the mapping of the human genome, its practice has transformed humanity's knowledge and understanding of life and the universe, if not quite everything.

Its great discoveries underpin all manner of technologies that have changed how we live. Science has brought us medicines and vaccines, computers and mobile phones, cars and airplanes, and modern crops that can just about feed a global population of 6.5 billion and rising. It has allowed us to investigate when and how the universe began, and the laws of mathematics and physics that govern its ways. It has traced how life on Earth evolved, and the common genetic heritage that connects every organism known to have existed. And it continues daily to generate breathtaking new discoveries, which often pose fresh questions that nobody had previously thought to ask.

Science is so broad in its scope that it is impossible for any one person to understand it all. Even professional scientists must specialize, and develop expertise in a narrow field: most molecular biologists will know little of particle physics, or vice-versa. But what unites all aspects of science is the scientific method, a uniquely rigorous approach to thinking that makes it possible to establish reliable knowledge. Scientists collect data, which they use to formulate hypotheses, and then they test these to destruction. They try to prove their most brilliant ideas wrong -- and in doing so, they progressively grasp more about what seems to be right.

Discoveries build one on another, so that our understanding becomes ever more refined. Newton's theories of physics were improved upon by Einstein, and Einstein's insights will not be the last word. Darwin's theory of evolution and Mendel's genetics led Crick and Watson to the structure of DNA, and thence to the slow unraveling of the code of life -- a process that is still incomplete. The great mathematical challenge of Fermat's last theorem has been resolved -- but the Riemann hypothesis remains unproven. There is always another question to ask.

This book aims to introduce 100 of the most important ideas that science has put forward -- the choicest fruits of its search for evidence. The great diversity of scientific achievement, of course, means that such a list could never purport to be exhaustive: there are thousands of concepts that could make deserving claims to a place. The three authors have thus each selected one of the many branches of science to explore in some depth, with a series of clear and concise essays that explain the fundamentals you really need to know.

The fields included in this volume are important, groundbreaking, and increasingly front-of mind: genetics, physics and mathematics. Each has had a profound influence on our way of life, which continues to grow with advancing understanding. And the history of each discipline also illustrates something of the rigorous method by which science makes new discoveries.

The insights into the genetic code that have emerged in past 50 years have changed the way we understand life on Earth. DNA has shed light on history, confirming the fact of evolution and tracing how the first humans left Africa to populate the world. It has provided new forensic tools for convicting the guilty and exonerating the innocent, and it explains how our individuality is forged by nature and nurture. Genetic medicine and stem cell research are promising a revolution in healthcare. And cloning, genetic engineering and designer babies have stirred ethical controversies that were once the stuff of science fiction.

The laws of physics explain why we see our reflections when we look in the mirror, why roads freeze over on winter nights, and why the Moon orbits the Earth while the Earth orbits the Sun. An understanding of electromagnetism has allowed us to harness it to light our homes, and to send words and pictures across continents. Vast atom-smashers like the Large Hadron Collider, at the CERN laboratory near Geneva, have made it possible to study the dawn of space and time, and to map the building blocks of matter. Then there is the weird world of quantum mechanics, in which particles start to behave very strangely indeed.

Neither genetics nor physics could have advanced as far or as fast, however, without mathematics. It is the cleanest and most fundamental of the sciences, which provides all the others with critical tools for the job. Mathematical principles explain the patterns in which genes are passed from generation to generation. The laws of physics are underpinned by equations. Mathematics can also reveal great beauty, as in the theory of prime numbers and the Fibonacci sequence -- the inspiration for The Da Vinci Code.

The marvels of science offer limitless engagement and entertainment for curious minds. This book is where they should begin.