Book description
Every once in a while, an idea comes along that makes the entire
world sit up and take notice. From the earliest understandings of our
place in the solar system, via Darwinism, DNA, neutrons and quarks,
right up to the theories that are pushing the boundaries of our
knowledge today, we are forever propelled forward by our most gifted
scientific minds.
In this fascinating book, former BBC Focus magazine editor
Jheni Osman explores 100 of the most forward thinking, far-reaching
and downright inspired ideas and inventions in history, each nominated
by experts from all fields of science and engineering. With selections
from established authorities such as Brian Cox, Patrick Moore, Richard
Dawkins and Marcus du Sautoy, Osman covers topics as diverse as the
Big Bang, vaccination, computing, radioactivity, human genomes, the
wheel and many more.
Each essay looks at the logic behind these great inventions,
discoveries, theories and experiments, studying the circumstances that
brought them into being and assessing the impact that they had on the
world at large. An intriguing and thought-provoking collection, 100
Ideas that Changed the World offers us a glimpse into the minds
behind history's greatest eureka moments.
As the former editor of the BBC's award-winning science and
technology magazine, Focus, Jheni Osman was nominated for the
BSME Editor of the Year 2010 and won the PTC New Editor of the Year
2008. She launched the Focus app and presented the podcast and
FocusTV. With a background in Natural Sciences, and a masters from
Imperial College London, Jheni has written for numerous publications
including Focus, Lonely Planet and Countryfile
magazines, and worked for a TV news agency in Istanbul and in TV
production at the BBC's Natural History Unit.
A former professional tennis player who toured the world and played
at Wimbledon, Jheni loves to travel and says her best experiences in
life have been climbing Mont Blanc and swimming with a whale shark.
