Timelines of Science takes you on an astonishing journey through history, showing how dedication, disasters, and eureka moments have brought us antibiotics, electricity, space exploration, and so much more! Packed with fascinating facts, amazing images, and some seriously staggering science, this science history book shows how thousands of years of human endeavour have expanded our knowledge and shaped our lives. Find out why the fruitless search for a potion of eternal life led to the birth to chemistry. See how the invention of magnifying lenses opened new windows into the cosmos and micro-cosmos. And learn how happy accidents led to the discovery of X-rays, batteries, pulsars, and even the big bang.

At head of title: DK Smithsonian. Includes index.

The ancient world. Earth's history in 24 hours ; How life began ; The story of life ; Dinosaur discoveries ; Chicxulub crater ; Extinctions ; Human evolution ; Out of Africa ; Taming the wild ; The chemistry of fire ; Archaeology ; The night sky ; The motion of stars ; Calendars ; A brief history of time ; Metals ; Ceramics ; Greek philosophy ; Eureka moment ; Measuring ; Simple machines -- The age of wonder. Exploration ; Mapping the world ; Finding the way ; Magnetism ; Magnetic world ; Islamic golden age ; From alchemy to chemistry ; Gold ; Healing sickness ; In the blood ; Discovering drugs ; Tu Youyou ; Explosive chemistry ; Deadly chemistry ; Sands of time ; The story of soap ; Sticky stuff -- The dawn of science. Around the sun ; Gravity ; Galileo ; Comets ; The clockwork universe ; Isaac Newton ; Light and optics ; Color spectrum ; Telescopes ; Songhai empire ; A closer look ; The story of cells ; The cycle of life ; Pollen grains ; Bringer of light ; Elements ; Mysterious airs ; Antoine Lavoisier ; Chemical detective work ; The story of electricity ; Electricity pioneer ; The story of batteries ; The human body ; Under the knife -- The age of steam. Powering the world ; Harnessing heat ; Keeping cool ; The story of the engine ; The horseless carriage ; Calculating Earth's age ; The rock cycle ; Layers of history ; Inside Earth ; Evolution revolution ; Charles Darwin ; Understanding disease ; Epidemics ; Eradicating smallpox ; Louis Pasteur ; Sanitation ; Saving lives with data ; The chemistry of life ; Climate change ; Earth's climate ; Forecasting the weather ; Hurricane Floyd ; Recording sound ; Photography ; Invisible light ; Theory of relativity ; Albert Einstein -- The war years. Telecommunications ; Taking flight ; Flying machine ; Radar and sonar ; Exploring the deep ; Almost forgotten hero ; The story of penicillin ; Dorothy Hodgkin ; Plate tectonics ; Continents adrift ; Volcanic eruptions ; Lava land ; The story of the atom ; Nuclear power ; Marie Curie ; Marie Curie's lab ; The Czar Bomba ; Quantum physics -- The space age. Race for space ; Rockets ; Destination moon ; Human computers ; Exploring the moon ; Voyage of discovery ; Leaving Saturn ; Exploring Mars ; Space stations ; Life beyond Earth ; Understanding the sun ; How giant stars die ; Star-birth nebula ; Big bang theory ; Life of the universe ; Understanding the cosmos ; Measuring the universe ; Hubble Deep Field -- The information age. The story of DNA ; Jumping genes ; Shirley Ann Jackson ; Atom smasher ; Food science ; The story of plastic ; Pollution ; Ecology ; Brain science ; Animal behavior ; Crime scene science ; Computers ; Data storage ; The internet ; Nanotechnology ; Robots.