Traces the march of science through the centuries.

Includes index.

In the beginning -- Needles and numbers -- Atoms and the void -- The father of medicine : Hippocrates -- 'The master of those who know' : Aristotle -- The emperor's doctor : Galen -- Science in Islam -- Out of the darkness -- Searching for the philosopher's stone -- Uncovering the human body -- Where is the centre of the universe? -- Leaning towers and telescopes : Galileo -- Round and round : Harvey -- Knowledge is power : Bacon and Descartes -- The 'new chemistry' -- What goes up-- : Newton -- Bright sparks -- The clockwork universe -- Ordering the world -- Airs and gases -- Tiny pieces of matter -- Forces, fields, and magnetism -- Digging up dinosaurs -- The history of our planet -- The greatest show on Earth -- Little boxes of life -- Coughs, sneezes, and diseases -- Engines and energy -- Tabling the elements -- Into the atom -- Radioactivity -- The game-changer : Einstein -- Moving continents --What do we inherit? -- Where did we come from? -- Wonder drugs -- Building blocks -- Reading 'the book of life' : the Human Genome Project -- The Big Bang -- Science in our digital age.