Great minds of science

Aristotle is one of the most significant figures in all of human history. Over the course of his life, he studied and wrote about every possible field of knowledge. He studied physics, zoology, botany, and chemistry before any of these fields of science even had names. Without the benefit of modern tools like the telescope or microscope, Aristotle still laid the foundation for nearly all later developments in Western science. In addition to his work...

Antoine Lavoisier is considered to be the father of modern chemistry. Using experiments and careful measurements, he created a system to help chemists understand how matter behaves. He discovered and named oxygen and hydrogen, and helped set up a system to classify these and other elements. Perhaps his most famous discovery is the role oxygen plays in combustion.

Charles Darwin published his most important book in 1859 called THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES. In this book Darwin claimed that plants and animals living today are descended from similar species that lived long ago. It caused an immediate uproar and upset some people because it appeared to go against the Bible. The genius of Charles Darwin is his discovery of a unifying theory of biology, explaining the diversity of life.

A biography of the seventeenth-century English scientist who formulated the theory of gravity.

How can we organize and name all of the different animals and plants in the world? Many had tried before, but Carl Linnaeus came up with a system that we still use today. This Swedish scientist from over 300 years ago is known as the father of classification. Linnaeus's system gave each plant or animal just two names. For example, the scientific term for human beings is Homo sapiens. In Latin, Homo means "man" and sapiens means "wise."

Profiles the life of Galileo Galilei, focusing on his defense of the Copernican theory and his struggles with the Catholic Church.