4 Products

Early civilizations created chemical transformations by mixing materials and heating them to make metal and pottery, but chemistry only emerged as a science in the 17th century when a more rigorous scientific approach began to be applied to the ancient art of alchemy. This illustrated introduction discusses the key discoveries and principal actors in the history of chemistry from the observations of Aristotle to modern chemical industries.

Physics is the science that ties together all others, aiming to explain the nature of the universe from the smallest subatomic particles to vast galaxies and the nature of space-time. Profiling the most important figures in the history of science and covering topics such as light and optics, energy and the Big Bang, this well-illustrated book traces the development of physics from the natural philosophers of the ancient world to cutting-edge experiments in quantum mechanics.

Beginning with 'What is there?', this is a book of questions and philosophers' attempts to answer them over 2,500 years, from Parmenides and Plato describing reality in Ancient Greece, to Marx, Durkheim and Rawls tackling the last question: 'How do we make a good society?' With quotations from philosophers, brief explanations of terms and colourful illustrations, Rooney's survey offers an engaging and informative introduction to philosophy.

In this very accessible and well-illustrated book, Anne Rooney traces humankind's greatest mathematical achievements, starting with innumerate cave-dwellers, then profiling the great mathematicians from Euclid to Bertrand Russell and David Hilbert, and explaining key developments such as solid geometry, calculus and statistical mathematics, up to 'the death of numbers' with set theory and fuzzy logic.