Leonardo Da Vinci

by Peter Lafferty

Published 30 June 1990
This series looks at the development of scientific thought and discovery through the lives and achievements of some of the worlds greatest scientists. Illustrated often with Leonardo's own drawings taken from his notebooks, this book describes his early life in Vinci, near Florence. From his early life apprenticed to a master painter and sculptor, his career is followed as he works for some of the most illustrious patrons of the Italian Renaissance, developing his talents in many areas of art and science. Although his great achievements as an artist are not neglected, the book concentrates on the scientific aspects of Leonardo's career and shows how his work began to lay the foundations of the scientific revolution of the 16th and 17th centuries.

Archimedes

by Peter Lafferty

Published 30 April 1991
This is one of a series which looks at the development of scientific thought and discovery through the lives and achievements of some of the world's great scientists. The book examines the life of the mathematician and inventor Archimedes, his inventions which could lift huge weights, the Archimedian screw and Archimedes' Principle, which explains buoyancy. It also tells the story of Archimedes taking a bath and solving the problem of how to measure the volume of a crown, which so excited him that he ran out into the street yelling "Eureka". Some historians called him the "father of experimental science" because he tested his ideas by experiment, laying the foundation for all future scientific work.

Albert Einstein

by Peter Lafferty

Published 30 September 1991
This series looks at the development of scientific thought and discovery through the lives and achievements of some of the world's greatest scientists. Focusing on the life and work of Albert Einstein, this book outlines the great contributions he made to scientific knowledge. Starting with the five-year-old Einstein's fascination with the behaviour of a pocket compass, it follows the development of his academic career, his work to establish a unified field theory which occupied the last 25 years of his working life, and his personal life as a musician, Zionist and pacifist.