Books published by publisher The Natural History Museum

This book is an account of some of the men whose work led to one of the most profoundly important series of discoveries in the history of human achievement. These discoveries will have more effect on the future of mankind than all of the wars ever fought. Most of the men involved never thought their work particularly momentous in an historical sense. As scientists they pursued their own search for knowledge, never knowing that it would blend with other lines of research to point out an essential unity of the work of all scientists. The unity had always been there, but it had been lost in the necessary details of the work of scientists in particular fields or 'disciplines' of science. A climax in this work has been reached in the past decade with a virtual explosion of scientific work following the clarification of the structure of a molecule. Much of what had eluded scientists, especially biologists, has been found in the chemistry and physics of this now well-know molecule - DNA. Where does this story begin? Actually, it begins with the first glimmer of wonder in the first creature that could be called a man. For our story we will go back to the middle of the sixteenth century when man was emerging from a long intellectual nap. The men who led the awakening were not always popular. Those who would wake us from the comfort of sleep are not always gratefully received (taken from the prologue).