In our time, scientific discoveries are made by large teams of scientists, but not so long ago everything was different. History has forever preserved the finest hours when scientists, asking questions of nature, received answers by performing an experiment alone. George Johnson, a remarkable popularizer of science, tells how during experiments on gravity Galileo Galilei sang songs, measuring intervals of time, William Harvey bandaged his hand , observing the flow of blood through arteries and veins, and Ivan Pavlov made experimental dogs salivate when shocked.

Translation published with the permission of Alfred A, Knopf, a subsidiary of the Random House publishing group, Inc.