Beautiful Experiments: An Illustrated History of Experimental Science

by Philip Ball

Featuring two hundred color plates, this history of the craft of scientific inquiry is as exquisite as the experiments whose stories it shares.
 
This illustrated history of experimental science is more than just a celebration of the ingenuity that scientists and natural philosophers have used throughout the ages to study—and to change—the world. Here we see in intricate detail experiments that have, in some way or another, exhibited elegance and in their design, their conception, and their execution. Celebrated science writer Philip Ball invites readers to marvel at and admire the craftsmanship of scientific instruments and apparatus on display, from the earliest microscopes to the giant particle colliders of today. With Ball as our expert guide, we are encouraged to think carefully about what experiments are, what they mean, and how they are used. Ranging across millennia and geographies, Beautiful Experiments demonstrates why “experiment” remains a contested notion in science, while also exploring how we came to understand the way the world functions, what it contains, and where the pursuit of that understanding has brought us today.

Genres: Science, Nonfiction, History Of Science, History, Physics

240 pages, Hardcover

Published September 15, 2023

About the author

Philip Ball (born 1962) is an English science writer. He holds a degree in chemistry from Oxford and a doctorate in physics from Bristol University. He was an editor for the journal Nature for over 10 years. He now writes a regular column in Chemistry World. Ball's most-popular book is the 2004 Critical Mass: How One Things Leads to Another, winner of the 2005 Aventis Prize for Science Books. It examines a wide range of topics including the business cycle, random walks, phase transitions, bifurcation theory, traffic flow, Zipf's law, Small world phenomenon, catastrophe theory, the Prisoner's dilemma. The overall theme is one of applying modern mathematical models to social and economic phenomena.

Reviews

[Ed Erwin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Individual chapters can be read in any order, so just dip in and out whenever the mood strikes you.

[Geof Sage · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well I don't understand quantum physics or atomic theory any better but it was pretty and a good overview of experimental science.

[Jose A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it. My favorites:
Cavendish: The chemical composition of air and water, particularly the "tiny bit of 'air' left that he couldn't remove" that ended up being argon;
and,
Lavoisier: The chemistry of breathing, awesome drawings by Madame Lavoisier! and figuring out combustion by the human body.

[Oz · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best illustrated book I'm aware of on the topic of experimental science, and each story approachable without much context, so a great fit for my specific goal of having experimental science books lying around for my kids to chance upon.