The Cause of Mosquitoes' Sorrow: Over Two Millennia of Scientific Breakthroughs, Beginnings and Blunders

Description

Just how did the scientific discoveries that have changed our world come about? Surendra Verma investigates the eureka moments, the serendipities and the plain errors that have peppered science's last 2,000 years. The result is a wonderfully readable insight into the mysteries of human scientific endeavor. From the sixth century BC and Pythagoras' claims that the world was round, to the modern discovery of penicillin, Surendra Verma trawls through history in search of the more human side of science. Who discovered anaesthesia at a party? How did a sewage farm odour reducer benefit medicine? Why did the Cold War prevent the West understanding heart disease? Verma's account of philosophers, physicians, scientists and Nobel Prize winners is a highly informative and brilliantly light-hearted account of how often Lady Luck can play a part in the scientific process.

Surendra Verma is a science journalist based in Melbourne. He is the author of The Mystery of the Tunguska Fireball and Why Aren't They Here?.