How to Use This Book
This book provides a wealth of information on—obviously—science discoveries, but
also on the process of doing science, and glimpses into the lives of the many fascinating
people who have advanced our scientific knowledge.
Use the book as a reference for science units and lessons focused on different aspects
of, or fields of science. Use it to introduce units on discoveries, or on the process of doing
science. Use it as a reference for science biography research. Use it as an introduction to the
process of discovery and the process of conducting scientific study. Use it for fun reading.
Each entry is divided into four sections. An introductory section defines the discovery
and lists its name, year of discovery, and discovering scientist. This is followed by a brief
justification for placing this discovery on the greatest 100 list (“Why Is This One of the 100
Greatest?”).
The body of each entry (“How Was It Discovered?”) focuses on how the discovery
was made. These sections provide a look at the process of science and will help students appreciate the difficulty of, the importance of, and the process of scientific discovery. Following this discussion, I have included a Fun Fact (an intriguing fact related to the subject of the
discovery) and a few selected references. More general references are listed at the back of
the book.
Following the 100 discovery entries, I have included three appendixes and a list of
general references. The list of the 100 discoveries by their field of science (Appendix 1), an
alphabetical list of all mentioned scientists (Appendix 2), and a list of “The Next 40” (Appendix 3). This is a list of 40 important discoveries that just missed inclusion on my 100
Greatest list and is an important source list for additional discoveries for students to research and discover for themselves.
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