Biographical Dictionary of American Science: The Seventeenth Through the Nineteenth Centuries Book

An excellent book for all the science dummies like me out there...From Isaac Newton to Murray Gell-Mann, everything you always wanted (needed?) to know about physics is gathered in one highly readable volume, explained in plain words and accessible language - beautifully simple. "Physics is the science that deals with matter, energy, motion, and force [...:] the search for the fundamental laws of nature." This pretty elegant definition opens the book, which leads you through the lives, times and discoveries of the 8 most prominent physicists to date (featuring an international feline superstar - aka Schroedinger's cat). The book's conclusion hints at how much there is still left to understand. Reading through books on the evolution of species, you get used to the idea that the existence of conscious beings results from an unbelievable series of highly improbable events and the realisation of incalculably small probabilities. "Heisenberg probably slept here" will also require you to accept the idea that even the existence of atoms results from such improbable events, and that the chances of there being nothing were actually much higher than the chances of there being something at all. Sobering.