Contains information about the lives and accomplishments of key scientists throughout five centuries of history. This volume provides biographical glimpses of scientists and their contributions in the context of the social and political background of their times. It contains diagrams to help explain some of the most significant discoveries.

What emerges are intriguing, multifaceted studies of a number of remarkable intellectuals and their scientific legacy. Written by a distinguished mathematician and accessible to readers at all levels, this book is a wonderful resource for both students and teachers and a welcome introduction to the history of science.

Preface to the English Edition.- Preface to the Second Edition.- From the Preface to the First Russian Edition.- Translators Notes.- Ars Magna (The Great Art).- Two Tales of Galileo.- Christiaan Huygens &
Pendulum Clocks.- Secrets of the Cycloid.- Blaise Pascal.- The Beginnings of Higher Geometry.- Leonhard Euler.- Joseph Louis Lagrange.- Pierre-Simon Laplace.- Prince of Mathematicians.- Felix Klein.- The Magic World of Henri Poincare.- The Enigma of Ramanujan.- On the Advantages of Coordinates and the Art of Chaining Hyperboloids.- The Complex World of Roger Penrose.- Index.