A radical retelling of the history of science that foregrounds the scientists erased from history

In this major retelling of the history of science from 1450 to the present day, James Poskett explodes the myth that science began in Europe.

The blinkered Western gaze focusing on individual ’genius’ - Copernicus, Newton, Darwin, Einstein - was only one part of the story. The reality was an utterly global, non-linear pattern of cross-fertilization, competition, cooperation and outright conflict. Each rupture in history carved fresh channels for global exchange.

Here, for the first time, Poskett celebrates how scientists from Africa, America, Asia and the Pacific were integral to this very human story. We meet Graman Kwasi, the African botanist who discovered a new cure for malaria; Hantaro Nagaoka, the Japanese scientist who first described the structure of the atom; and Zhao Zhongyao, the Chinese physicist who discovered antimatter.

JAMES POSKETT

James Poskett is a historian of science and technology.

He holds a PhD from the University of Cambridge and is currently Associate Professor in the History of Science and Technology at the University of Warwick.

James writes broadly about the global history of science and technology, ranging from seventeenth-century physics to twentieth-century biology. His research has taken him across the world, from astronomical observatories in India to natural history museums in Australia.

In 2013 James was shortlisted for the BBC New Generation Thinker Award and in 2012 he won the Best Newcomer Prize from the Association of British Science Writers.