Heralds of Science

illustration of two cherubs holding a crown over the title of the book Dialogo di Galileo Galilei

In 1955 Bern Dibner, the noted science book collector and founder of the Burndy Library, published Heralds of Science as Represented by Two Hundred Epochal Books and Pamphlets Selected from the Burndy Library.  To construct the list, Dibner selected two hundred items he owned that “proclaimed new truths or hypotheses in science.” Two hundred titles, he felt, was an adequate number to represent the great achievements while not being too many to overwhelm the average layperson interested in science.  More...

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Cover of Jacobi Bernoulli profess. basil. & utriusque societ. ... Ars conjectandi, opus posthumum

Jacobi Bernoulli profess. basil. & utriusque societ. ... Ars conjectandi, opus posthumum

Bernoulli, Jakob
Impensis Thurnisiorum, Fratrum
1713

110. Jakob Bernoulli was the first in a famous family of Swiss mathematicians.
Cover of Lectiones Cutlerianae, or A collection of lectures, physical, mechanical, geographical & astronomical

Lectiones Cutlerianae, or A collection of lectures, physical, mechanical, geographical & astronomical

Hooke, Robert; Hevelius, Johannes; Royal Society (Great Britain)
Printed for John Martyn, printer to the Royal Society, at the Bell in S. Pauls Church-yard
1679

147. Experimenter, Royal Society
Cover of Marcelli Malpighii philosophi & medici Bononiensis, è Regia Societate, Anatome plantarum

Marcelli Malpighii philosophi & medici Bononiensis, è Regia Societate, Anatome plantarum v. 1

Malpighi, Marcello
Impensis Johannis Martyn, Regiae Societatis typographi, ad insigne campanae in coemeterio Divi Pauli
MDCLXXV-MDCLXXIX [1675-1679]

22. Plant Growth

Cover of Methodus inveniendi lineas curvas maximi minimive proprietate gaudentes, sive, Solutio problematis isoperimetrici latissimo sensu accepti

Methodus inveniendi lineas curvas maximi minimive proprietate gaudentes, sive, Solutio problematis isoperimetrici latissimo sensu accepti

Euler, Leonhard; Daudet, Robert; Delamonce, Ferdinand Pierre Joseph Ignace
Apud Marcum-Michaelem Bousquet & Socios
1744

111. Euler, a Swiss mathematician who spent most of his life working in St. Petersburg, Russia, was a prolific author and one of the founders of pure mathematics.
Cover of Méchanique analitique

Méchanique analitique

Lagrange, J. L.
Chez la veuve Desaint
1788

112. Born in Italy, La Grange spent most of his life in France and was the leading contributor in the fields of number theory and celestial mechanics.
Cover of Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire naturelle des animaux

Mémoires pour servir à l'histoire naturelle des animaux

Perrault, Claude; Académie des sciences (France)
De l'Imprimerie royale
MDCLXXVI [1676]

84. Herald 84 consists of three of the first works published by the Academie des Sciences, the French counterpart to the London Royal Society.
Cover of Mémoires sur l'électricité et la magnétisme

Mémoires sur l'électricité et la magnétisme

Coulomb, C. A.; Académie royale des sciences (France)
Chez Bachelier, libraire
[1789?]

58. Law of Attraction

Cover of Nova scientia

Nova scientia

Tartaglia, Niccolò
S. da Sabio
1537
Cover of On a new law of electric conduction ; On conducting power generally

On a new law of electric conduction ; On conducting power generally

Faraday, Michael; Royal Society (Great Britain)
The Royal Society
1833]

64. Electro-Magnetic Induction

Cover of On electro-chemical decomposition

On electro-chemical decomposition

Faraday, Michael; Royal Society (Great Britain)
The Royal Society
1833]

64. Electro-Magnetic Induction

Cover of On electro-chemical decomposition, continued

On electro-chemical decomposition, continued

Faraday, Michael; Royal Society (Great Britain)
The Royal Society
1834]

64. Electro-Magnetic Induction

Cover of On induction

On induction

Faraday, Michael; Royal Society (Great Britain)
The Royal Society
1838]

64. Electro-Magnetic Induction

Cover of On induction, continued

On induction, continued

Faraday, Michael; Royal Society (Great Britain)
The Royal Society
1838]

64. Electro-Magnetic Induction

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