18th c.

The nature of fossils

The age of the earth

Phlogiston vs. oxygen theory

Chemical periodicity and the periodic table

Sophie Germain, pioneer in elasticity and number theory

Germain’s lifetime of contributions to mathematics ranged from elasticity theory to a new approach to Fermat’s Last Theorem––but as a woman, she had been barred from studying at the École Polytechnique...

Maria Sibylla Merian and butterfly metamorphosis

Although long portrayed as merely an illustrator, Merian’s close observation of the ecology and life cycles of insects influenced later naturalists...