Meet the MOMENTS IN SCIENCE Family
It started with one book about a candle.
Collaboration with Amazing Illustrator
Burn: Michael Faraday's Candle
Burn: Michael Faraday's Candle
Solid wax is somehow changed into light and heat. But how? Travel back in time to December 28, 1848 in London, England to one of the most famous juvenile science Christmas lectures at the Royal Institution. British scientist Michael Faraday (1791-1867) encouraged kids to carefully observe a candle and to try to figure out how it burned. Known as one of the best science experimenters ever, Faraday’s passion was always to answer the basic questions of science: “What is the cause? Why does it occur?”
CLANG: Ernst Chladni's Sound Experiments
NSTA Outstanding Science Trade Book
What if your science experiments were so interesting that even an Emperor wanted to know more? In 1806, scientist Ernst Chladni (KLOD-nee) left Germany for a three-year road trip, entertaining Europeans with his science. In February, 1809, Chladni’s friends took him to the Tuliere Palace. This elementary science picture book dramatizes the exciting meeting between a German scientist and French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte.
POLLEN: Darwin's 13-Year Prediction
On January 25, 1862, naturalist Charles Darwin received a box of orchids. One flower, the Madagascar star orchid, fascinated him. It had an 11.5” nectary, the place where flowers make nectar, the sweet liquid that insects and birds eat. How, he wondered, did insects pollinate the orchid? It took 130 years to find the answer.
ECLIPSE: How the 1919 Solar Eclipse Proved Einstein's Theory of General Relativity
How do you prove an impossible idea?
With courage, perseverance, and a lot of luck!
In 1915, British astronomer Arthur Stanley Eddington was fascinated with Einstein’s new theory of general relativity. The theory talks about how forces push and pull objects in space. Einstein said that the sun’s gravity could pull and bend light. It seemed like a crazy idea. Could his theory be proven?
To test this, astronomers decided to photograph a solar eclipse.
EROSION: How Hugh Bennett Saved America's Soil and Ended the Dust Bowl
To do that, he needed the government’s help. But how do you convince politicians that the soil needs help? Hugh Bennett knew what to do. He waited for the wind.
A.I. How Patterns Helps Artificial Intelligence Defeat World Champion Lee Sedol
FEVER: How Tu YouYou used Traditional Chinese Medicine to Find a Cure for Malaria
People were dying! Malaria is a deadly mosquito-borne disease that causes fevers, chills and often death. In 1969, the People’s Republic of China created a task force to find a cure.
Working in the 1970s, Chinese scientist Tu Youyou reviewed the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) scrolls for ideas on where to start her research. She found 640 traditional treatments, and methodically started extracting compounds and testing them against malaria. Would any of them work?
AQUARIUM: How Jeannette Power Invented Aquariums to Observe Marine Life
In 1818, Jeannette Power, a young French woman moved to Sicily and fell in love with the Mediterranean Sea and the Argonauta Argo octopus, the weirdest octopus on Earth.
At the time, though, the only way to study a marine animal was if it was dead on land. That wasn’t good enough. Jeannette wanted to study this creature alive. She had many questions: did it create its own shell, how did it reproduce, what did it eat, and did it know she was watching? She knew that careful observation was the only way to answer her questions.
MAGNET: How William Gilbert Discovered that Earth is a Great Magnet
The compass needle always pointed north.
This simple observation sent William Gilbert deep into research about magnets. William's insatiable curiosity led him to collect lodestones from all over the world, conducting fascinating experiments that debunked myths and revealed astonishing facts about magnets.
CLIMATE: How Wladimir Koppen Studied the Weather and Drew the First Climate Maps
Before kids can understand climate change—first, they need to understand climate.
As a teenager, Wladimir Köppen became interested how the landscape changed as he traveled south from St. Petersburg on the Baltic Sea in northern Russia to Crimea on the Black Sea. Explaining that changing landscape became his life’s work.
NIGHT: How Copernicus Made the Sun Stand Still and the Earth Move
On a March night in 1497, a young Nicholas Copernicus watched the moon glide across the sky and hide a distant star. When the star reappeared too soon, he knew something was wrong with the accepted science of his time. That single observation launched a lifetime of questions—and changed how we understand our place in the universe.
COMING IN 2027 - Wahoo!
Book 12 in the Moments in Science Series
COOL: How Erasto Mpemba Discovered a Scientific Law with Ice Cream
A persistent student discovers that hot water freezes before cold water. Scientists still can't explain this strange phenomenon.
Click any book cover to learn more about the Moments in Science series.
Thanks to Peter Willis for his amazing art on this series!
