Horizons: A Global History of Science

About the Book

'Superb' Sunday Times
'Revolutionary' Alice Roberts
'Hugely important' Jim Al-Khalili

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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.

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'Remarkable. Challenges almost everything we know about science in the West' Jerry Brotton, author of A History of the World in 12 Maps

'Perspective-shattering' Caroline Sanderson, The Bookseller, 'Editor's Choice'

'Horizons upends traditional accounts of the history of science' Rebecca Wragg Sykes, author of Kindred

'Poskett deftly blends the achievements of little-known figures into the wider history of science . . . brims with clarity' Chris Allnutt, Financial Times

About the Author :
James Poskett is Associate Professor in the History of Science and Technology at the University of Warwick. He completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge where he also held the Adrian Research Fellowship at Darwin College. Poskett has written for the Guardian, Nature and BBC History Magazine, among others. In 2013 he was shortlisted for the BBC New Generation Thinker Award and in 2012 he was awarded the Best Newcomer Prize by the Association of British Science Writers. Horizons is his first book for a general readership.

Review :
Superb . . . Poskett rightly highlights the shamefully overlooked contributions of Indian, Chinese and Japanese scientists A fundamental retelling of the story of science . . . Poskett deftly blends the achievements of little-known figures into the wider history of science . . . brims with clarity An honest conversation about the history of science is therefore not just of moral importance - it is part of what makes discovery possible I've been really impressed by Horizons: A Global History of Science by James Poskett. The book is exactly what it says on the cover: it's a way of looking at the world of science and the development of technology from a genuinely global perspective. The narrative starts with the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan [on the site of modern-day Mexico City] and the engineering marvels that were present there, built long before the Spanish turned up during their conquest in the early modern era. Poskett also discusses Arab science, Chinese science and the story of science in the west, which is better known. So it's a truly global and really well-written and engaging account A lively story of global collaboration in the study of nature from 1500 to the present day . . . rich and lucid European scientists for centuries served the political goals of empire building, which was based on slave trading, military power, oppression and violence . . . Poskett hopes for a future where the historic truth about how scientific progress has been made is universally accepted, where all cultures are valued, and where global scientific collaboration unleashes the creativity to solve problems such as climate change Horizons shows that the story of science has always been a planetary one: a non-linear process of cross-fertilisation, competition, cooperation and conflict . . . What makes the book so engrossing is that Poskett's grasp of historical contexts is as firm as his scientific knowledge Generation after generation, people in western countries have been educated to believe that the history of modern science began primarily in the 17th century in western Europe. In a book of breathtaking range and high quality, Poskett dismantles that narrow version of events and produces a genuinely global history This treasure trove of a book puts the case persuasively and compellingly that modern science did not develop solely in Europe. Hugely important Brilliant . . . In this revolutionary and revelatory book, James Poskett not only gives us a truly worldwide history of science, but explains how international connections have stimulated scientific advances through time