Greatest Experiments: Discovering Oxygen

Complete video at: http://fora.tv/2008/05/01/George_Johnson-The_Ten_Most_Beautiful_Experiments

New York Times science writer George Johnson names Antoine Lavoisier's discovery of oxygen as one of the "Ten Most Beautiful Experiments" in science history.

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George Johnson, acclaimed New York Times science writer, discusses The Ten Most Beautiful Experiments, an irresistible book about the ten most fascinating experiments in the history of science, drawn from physics, chemistry, biology, and psychiatry.

Johnson takes us to those times when the world seemed filled with mysterious forces, when scientists were dazzled by light, by electricity, and by the beating of the hearts they laid bare on the dissecting table. We see Galileo singing to mark time as he measures the pull of gravity, and Newton carefully inserting a needle behind his eye to learn how light causes vibrations in the retina.

These ten elegant histories remind us of the original romance and excitement of a single soul staring into the unknown.

George Johnson writes regularly about science for The New York Times. He has also written for Scientific American, The Atlantic Monthly, Time, Slate, and Wired, and his work has been included in The Best American Science Writing. He lives in Santa Fe - Cody's Books

George Johnson writes regularly about science for The New York Times. He has also written for Scientific American, The Atlantic Monthly, Time, Slate, and Wired, and his work has been included in The Best American Science Writing.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• science
• history
• scientific
• tests
• experimenting
• experiments
• reason
• method
• hypothesis
• gas
• fire
• elements
• burning
• o2
• foratv
• fora.tv
• fora
• tv

[endofinnovation]

This store is no longer in operation.

[ForaTv]

@endofinovation:

True - we just posted a video blog about this today. It's available on our channel page.

Thanks for the comment, FORAtv

[shinkaito]

Hey there, guy-who-wants-to-make-an-issue­-out-of-anything, did you know that your comment doesn't match this video? Please take your copy-pasted comment and place it somewhere it else where it makes sense, or better yet, FOAD.

[alpin53]

Fascinating story!