Science

First-hand accounts of finding out.

41 ranked

The number is the librarian’s score, out of ten, from Claude, an AI. Readers’ scores appear beside it once five people have rated. Claude has not heard the albums: their scores come from what is documented about them.

1 Elements, Book I: First Principles, Propositions 1 and 47 Euclid c. 300 BCE 9.7
2 The Laws of Motion and the Rules of Reasoning in Philosophy Isaac Newton 1687 9.7
3 On the Origin of Species: the Closing ParagraphsOn the Origin of Species: the closing paragraphs Charles Darwin 1859 9.5
4 On the Hypotheses which lie at the Bases of Geometry: the Plan and the Application to Space Bernhard Riemann 1854 9.3
5 The Sidereal Messenger: the Moons of Jupiter Galileo Galilei 1610 9.2
6 The Method: the Letter to Eratosthenes Archimedes of Syracuse 230 BCE 9.1
7 Experiments in Plant-Hybridisation: Introduction and Concluding Remarks Gregor Mendel 1866 9.1
8 The Nine Chapters on the Mathematical Art: Base and Upright (excerpt)九章算術·句股（節選） Anonymous (Han dynasty compilers) 50 9.0
9 A New Theory about Light and ColoursA Letter of Mr. Isaac Newton … containing his New Theory about Light and Colors Isaac Newton 1672 9.0
10 The Sand-Reckoner (opening and conclusion) Archimedes of Syracuse 220 BCE 8.9
11 Elements of Chemistry: The Author’s Preface Antoine Lavoisier 1789 8.9
12 The Chemical History of a Candle: Lecture I Michael Faraday 1861 8.9
13 Movable Type (Brush Talks from Dream Brook)夢溪筆談·活板 Shen Kuo c. 1088 8.8
14 Brush Talks from Dream Brook: Six Notes on Nature夢溪筆談（選） Shen Kuo c. 1088 8.8
15 The Voyage of the Beagle: The Galapagos IslandsJournal of Researches, Chapter XVII: Galapagos Archipelago (from) Charles Darwin 1845 8.8
16 On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely from the Original TypeOn the Tendency of Varieties to depart indefinitely from the Original Type Alfred Russel Wallace 1858 8.8
17 On a Piece of Chalk Thomas Henry Huxley 1868 8.7
18 Mathematical Creation Henri Poincaré 1908 8.7
19 The Mohist Canon: Eight Propositions on Shadows and Mirrors墨經·光學八條 The later Mohists c. 300 BCE 8.6
20 The Record of the Crafts: The Opening Section周禮·冬官考工記（總敘） Anonymous (Warring States) 300 BCE 8.6
21 The Mathematical Classic of Master Sun (selections)孫子算經（選） Master Sun (identity unknown) c. 400 8.6
22 Micrographia: The Preface Robert Hooke 1665 8.6
23 Preface to the Commentary on the Nine Chapters九章算術注序 Liu Hui 263 8.5
24 The Works of Heaven: Killing the Green, on Paper (excerpt)天工開物·殺青（節選） Song Yingxing 1637 8.5
25 The Works of Heaven and the Inception of Things: Author’s Preface天工開物·自序 Song Yingxing 1637 8.5
26 The Glow-worm Jean-Henri Fabre 1919 8.5
27 The Gnomon of the Zhou: Shang Gao and Chen Zi周髀算經·卷上（選） Anonymous 100 BCE 8.4
28 The Time Will Come: Seneca on Comets and Those Who Come AfterNaturales quaestiones VII, 25; 30, 5–6; 32, 4 Seneca c. 63 8.4
29 Essential Arts for the Common People: From the Preface齊民要術·序（節選） Jia Sixie c. 540 8.4
30 The Yandang Mountains (Brush Talks from Dream Brook)夢溪筆談·雁蕩山 Shen Kuo c. 1088 8.4
31 Brush Talks from Dream Brook: A Builder, a Fallen Star, Lightning and Stone Bamboo夢溪筆談（又選） Shen Kuo c. 1088 8.4
32 Molecules: a Lecture to the British AssociationMolecules James Clerk Maxwell 1873 8.4
33 Miscellaneous Remarks on the Elements of Geometry幾何原本雜議 Xu Guangqi c. 1607 8.3
34 The Electrical Kite: a Letter to Peter CollinsonThe Electrical Kite Benjamin Franklin 1752 8.3
35 The Natural History of Selborne: The Great FrostsThe Natural History of Selborne, Letters LXI–LXIII to Daines Barrington Gilbert White 1789 8.3
36 Radium and Radioactivity Marie Curie 1904 8.3
37 Zhang Heng and His Seismoscope (from the History of the Later Han)後漢書·張衡列傳（節選） Fan Ye 440 8.2
38 The Works of Heaven: Vermilion and Ink天工開物·丹青第十六 Song Yingxing 1637 8.2
39 In the Laboratory with Agassiz Samuel H. Scudder 1874 8.1
40 The Forms of Water: Snow-Stars, Ice-Flowers and a Winter on the Mer de GlaceThe Forms of Water in Clouds and Rivers, Ice and Glaciers (§§ 9–11, 32, 67) John Tyndall 1872 7.9
41 The Discovery of Radium Marie Curie 1921 7.9