Anyone alive in the eighteenth century would have known that “the longitude problem” was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day—and had been for centuries. Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailor...

A provocative look at the life and times of the man who created the original weapon of mass destructionDrawing on her investigative and literary talents, Julia Keller offers a riveting account of the invention of the world's first wor...

At the height of his fame Thomas Alva Edison was hailed as “the Napoleon of invention” and blazed in the public imagination as a virtual demigod. Newspapers proclaimed his genius in glowing personal profiles and quipped th...