Johnson, a popularizer of science in the NYT and elsewhere, has chosen 10 famous and elegant scientific discoveries and highlighted the person and the science behind them.  Despite being written for the lay person, I struggled to get my brain around some of the chemistry and physics, especially electromagnetism, optics, and the speed of light chapters.  Galileo, Harvey, Newton, Lavoisier, Galvani, Faraday, Joule, Michelson, Pavlov, and Milliken all appear.  Incredible creativity and just plain handiness of these individuals are the bedrock of science.