In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, scientists went beyond Aristotle's four
elements (Earth, Wind, Fire, and Water) to catalogue nature's many basic elements. New materials
and potions stimulated visions of wealth and healing; soon, new theories of atomic structure and
combustion laid the foundation for practical applications that blossomed into the Industrial Revolution.

The Science and Discovery series recreates one of history's most successful journeysfour thousand
years of scientific efforts to better understand and control the physical world. Science has often
challenged and upset conventional wisdom or accepted practices; this is a story of vested interests
and independent thinkers, experiments and theories, change and progress. Aristotle, Copernicus,
Kepler, Galileo, Newton, Darwin, Einstein, and many others are featured.