A short history of nearly everything

P

paleontology; Age of Dinosaurs; Age of Mammals; Age of Turtles; discovery of dinosaurs; discovery of mammoths; extinction of species; fossils; hunting for bones; iguanodon, discovery of tooth; Megalonyx; opponents to impact theory of extinction; plesiosaurus; pterodactyls; rivalry of Cope and Marsh; rivalry of Owen and Mantell; search for early humans; species, lifespan of. See also fossils; dinosaurs

Paley, William

Parkinson, James

Parkinson’s disease

particle detectors or accelerators; CERN’s; Supercollider

particle physics; discovery of new particles; ekpyrotic process; gravitons; M theory; Standard Model; superstring theory; tachyons. See also neutrino; quarks

Pasteur, Louis

Patterson, Clair

Pauli, Wolfgang

Pauling, Linus

Peale, Charles Willson

Pelizzari, Umberto

Pelletier, P. J.

Penzias, Arno

Perlmutter, Saul

Perutz, Max

phosphorus

photosynthesis

physics; divided between laws for subatomic world and universe at large; general theory of relativity; microphysics; matrix mechanics; particle; quantum leap; quantum mechanics; quantum theory; special theory of relativity; wave mechanics. See also Einstein, Albert; light; Newton, Isaac; Planck, Max; specific individuals

Piazzi, Giuseppi

Picard, Jean

Piccard, Auguste and Jacques

Pillmore, C. L.

Planck, Max

Planet X

planetesimals

plants: appearance of land; Banks and the Endeavor voyage; classification; classification disputes; cloud forests; collecting; identifying new; lichens; medicinal properties; mosses; names of; rain forests

plate tectonics; current effects; Denver, mystery; extinction events; fossils and; future outcomes; Holmes, continental drift theory; ice ages,; ocean floor; opponents to theory; Pangaea; seafloor spreading; subduction; Wegener and. See also earthquakes; volcanoes

Playfair, John

Plutinos

Pluto: characteristics; discovery of; distance from Earth; moon discovered; officially ruled a planet; size

plutoniu

Point Counter Point (Huxley)

Polaris

Pope, Alexander

Popper, Karl

Potting-Shed Papers, The (Elliott)

Priestly, Joseph

Principia (Newton)

Principles of Biology (Spencer)

Principles of Geology, The (Lyell)

Principles of Physical Geology (Holmes)

Prometheans in the Lab (McGrayne)

protein; DNA and creation of; human proteome; types in a cell

proton

Proxima Centauri

Q

quantum leap

quantum mechanics

quantum theory; Exclusion Principle; spin

quarks

R

radio telescopes

radioactivity; dating of Earth’s age and; dump of wastes in the sea; Geiger counter; half-life; hazard of; as health product

radiocarbon dating,; carbon-14

radiometric dating

Raup, David

Ray, John

Reader, John

Realm of the Nebulae, The (Hubble)

Rees, Martin

Reines, Frederick

reptiles; divisions of early; survival during massive extinctions

Richter, Charles

Richter scale

Rickover, Hyman G.