A short history of nearly everything

Ridley, Matt

RNA (ribonucleic acid)

Roentgen, Wilhelm

Rothschild, Lionel Walter

Royal Institution (London)

Royal Society (London)

Royal Society of Edinburgh

Rozier, Pilatre de

Rudwick, Martin J. S.

Rumford, Count von (Benjamin Thompson)

Runcorn, S. K.

Ruska, Ernst.

Russell, Bertrand

rust

Rutherford, Ernest

S

Sacks, Oliver

Sagan, Carl

Sagan, Dorion.

St. Helens, Washington

Sandage, Allan

Sandler, Howard

Sceptical Chymist, The (Boyle)

Scheele, Karl (Carl)

Schimper, Karl

Schouten, Peter

Schrodinger, Erwin

Schultz, Gwen

Schwalbe, Gustav

Schwann, Theodor

Schwartz, Jeffrey

sea cow

Seaman’s Practice, The (Norwood)

Sedgwick, Adam

Seven Daughters of Eve, The (Sykes)

sharks

Sheehan, Peter

Shipman, Pat

Shoemaker, Eugene

SHRIMP and SHRIMP II

Siegel, Lee J.

silicon

Silurian System, The (Murchison)

Simpson, George Gaylord

Sinking Ark, The (Myers)

Sirius

Sixth Extinction, The (Leakey amp; Lewis)

Sykes, Bryan

slime molds (myxomycetes)

Slipher, Vesto

smallpox

Smith, A. J. E.

Smith, Anthony

Smith, Robert B.

Smith, William

Snow, C. P.

Sobel, Dava

Soddy, Frederick

sodium; chloride (salt)

solar system; asteroids; birth of Earth’s moon; birth of the sun and planets; elliptical orbit of the planets; moons in; size of. See also specific objects in; specific planets

Somervell, Howard

space. See universe

spacetime

Spencer, Herbert

Sprigg, Reginald

Stages of Evolution, The (Brace)

stars: binary; Cepheid variable; distance between, average,; energy production of; galaxies and number of; Milky Way, number in; neutron,; red giants; “standard candles”; stellar classifications; supernovae; visible. See also Sun; specific stars

Stars Beneath the Sea (Norton)

Steller, Georg

Stephen’s Island flightless wren

Strathern, Paul

Strickland, H. E.

Suess, Eduard

Sulston, John

Sun: birth of; Earth’s atmosphere and; solar flares; solitary, uniqueness of

supernovae; CCD search; danger to Earth of; hunting; 1a type; number found; rarity; visible to naked eye

superstring theory

Surowiecki, James

Surviving Galeras (Williams)

sweating sickness

Swift, Jonathan