What was Isaac Newton like? Secretive, vindictive, withdrawn, obsessive, and, oh, yes, brilliant. His imagination was so large that, just “by thinking on it,” he invented calculus and figured out the scientific explanation of gravity.Yet Newton was so small-minded that he set out to destroy other scientists who dared question his findings. Here is a compelling portrait of Newton, contradictions and all, that places him against the backdrop of 17th-century England, a time of plague, the Great Fire of London, and two revolutions.

“That Krull manages, in some 100-plus text pages, to present Leonardo's scientific accomplishments while at the same time conveying a sense of the man himself…is no mean feat and bodes well for the succeeding volumes in the series.” —Kirkus Reviews for Giants of Science: Leonardo da Vinci