Begins a series for students and educated lay readers, aspiring to provide a comprehensive survey of Western science from ancient Greece to the present, each volume focusing on a particular period. Nye (humanities and history, Oregon State U.) narrates the transformation of scientific institutions and professions, and the experiments that drove the changes from the earliest investigations of molecular chemistry and field dynamics to quantum mechanics, relativity theory, and nuclear science. She also profiles key figures. Annotation c. by Book News, Inc., Portland, Or.