The Greatest Science
This selection of science works is based on the continuing research carried out for The Greatest Literature of All Time and additional research into scientific literature acclaimed by the world's readers, writers, critics and scholars.
The Greatest Science focuses on major works of science writing, namely book-length publications. It includes both popular works aimed at educating the public on scientific topics and original research intended to be read by those training or already trained in the field.
You may also be interested in The Greatest Nonfiction or The Greatest Science Fiction.
This list is updated as new works are discovered and appreciation of older works evolves. Please note the revision date when citing the list.
Latest update: September 8, 2025
The 66 Greatest Works of Science
c.330 BCE
Physics
by Aristotle, Greece
Science
c.300 BCE
Elements
by Euclid, Greece
Science
77–79 CE
Natural History
by Pliny the Elder, Rome
Science
c.150
Almagest
by Claudius Ptolemy, Egypt
Science
1011–1021
Book of Optics
by Alhazen, India
Science
1025
The Canon of Medicine
by Avicenna, India
Science
1150
Siddhānta Shiromani
by Andreas Bhāskara II, India
Science
1543
On the Fabric of the Human Body
by Andreas Vesalius, Netherlands
Science
On the Revolutions of the Celestial Spheres
by Nicolaus Copernicus, Poland
Science
1620
New Astronomy
by Johannes Kepler, Germany
Science, with full title New Astronomy, Based upon Causes, or Celestial Physics, Treated by Means of Commentaries on the Motion of the Star Mars, originally Astronomia Nova ΑΙΤΙΟΛΟΓΗΤΟΣ seu physica coelestis, tradita commentariis de motibus stellae Martis ex observationibus G.V. Tychonis Brahe
1621
The Anatomy of Melancholy
by Robert Burton, England
Science
1632
Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems
by Galileo Galilei, Italy
Science
1665
Micrographia
by Robert Hooke, England
Science
1687
Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy
by Isaac Newton, England
Science
1704
Opticks
by Isaac Newton, England
Science, subtitled or, A Treatise of the Reflexions, Refractions, Inflexions and Colours of Light
1859
On the Origin of Species
by Charles Darwin, England
Science
1910–1913
Principia Mathematica
by Alfred North Whitehead and Bertrand Russell, England
Science
1916
Relativity: The Special and General Theory
by Albert Einstein, Germany
Science
1917
On Growth and Form
by D'Arcy Thompson, Scotland
Science
1936
The Realm of the Nebulae
by Edwin Hubble, United States
Science
1937
Thermodynamics
by Enrico Fermi, Italy
Science
1943
Under a Lucky Star
by Roy Chapmaan Andrews, United States
Science
1944
What Is Life?
by Erwin Schrödinger, Austria
Science
1947
One Two Three... Infinity
by George Gamow, United States
Science, subtitled Facts and Speculations of Science
1948
Sexual Behavior in the Human Male
by Alfred C. Kinsey, Wardell Pomeroy, and Clyde Martin, United States
Science
1949
King Solomon's Ring
by Konrad Lorenz, Austria
Science
1950
Man Meets Dog
by Konrad Lorenz, Austria
Science
1954
Ideas and Opinions
by Albert Einstein, Germany
Science
1959
The Logic of Scientific Discovery
by Karl Popper, Austria
Philosophy of Science
1962
The Silent Spring
by Rachel Carson, United States
Science
The Structure of Scientific Revolutions
by Thomas Kuhn, United States
Philosophy of science
1963
The Feynman Lectures on Physics
by Richard P. Feynman, United States
Science
Knowledge and Wonder
by Victor Weisskopf, United States
Science, subtitled The Natural World as Man Knows it
1966
On Aggression
by Konrad Lorenz, Austria
Science
1967
The Art of the Soluble
by Peter B. Medawar, England
Science
The Naked Ape
by Desmond Morris, England
Science, subtitled A Zoologist's Study of the Human Animal
The Double Helix
by James Walton, United States
Science
1971
The Insect Societies
by E.O. (Edward O.) Wilson, United States
Science
1974
The Lives of a Cell
by Lewis Thomas, United States
Science, subtitled Notes of a Biology Watcher
1976
The Selfish Gene
by Richard Dawkins, England
Science
1977
The First Three Minutes
by Steven Weinberg, United States
Science
1979
Gaia
by James Lovelock, England
Science, subtitled A New Look at Life on Earth
Gödel, Escher, Bach
by Douglas Hofstadter, United States
Nonfiction, subtitled An Eternal Golden Braid
1980
Cosmos
by Carl Sagan, United States
Science
1981
The Mismeasure of Man
by Stephen Jay Gould, United States
Science
1983
Gorillas in the Mist
by Dian Fossey, United States
Science
1985
The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat and Other Clinical Tales
by Oliver Sacks, England
Science
QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter
by Richard P. Feynman, United States
Science
1986
The Making of the Atomic Bomb
by Richard Rhodes, United States
History
1988
A Brief History of Time
by Stephen Hawking, England
Science
Coming of Age in the Milky Way
by Marc Ferro, United States
Science
1989
The Emperor's New Mind
by Roger Penrose, England
Science, subtitled Concerning Computers, Minds, and the Laws of Physics
Wonderful Life
by Stephen Jay Gould, United States
Science, subtitled The Burgess Shale and the Nature of History
1999
The Elegant Universe
by Brian Greene, United States
Science
2001
Universe in a Nutshell
by Stephen Hawking, England
Science
What Evolution Is
by Ernst Mayr, United States
Science
2003
Atkins' Molecules
by Peter Atkinson, England
Science
2006
The Music of Life
by Dernis Noble, England
Science, subtitled Biology Beyond Genes
2009
The Superorganism
by Bert Hölldobler and E.O. (Edward O.) Wilson, United States
Science, subtitled The Beauty, Elegance, and Strangeness of Insect Societies
The Gene
by Siddhartha Mukherjee, United States
Science, subtitled An Intimate Account
2010
The Emperor of All Maladies
by Siddhartha Mukherjee, United States
Science
The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks
by Rebecca Skloot, United States
Science
2011
Thinking Fast and Slow
by Daniel Kahneman, Israel
Science
2015
To Explain the World
by Steven Weinberg, United States
Science, subtitled The Discovery of Modern Science
2022
An Immense World
by Ed Yong, England
Science, subtitled How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us
2023
Sentience
by Nicholas Humphrey, England
Science, subtitled The Invention of Consciousness
