In the early years of this century, companies such as deCODEme and 23andMe launched personal gene profiling services, heralding the era of consumer genetics. Their operations are subjects of investigation of Danish science writer Lone Frank’s new book, My Beautiful Genome. The investigation allows Frank to come to terms with a few personal demons: a family history of depression, alcoholism and breast cancer.

In 1948, a young mathematician published a paper in an obscure technical journal.

Physicist Richard Feynman once said, “If you think you understand quantum mechanics, you probably don’t.”

On a damp November day in 1660, 12 London University dons listened in rapt attention as Christopher Wren, a young astronomer, lectured about the moon.