A collection of the most fascinating letters by the world's greatest scientists from Copernicus and Galileo right up to the present day Crick and Watson, Dorothy Hodgkin and Richard Doll.

The particular interest in this volume is that the letters are intensely personal. Of course, the great scientific discoveries are alluded to, but just as interesting are the emotional conflicts, battles and jealousies that went on among the scientists themselves. Even today, for example, there is intense debate in the press about the reputation of Rosalind Franklin and the structure of DNA or whether Charles Darwin did really invent evolutionary theory. Such matters are intrinsically interesting not just to scientists, but to the general public at large. This book will find a large audience.

The book covers scientists from a wide collection of disciplines – including psychology (Freud and Jung), electronics (John Logie Baird), relativity (Einstein) and medicine (Marie Curie).

The interest and authority of this book is greatly enhanced by the Introduction by Martin Rees, (Lord Rees of Ludlow), Astronomer Royal and until recently Master of Trinity College, Cambridge who, having read all the letters included here, has pronounced them 'fascinating'.