有史以来最棒的50位科学（科普）作家

武夷山

    Online College（在线学院）网站列出了有史以来最棒的50位科学（科普）作家名单，如下：（https://www.onlinecollege.org/2011/05/22/the-50-best-science-writers-of-all-time/）

The 50 Best Science Writers of All Time

Being a great science writer means not only being able to convey frequently complex ideas and theories: it also involves being able to write in a way that keeps readers, even those who aren't experts in the field, engaged and wanting to learn more about the subject. It's a delicate balance to attain, but there have been many throughout the years who've managed to do it, though some with more grace than others. We've compiled a list of some of these science writing greats that any student should check out.

天文学、宇宙学和天体物理学领域

Through the work of these authors, readers can explore the farthest reaches of our universe, gain a better understanding of our own solar system and grasp the rules which govern it all.

1.  Carl Sagan（卡尔.萨根）: Perhaps best known for his Cosmos television series, Sagan was a prolific writer as well, publishing over 600 scientific papers and writing or editing over 20 different books. Sagan's work helped to showcase the wonders of the universe to millions of people around the world and his enthusiasm and intelligence make him an enduring figure in the field of astronomy today.博主：萨根太有名了，不列其著作了。

2.  Stephen Hawking（斯蒂芬.霍金）: His book A Brief History of Time（时间简史，湖南科学技术出版社，2006） was a landmark in popular science texts, showcasing theories of cosmology in a way that even the everyday person could understand– and staying on the best seller list for almost a year. His genius, writings and persona have made him an academic celebrity, but one acclaimed with just cause.

3.  Philip Plait（菲利普·普莱）: Plait's books Bad Astronomy and Death from the Skies are popular and widely-read texts, but he is also noted for his role in blogging as well, producing the award-winning site Bad Astronomy（日常生活中的蹩脚天文学，上海科技教育出版社，2011.博主没读过此君的书。） through Discover magazine's main site.

4.  George Gamow（乔治.伽莫夫）: Russian theoretical physicist George Gamow spent a great deal of his career studying the Big Bang, the decay of atoms and star formation. He shared his passion for science through his writings and was highly successful, winning a Kalinga Prize for helping to popularize science. His text One, Two, Three,Infinity （从一到无穷大，科学出版社，2002.译者暴永宁是中国科技信息研究所第一届研究生。）remains popular to this day, touching on mathematics, biology, physics and crystallography.

5.  Brian Greene（布莱恩.格林）: Physicist Brian Greene is best known for his popular science book The Elegant Universe（宇宙的琴弦，湖南科学技术出版社，2007.译者李泳是科学网博主） in which he lays out the field of string theory in an accessible manner. His other popular books, Icarus at the Edge of Time, The Fabric of the Cosmos and The Hidden Reality are also well worth a read for those interested in studying physics.

6.  Roger Penrose（罗杰.彭罗斯）: Mathematical physicist Penrose has no trouble shaking up the physics word with his ideas. He has won numerous awards for his research and continues to push forward new ideas like those in his latest work, Cycles of Time: An Extraordinary New View of the Universe.

    博主：彭罗斯有很多著作译为中文，如《皇帝新脑》，湖南科学技术出版社，2018.

物理学与数学

Check out these authors to teach yourself about the rules of matter, motion and the particles that make up the universe as we know it.

7.  Richard Feynman（理查德.费曼）: Nobel Prize-winning Physicist Richard Feynman was one of the best-known scientists in the world during his time, and is still widely known today for his work in quantum mechanics, particle physics and superfluidity. Besides being a whiz in the lab, Feynman helped to popularize the subject through his books and lectures, most notably in The Feynman Lectures on Physics.博主：如果哪位读者对费曼毫不了解，可以先读读《别闹了，费曼先生》，三联书店，1997.

8.  Michio Kaku（加来道雄）: Few have brought physics into popular culture like Michio Kaku. His books Physics of the Future（物理学的未来，重庆出版社，2012.姬扬博主对这个中文本的翻译质量有意见，见http://blog.sciencenet.cn/blog-1319915-848518.html） and Parallel Worlds , among others, have helped to make him a well-known figure and cemented his role in the history of scientific writing.

9.  Steven Weinberg（斯蒂芬.温伯格）: This Nobel Laureate in physics has written a number of books that address everything from the fundamentals of cosmology to the discovery of subatomic particles. His research has helped the field make great strides, and his work is well worth a read.博主：他也有多部著作译为中文，如《最初三分钟》，重庆大学出版社，2015.

10.Albert Einstein（爱因斯坦）: Famous the world over and possessing a name that's synonymous with genius, this physicist's theories helped to change the way scientists thought about time, space and bodies in motion. His publications on relativity are well worth a read for anyone, as he uses powerful examples to explain some of the more difficult concepts.

博主：爱因斯坦与波兰科学家英费尔德合著的科普著作《物理学的进化》有多个中译本，我推荐张卜天的译本，商务印书馆，2019.

11.Erwin Schrodinger（埃尔温·薛定谔）: Best known for his work in physics, which won him a Nobel Prize, Schrodinger's work covers topics from that field to the biological sciences. His most popular works include What Is Life?（生命是什么？海南出版社，2017） and The Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics.

12.Ian Stewart（伊恩.斯图尔特）: A great promoter of mathematics, Ian Stewart has won awards for his books that bring math and science to a popular audience. Sci-fi fans will love his Science of Discworld series and math geeks will appreciate his texts like Nature's Numbers（自然之数，上海科学技术出版社，2012）.

13.Steven Strogatz（史蒂夫·斯托加茨）: This mathematician's work has been applied to diverse fields like sociology, business and epidemioloy His writings help make even the most complex topics accessible, interesting and even emotionally compelling.博主：他有多部著作译为中文，如《X的奇幻之旅》，中信出版社，2014.

14.Douglas R. Hoftstader（道格拉斯 R. 霍夫斯塔德，或 侯世达）: In 1980, Hoftstader's book Godel, Escher, Bach: an Eternal Golden Braid （哥德尔、艾舍尔、巴赫：集异璧之大成，商务印书馆，1996）won him the Pulitzer Prize for non-fiction. The son of a Nobel Prize-winning physicist, Hoftstader grew up surrounded by science and has produced a number of groundbreaking and compelling books on the subject.

生物科学

These authors will help students and science enthusiasts alike to learn more about how biological organisms form, grow and change over time.

15.Edward O. Wilson（爱德华 O. 威尔逊）: American biologist Edward Osborne Wilson, perhaps better known as E.O. Wilson, won the Pulitzer Prize in 1991 for his book On Human Nature（论人的天性，贵州人民出版社，1987）, in which he argues that the human mind is shaped more by social and environmental factors than genetics. Wilson didn't just study the social lives of humans, however, and readers will find some great writings of his on ants and other social insects as well.

16.Sir D'Arcy Wentworth Thompson（达西.汤普森）: This pioneer in the field of mathematical biology is best known for his 1917 book On Growth and Form（生长和形态，上海科技教育出版社，2003）, an account of how both living and non-living matter grows. It was called by Peter Medawan, "the finest work of literature in all the annals of science that have been recorded in the English tongue."

17.David Quammen（大卫·奎曼）: With work in publications such as National Geographic, Harper's and The New York Times, Quammen is certainly a high-profile science and nature writer. Be sure to check out his books Monster of God: The Man-Eating Predator in the Jungles of History and the Mind and The Reluctant Mr. Darwin: An Intimate Portrait of Charles Darwin and the Making of His Theory of Evolution.

    博主：他的著作《致命接触：全球大型传染病探秘之旅（从HIV、埃博拉到SARS，寻找人类大范围感染疾病的根源》）2020年6月由中信出版社出版。

18.Paul de Kruif（保罗·德·克鲁伊夫）: While it might be outdated today, de Kruif's work Microbe Hunters（微生物猎人传，北方妇女儿童出版社，2009.博主：我没看过此君的书） was a watershed publication back in 1926. Any student interested in better understanding the field of microbiology should add it to their reading list.

19.Jonathan Weiner（乔纳森. 维纳）: This popular science writer has won everything from the Pulitzer Prize to the National Book Critics Circle Award to the Los Angeles Times Book Prize for his writing. Touching on topics like disease, evolution and aging, Weiner delves into biology in an incredibly moving way.博主：他的著作有多个中译本，如《地球的奥秘》，湖南教育出版社，2000.

进化与遗传学

Here, you'll find some of the biggest and best minds in evolutionary science and genetics who shared their thoughts and research with a wider audience.

20.Stephen Jay Gould（斯蒂芬.杰.古尔德）: If you have any interest in evolutionary science at all, you've more than likely heard this man's name. A paleontologist and professor at Harvard, Gould was also a gifted writer, crafting books and essays on evolution and natural history that remain popular today.博主:他的著作译为中文的很多,如《自达尔文以来》，三联书店，2003.

21.Richard Dawkins（理查德.道金斯）: While controversial for his unabashed attack on religion, Dawkins' writings on evolution and genetics are a must-read for any student hoping to pursue a career in these fields of science. His books The Selfish Gene（自私的基因，中信出版集团，2019） and The Extended Phenotype made big waves in the scientific community when they were released almost 30 years ago – and are still influencing thought in evolutionary biology today.

22.Matt Ridley（马特·里德利）: Ridley is the author of several works in popular science, including Genome: The Autobiography of a Species in 23 Chapters（基因组：人种自传23章，北京理工大学出版社，2003，我为中译本写的推荐语是；《基因组：人种自传23章》是帮助读者一窥人类基因组堂奥的上佳入门书。《论语》、《圣经》、哥白尼的《天体运行论》、达尔文的《物种起源》、弗洛依德的《释梦》、爱因斯坦的《相对论》……这些都是不同时期的人们不得不认真阅读和面对的书，因为它们给人类的思想带来了空前的震撼。马特•里德利说，人类基因组也是一部将思想、文化、社会、经济和伦理等领域带来强力冲击波的奥义书，令人不可不读。马特•里德利在《基因组：人种自传23章》一书中试图用23章的篇幅来解读这部“书”的奥义。他解读得是否透彻且不去说，其解读的全面性是毫无异议的。该书是帮助读者一窥人类基因组堂奥的上佳入门书。） and The Rational Optimist: How Prosperity Evolves, and takes a look at everything from our genetic code to how we reproduce.

23.James D. Watson（詹姆斯 D. 沃森）: Few discoveries have changed our world as much as the unraveling of the mysteries of our own DNA achieved at long last by scientist James D. Watson in conjunction with his partner Francis Crick. His most famous book, The Double Helix（双螺旋，科学出版社，2006） , showcases the race to discover the properties of DNA and is as close to a soap opera as readers are bound to find in scientific writing.

24.Lewis Thomas（刘易斯. 托马斯）: A physician and etymologist, Thomas' writings garnered him numerous awards throughout his career. His book The Lives of a Cell(细胞生命的礼赞，湖南科学技术出版社，2011) is a brilliantly written collection of essays on the interconnectedness of life on Earth.

25.Roger Lewin（罗杰.卢因）: Anthropologist and scientist Roger Lewin has worked with some of the best, teaming up with Richard Leakey in the 1980's to put out three books. He has worked as a freelance writer for over three decades, producing works that are both informative and accessible.(博主：我暂未查到这位人类学家著作的中译本。)

26.Richard Lewontin（理查德·勒沃汀）: A pioneer in the fields of molecular biology, evolutionary theory and population genetics, students working towards a degree in biology would be remiss not to read the books written by this influential scientist. (博主：我暂未查到这位生物学家著作的中译本。)

27.Carl Zimmer（卡尔.齐默）: A prolific writer of articles and books on science, Zimmer is one of the most popular science writers out there today. He touches on a number of topics in his books, though all biology related, from the nature of viruses to evolutionary theory.他有多部著作被译为中文，如《在水的边缘》，江苏科学技术出版社，2005.

动物学和自然论

Those who love to read about the natural world will appreciate these great science writers who focused their careers on promoting the understanding and preservation of it.

28.David Attenborough（大卫·艾登堡）: If you don't know this British broadcaster and naturalist's name, you'll surely know his voice, as he has narrated hundreds of nature programs over the course of his career. He is also a gifted writer, having penned numerous books and TV programs about birds, mammals and our planet.博主：他的著作《生命的进化》中译本2020年4月由中信出版集团出版。

29.Frans De Waal（弗兰斯·德瓦尔）: De Waal is famous for his studies of great apes, namely our closest genetic relative the bonobo ,though he has also studied the chimpanzee extensively. If you'd like to learn more about primate social life or bonobos, check out his books Bonobo: The Forgotten Ape or Primates and Philosophies: How Morality Evolved.他有多部著作译为中文，如《人类的猿性》，上海科学技术文献出版社，2007.

30.Jane Goodall（珍.古道尔）: Perhaps the world's best known primatologist, Goodall's devotion to helping humans better understand and preserve chimpanzees has made a big impact around the world. Throughout her career she has written numerous books, for both adults and children, sharing insights into chimpanzee communities and encouraging a more compassionate world.她有多部著作被译为中文，如《希望 : 拯救濒危动植物的故事》，珍·古道尔、塞恩·梅纳德、盖尔·赫德森 / 黄乘明等 译/ 上海科技教育出版社 / 2011

31.Dian Fossey（黛安·福西）: Dian Fossey's dedication to preserving African mountain gorillas eventually cost her life, but she didn't go without publishing a great book, Gorillas in the Mist that helps shed light on the behavior, culture and value to the natural world these great apes provide.博主暂未发现她的著作的中译本。

32.Konrad Lorenz（康拉德.洛伦茨）: Nobel Prize-winning zoologist Konrad Lorenz made great strides in his research and the foundation of the field of ethology. He was also a great author who wrote numerous books detailing his zoological studies in a way anyone could appreciate.他的著作《所罗门王的指环》（中国和平出版社，1998），文字极其幽默。

33.Rachel Carson（蕾切尔.卡逊）: Carson's book Silent Spring(寂静的春天，吉林人民出版社，2006) was perhaps one of the most important science books of the 20th century, changing the way we view our interactions with the environment and the harm even simple chemicals can have on complex ecosystems. Carson continued to write throughout her life, leaving behind a wealth of scientific essays and publications that are well worth a read for any student of the sciences.

人体

Through the great works of these science writers, you'll explore the mysteries of the human body and mind.

34.Peter Medawar（彼得.梅达沃）: British biologist Peter Medawar had an illustrious career, winning a Nobel Prize in 1960 and helping make world-changing discoveries in medicine. He is also regarded as one of the most brilliant science writers of all time. Known for his wit and ability to write for both professionals and the general public, Medawar's books should have a place in any library of scientific classics. 他的著作的中译本包括《一只会思想的萝卜：梅达沃自传》，上海科技教育出版社，2001.

35.Steven Pinker（斯蒂芬.平克）: Cognitive scientist Steven Pinker has helped to redefine how we understand the human mind, from its evolution to language usage. His popular books， including Words and Rules and How the Mind Works(心智探奇，浙江人民出版社，2016), are great additions to any comprehensive science library.

36.Oliver Sacks（奥利弗.萨克斯）: Physician and best-selling author Oliver Sacks is one of the most popular science writers out there today– and for good reason. His books help explain many neurological issues in a creative and engaging way that even non-medical professionals find captivating. 中信出版社从2016年7月起陆续出版奥利弗·萨克斯“探索者”系列丛书，包含了他最负盛名的6本著作：《错把妻子当帽子》 《火星上的人类学家》 《脑袋里装了2000出歌剧的人》《看见声音：走入失聪的寂静世界》《看不见风景的人》，以及讲述他童年的自传 《钨舅舅：少年萨克斯的化学爱恋》。

37.Alfred C. Kinsey(阿尔弗雷德 C. 金西): Kinsey's most famous writing, published in the two books called collectively the Kinsey Report( 金西报告——人类男性性行为，光明日报出版社，1989), helped document what goes on behind closed doors with human sexual behavior. Considered racy at the time, and probably still so by many today, the books are a must-read for anyone entering a career in biology, psychology or reproductive sciences.

多主题著作

These gifted writers focus on different topics throughout their writing, touching on fields like evolution, technology and paleontology.

38.Simon Singh（西蒙.辛格）: Author, journalist and TV producer Simon Singh focuses on bringing science and mathematics to the masses through his work. His popular science books present often complex subjects in a highly accessible manner, introducing many a layman to the fundamentals of Fermat's Theorem, cryptography and even the science (or lack thereof) behind alternative medicine.他有多部著作译为中文，包括《费马大定理》，上海译文出版社，1998.

39.Bill Bryson（比尔·布莱森）: Selling over six million books in England alone, Bryson is a writer who has helped to bring a wide range of scientific subjects alive for the general public. Often funny and always witty, his book A Short History of Nearly Everything（万物简史，接力出版社，2003） won him multiple prizes for science writing.

40.James Lovelock（詹姆斯·洛夫洛克）: Lovelock's best known work Gaia garnered him some criticism in the scientific community for being too mystical. Yet, it poses an idea, that our planet is a single, self-regulating system, that is hard to ignore in an age where pollution and disease on one side of the world can quickly impact the other.他的著作的中译本有《盖娅：地球生命的新视野》，格致出版社，2019.

41.Jared Diamond（贾雷德·戴蒙德）: Jared Diamond's Guns, Germs and Steel （枪炮、病菌与钢铁，上海译文出版社，2000）was a bestseller, detailing what factors came into play to let some societies dominate while others grew very little. His works draw on a variety of fields from geography to biology, making them interesting reads for those in any field of science.

42.Roy Chapman Andrews（安得思）: An explorer, adventurer and naturalist and a real-life Indiana Jones, Andrews led an amazingly interesting life. In the early 20th century he made some major paleontological finds in the Gobi desert, discovering the first fossilized dinosaur eggs. He details many of his adventures and his discoveries in his books, including Quest in the Desert and This Business of Exploring.暂未发现他的著作的中译本。

43.James Gleick（詹姆斯.格莱克）: Gleick's works have garnered him nominations for Pulitzer and Nation Book Award prizes and have been read around the world. Much of his writing addresses the ways science and technology influence our culture, though he has written some great biographies and monographies on other topics as well.其著作中文版《混沌学：一门新科学 》1992年由社会科学文献出版社出版。

44.Timothy Ferris（蒂莫西·费里斯）: Not to be confused with Timothy Ferriss, science writer Tim Ferris has written a number of best-selling popular books on physics and cosmology. His best works to date are The Science of Liberty and Coming of Age in the Milky Way.他的著作的中译本《望向星空深处》2020年8月刚刚由译文出版社出版。

古老的佳作

If you want to take in some classic science writers, these are all excellent choices, showing you where great science writing has its roots.

45.Charles Darwin（达尔文）: If you can move past his sometimes dry Victorian prose, the content of Darwin's greatest books, The Voyage of the Beagle and The Origin of Species（《物种起源》，我推荐译林出版社2016年的译本，苗德岁翻译） is nothing less than game-changing. While it would be simple to read about the ideas they contain in a textbook, reading through Darwin's own witty, beautifully told tales can be much more enlightening.

46.Isaac Newton（牛顿）: Few would argue that Newton was one of the greatest thinkers to ever live and his works like Principia Mathematica（自然哲学的数学原理，商务印书馆，2017） helped change the very way we and the scientific community think about our world. While some of his text may be a bit dry to modern readers, it is accessible and offers insight into the fundamentals that are center to much of our modern understanding of science.

47.Galileo Galilei（伽利略）: In times past, scientific inquiry in so much that it disagreed with the church's teachings was discouraged, to say the least. Galileo's writings stood up to this and his witty Dialogue Concerning the Two Chief World Systems（关于托勒密和哥白尼两大世界体系的对话，北京大学出版社，2018） landed him in the hot seat during the Inquisition– a beautiful testament to those who fought for truth over doctrine.

48.Nicolaus Copernicus（哥白尼）: Copernicus wrote throughout his life, but he waited until he was on his deathbed to release his best and most important work– On the Revolutions of Heavenly Spheres（《天球运行论》，有多个中译本，我推荐商务印书馆的版本，张卜天翻译）. It is by no means an easy read, but for those who love mathematics, it can be an amazing journey into how a man could have made such huge discoveries with such limited equipment.

49.Aristotle（亚里士多德）: Most know Aristotle for his writings on philosophy, but he dabbled in the sciences as well writing on physics, biology and zoology. His views were to carry well into the Medieval and Renaissance eras thought today we known many (but not all) of them to be false. No history of scientific thought is complete without a reading of Aristotle's works.他有很多著作，《形而上学》中文版2003年由中国人民大学出版社出版。

50.Primo Levi（普里莫·莱维）: A brilliant chemist, Levi came close to losing his life after spending a year in Auschwitz during WWII. His book The Periodic Table（元素周期表，人民文学出版社，2017.作家薛忆沩写道：这本《元素周期表》的作者不是俄国化学家门捷列夫，而是他去世12年之后才出生的意大利化学家列维(Primo　Levi)。这本书的意大利文版出版于门捷列夫“元素周期表”的最后版本公布之后的第104年。9年之后，这本书的英译本在美国出版并受到知识界的追捧。索尔·贝娄被这本书深深地打动，他宣称：“这是下一部必读的书。”这接下来“必读”的书使化学家列维在他的第一部作品《如果这也是人》(他关于奥斯威辛的伟大回忆)出版将近40年之后终于赢得了文学史上显赫的地位。） was named the best science book every by the Royal Institution of Great Britain.