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On the Shoulders of Giants is an anthology of collected works on Physics and Astronomy, edited by Stephen Hawking. Summary of the Book Every few centuries, there is a scientist who astounds people and changes the world with his or her discoveries. Under the shadow of their achievements, it is easy to underestimate the progress made earlier by others. Each generation builds upon the foundations laid their forebears. Every scientist draws inspiration and knowledge from the works that have been left behind. In fact, it is almost as if these scientists were collaborating with each other across the abyss of time. Isaac Newton is credited with saying that if he has seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants. This book exists to illustrate how true that is. It brings together the most important works in the fields of physics and astronomy. The translations used are the definitive ones, approved unanimously by the scientific family. Stephen Hawking comments on the text throughout the book, explaining each of these works is but an extension of the previous. In a brilliant congress of scientific skill and almost poetic finesse, Hawking brings together several of the most unforgettable names in physics and astronomy in this monumental work on science. This volume collects: On the Revolutions of the Heavenly Spheres by Nicolaus Copernicus, The Philosophiæ Naturalis Principia Mathematica by Sir Isaac Newton, The Principle of Relativity by Albert Einstein, Dialogues Concerning Two New Sciences by Galileo Galilei with Alfonso De Salvio Mystery of the Cosmos, Harmony of the World, and Rudolphine Tables by Johannes Kepler, and Five critical essays and a biography of each of these physicists.   About Stephen Hawking Stephen Hawking is an English theoretical physicist, cosmologist and the Director of Research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology within the University of Cambridge. He is best recognized in the scientific community for his collaborative works with Roger Penrose on gravitational singularity theorems in the framework of general relativity, and the theoretical prediction that black holes emit radiation, often called Hawking radiation. Best known for his A Brief History of Time, Black Holes and Baby Universes and Other Essays, God Created the Integers and The Grand Design, Hawking has a motor neuron disease related to Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS). He is almost completely paralysed and uses a speech generating device to communicate.