"In a discipline so firmly rooted in empirical data, it's surprising to discover how the history of science can be so riddled by apocrypha, inaccuracies, and blatant falsehoods. In Everything's Relative, writer and physicist Tony Rothman sets the record straight once and for all, giving credit where credit is due by debunking centuries of commonly held beliefs embedded throughout science and technology's illustrious, albeit distorted, history." "Each anecdote clearly reveals how unique discoveries are the exception, rather than the rule. Discoveries almost always take place simultaneously or are built upon a predecessor's breakthrough ... usually without acknowledgment."--Jacket.