Part I: Ripping yarns. Ferdinand Verbiest, the emperor's new astronomy (1601-1688) ; Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford, farm lad, spy, aristocrat, rascal (1753-1814) ; Jean-Baptiste Chappe d'Auteroche, pursuing Venus (1677-1770)
Part II: In the shadows. Mary the Jewess, lost in her own legend (c.1st-3rd centuries CE) ; Maria Sibylla Merian, wondrous transformations (1647-1717) ; Alfred Russel Wallace, the other Darwin (1823-1913) ; Lise Meitner, escape to obscurity (1878-1968)
Part III: Forgotten firsts. Johannes Kepler, near-fatal fiction (c. 1590-1634) ; Milutin MilankoviÄ, astronomy on ice (1864-present) ; Barry Stermam, the elusive quality of stillness (late 1950s-present)
