Author Guide · Science History
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For centuries ships were lost because no one could tell how far east or west they were. Dava Sobel's short book about the clockmaker John Harrison, who solved the problem, became an international bestseller. Then she learned that Galileo had a daughter, a nun, whose letters to him he had kept, and translated all of them herself. Her later books follow the women astronomers of the Harvard Observatory and Marie Curie and the women who worked in her laboratory. This guide covers all eight of her books in order, and where to start.
By Lisanne Swart · 8 books · Science history · 1995–2024 · Updated October 2026
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Quick answer
Dava Sobel has published eight books under her own name between 1995 and 2024, all of them about the history of science: Longitude, Galileo's Daughter and its companion volume of letters, The Planets, A More Perfect Heaven and the play And the Sun Stood Still about Copernicus, The Glass Universe and The Elements of Marie Curie. She has also co-written several other books, listed further down.
Where to Start with Dava Sobel
If you want the famous one
→ Longitude (1995).
If you want her best
→ Galileo's Daughter (1999).
If you want women in science
→ The Glass Universe (2016).
If you want the most recent
→ The Elements of Marie Curie (2024).
All 8 Dava Sobel Books, in Order
Longitude
How John Harrison, a self-taught English clockmaker, spent decades building a clock accurate enough at sea to measure longitude, against the scepticism of the scientific establishment. A short book that became an international bestseller and a television film.
Galileo's Daughter
Galileo's life, his discoveries and his trial, seen through the 124 surviving letters of his eldest daughter, Suor Maria Celeste, a nun in a convent near Florence, which Sobel translated from the Italian.
Letters to Father
The complete letters of Galileo's daughter, in Sobel's translation, with the original Italian alongside.
The Planets
A book about the planets of the solar system, one chapter each, mixing science, mythology, astrology, music and her own lifelong love of astronomy.
A More Perfect Heaven
The story of Copernicus and how his idea of a sun-centred universe came to be published, with at its heart a play Sobel wrote about the young mathematician who persuaded him to publish.
And the Sun Stood Still
Her play about Copernicus and the young mathematician Rheticus, published on its own.
The Glass Universe
The women employed at the Harvard College Observatory from the 1880s to analyse glass photographic plates of the night sky, among them Williamina Fleming, Annie Jump Cannon, Henrietta Swan Leavitt and Cecilia Payne, and the discoveries they made.
The Elements of Marie Curie
Marie Curie's life and work, and the dozens of women scientists who worked in her laboratory, told in chapters named after chemical elements.
How Many Books Did Dava Sobel Write?
Eight books under her own name between 1995 and 2024, besides several books she co-wrote earlier in her career.
- Navigation and astronomy — Longitude, The Planets and The Glass Universe. Read the entries →
- Galileo and Copernicus — Galileo's Daughter, Letters to Father, A More Perfect Heaven and And the Sun Stood Still. Read the entries →
- Women in science — The Glass Universe (2016) and The Elements of Marie Curie (2024). Read the entries →
- Co-written — listed further down. See the full list →
In What Order to Read Dava Sobel
Her books are not a series, but Galileo's Daughter and Letters to Father belong together, as do A More Perfect Heaven and the play And the Sun Stood Still.
A reading path
1. Longitude (1995)
2. Galileo's Daughter (1999)
3. The Glass Universe (2016)
4. The Elements of Marie Curie (2024)
Everything Else Dava Sobel Wrote: The Full List
Beyond her eight books, an illustrated edition and books she co-wrote.
Open a form with the + to see every book in it.
Co-written and illustrated editions
2
2 books · 1992–1998
- 1992Is Anyone Out There?with the astronomer Frank Drake
- 1998The Illustrated Longitudewith William J. H. Andrewes
Quick facts about Dava Sobel
- Born
- June 15, 1947, the Bronx, New York
- Career
- Former science reporter for The New York Times
- Writes for
- Harvard Magazine, Discover, The New Yorker; edits the poetry column in Scientific American
- Translation
- Translated all 124 letters of Suor Maria Celeste from the Italian
- Books
- 8 under her own name, 1995–2024
How Dava Sobel Writes: Science Through People
Sobel tells the history of science through people rather than theories: a clockmaker, a nun writing to her father, the women counting stars at Harvard. The science is explained clearly, but it is the human story that drives the book.
She goes back to original sources, often herself: for Galileo's Daughter she translated Maria Celeste's letters from the Italian, and her later books draw on observatory and laboratory records to bring forgotten women back into the history of science.
Dava Sobel on The Elements of Marie Curie, on StarTalk
Listen to the episode on StarTalk →
Dava Sobel talks to Neil deGrasse Tyson and Chuck Nice about Marie Curie, radium and her book, on StarTalk.Frequently asked questions about Dava Sobel's books
How many books has Dava Sobel written?
Dava Sobel has published eight books under her own name, from Longitude (1995) to The Elements of Marie Curie (2024), and has co-written several others.
What is Longitude about?
Longitude (1995) tells how the English clockmaker John Harrison built a clock accurate enough at sea to let sailors calculate their longitude, solving one of the great scientific problems of the eighteenth century.
What is Galileo's Daughter about?
Galileo's Daughter (1999) tells Galileo's life through the surviving letters of his daughter, the nun Suor Maria Celeste, which Sobel translated from the Italian.
What is Dava Sobel's newest book?
Her most recent book is The Elements of Marie Curie (2024), about Marie Curie and the women who worked in her laboratory.
Footnotes
- Dava Sobel — Wikipedia
- Translating science history — AIP
- Time, Science, and Storytelling — FFI Practitioner
Bibliography last verified 1 October 2026.
This list was not put together by a machine.
The notes are all mine,
and the books are all hers.
Lisanne x
Written by Lisanne Swart, who has curated reading lists and author guides at lisanneswart.com since 2021.
See more on her personal bookshelf.
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