The principal author was Jane Werner Watson, but the science material was contributed by contemporary scientists, many of whom worked at the California Institute of Technology, including the author's husband Earnest C. Watson (1892-1970), who was Dean of the Faculty from 1945 to 1959.
Topics included geology and other Earth sciences, biology including plant genetics and embryonic development, physics including high energy particle physics and theoretical physics, chemistry with electron and X-ray diffraction analysis, modern mathematics including set theory, astronomy (both visual and radio), and aerodynamics including supersonic wind tunnels and Schlieren photography.
The book was illustrated in color, presenting charts, images from scientific instruments and photographs of scientists and engineers at work in the field and inside laboratories.
One notable topic, covered in the section on theoretical physics, was the recently discovered phenomenon of parity violation in beta decay, a subject almost unknown outside the world of physics.
One photograph, of two unnamed theoretical physicists in front of a blackboard, actually depicts Richard Feynman talking to Murray Gell-Mann.