'Modest, humble, and uncommonly smart': How a Soviet mathematician quietly solved the mystery of planet formation

For a long time, scientists could not explain how our solid planet, not to mention one so hospitable to life, appeared.

Viktor Safronov spent a decade working on a problem that most astronomers had given up on, and when he finally solved it, was met with disinterest and skepticism.

In the extract below from " What's Gotten Into You ," Dan Levitt looks at the Soviet mathematician who spent 10 years solving the problem.

Dan Levitt is the author of " What's Gotten Into You: The Story of Your Body's Atoms , from the Big Bang through Last Night's Dinner" Levitt: In the Peace Corps in Kenya , Dan taught high school physics, biology, and world history in a remote village.

Levitt 's book tells the awe-inspiring story of the elements that make up the human body.