Thoth
distribution@thoth.pub
20240328T183719
urn:uuid:b9c04b78-a0c8-40d3-8daa-19c695a650fe
03
01
01
urn:uuid:b9c04b78-a0c8-40d3-8daa-19c695a650fe
15
9781805110200
06
10.11647/OBP.0344
00
EB
E107
10
Creative Commons License
02
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
01
01
The Last Man Who Knew Everything
Thomas Young
1
A01
Andrew
Robinson
2
A23
Martin
Rees
01
eng
00
296
03
12
BG
10
BIO000000
B2
Biography
04
Q143.Y7
20
Thomas Young
10
BIO015000
12
BJ
B2
European Studies: English and Irish Studies
20
physicist
12
BGT
10
HIS002030
20
physician
B2
Science: History of Science
20
decipher
20
Egyptologist
12
HDDG
20
Rosetta Stone
20
biography
03
00
No one has given the polymath Thomas Young (1773–1829) the all-round examination he so richly deserves—until now. Celebrated biographer Andrew Robinson portrays a man who solved mystery after mystery in the face of ridicule and rejection, and never sought fame.
As a physicist, Young challenged the theories of Isaac Newton and proved that light is a wave. As a physician, he showed how the eye focuses and proposed the three-colour theory of vision, only confirmed a century and a half later. As an Egyptologist, he made crucial contributions to deciphering the Rosetta Stone. It is hard to grasp how much Young knew.
This biography is the fascinating story of a driven yet modest hero who cared less about what others thought of him than for the joys of an unbridled pursuit of knowledge—with a new foreword by Martin Rees and a new postscript discussing polymathy in the two centuries since the time of Young. It returns this neglected genius to his proper position in the pantheon of great scientific thinkers.
04
00
Foreword ix
Martin Rees
Preface xv
Introduction xvii
1. Child Prodigy 1
2. Fellow of the Royal Society 19
3. Itinerant Medical Student 29
4. ‘Phenomenon’ Young 45
5. Physician of Vision 57
6. Royal Institution Lecturer 75
7. Let There Be Light Waves 85
8. ‘Natural Philosophy and the Mechanical Arts’ 105
9. Dr Thomas Young, M.D., F.R.C.P. 123
10. Reading the Rosetta Stone 135
11. Waves of Enlightenment 157
12. Walking Encyclopaedia 171
13. In the Public Interest 181
14. Grand Tour 193
15. Duelling with Champollion 201
16. A Universal Man 215
Postscript: Polymathy Then—and Now? 233
Bibliography 243
List of Illustrations 251
Index 253
20
00
Open Access
Open Book Publishers
01
Open Book Publishers
Cambridge, UK
04
01
20230509
13
15
9781805110194
09
Open Book Publishers
01
Publisher's website: web shop
https://www.openbookpublishers.com/books/10.11647/OBP.0344
99
01
09
Open Book Publishers
29
Publisher's website: download the title
https://books.openbookpublishers.com/10.11647/obp.0344.pdf
99
01