Science Firsts: From the creation of science to the science of creation by Robert Adler, Wiley, 拢18.50, ISBN 0471401749 Reviewed by Roy Herbert
WE鈥橵E been at a parade like this before, and several times. It鈥檚 a collection of short biographies of individuals whose work made possible the sudden leaps forward that seem to occur in scientific progress, and how they did it. Among the ranks are many familiar faces 鈥� Bacon, Copernicus, Newton, Darwin, Maxwell, Marconi, Claude Shannon鈥�
Er, who?
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That question illustrates one merit of Robert Adler鈥檚 book. He has included people who never had that glamorous glow of fame. (Einstein, aware that his face and mop of grey hair had been turned into a universal symbol for a scientist, once wryly claimed that he was an artist鈥檚 model by profession.) Shannon鈥檚 appearance and name are little known, but his ideas are fundamental to today鈥檚 explosion of communications technology.
There are others mentioned here who are as important in the story of science but just as obscure to the general public. Adler does them justice, cramming a surprising amount of information into a slim space. He also extends the usual gallery of portraits at both ends by beginning with Thales and Anaximander and ending with Ian Wilmut and Keith Campbell, famous for cloning Dolly the sheep.
Of course, his choice of characters is a personal one and it might not chime with yours. I found myself asking, why, for instance, is there nothing about John Cockroft and Earnest Walton, who certainly scored a momentous first with their particle accelerator?