The Last Man Who Knew Everything

The Last Man Who Knew Everything

by Andrew Robinson
Epub (Kobo), Epub (Adobe)
Publication Date: 25/05/2023

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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.

ISBN:
9781805110217
9781805110217
Category:
Biography: general
Format:
Epub (Kobo), Epub (Adobe)
Publication Date:
25-05-2023
Language:
English
Publisher:
Openbook Publishers
Andrew Robinson

Andrew Robinson is the author of twenty-five books in the arts and sciences, including India: A Short History, The Man Who Deciphered Linear B and The Story of Writing, all published by Thames & Hudson.

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