Last Man Who Knew Everything : Thomas Young, the Anonymous Polymath Who Proved Newton Wrong, Explained How We See, Cured the Sick, and Deciphered the Rosetta Stone, Among Other Feats of Genius / Andrew Robinson with a forward by Martin Rees.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Robinson, Andrew, author.

Contributor:

Rees, Martin, writer of introduction.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Physicians--Great Britain--Biography.

Physicians.

Science--Great Britain--History--19th century.

Science.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (298 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Other Title:

Last Man Who Knew Everything

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, UK : Open Book Publishers, 2023.

Summary:

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.

Notes:

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 243-249) and index.

ISBN:

1-80511-019-5

1-80511-020-9

OCLC:

1389612807