Life of Thomas Young M.D., F.R.S., etc.
Life of Thomas Young M.D., F.R.S., etc.
£41.99
GBPAdmired long after his death by the likes of Lord Rayleigh and Einstein, Thomas Young (1773–1829) was the definition of a polymath. By the age of fourteen he was proficient in thirteen languages, including Greek, Hebrew and Persian. After studies in Edinburgh, London, Göttingen and Cambridge he established himself as a physician in London, and over the course of his life made contributions to science, linguistics and music. He was the first to prove that light is a wave rather than molecular, his three-colour theory of vision was confirmed in the twentieth century, and his work in deciphering the Rosetta Stone laid the foundations for its eventual translation. Published in 1855, this engaging biography drew on letters, journals and private papers, taking the mathematician George Peacock (1791–1858) twenty years to complete. It stands as a valuable and affectionate portrait of 'the last man who knew everything'.
Product details
February 2013Paperback
9781108057363
536 pages
216 × 140 × 30 mm
0.67kg
1 b/w illus.
Available
Table of Contents
- 1. Early education
- 2. Medical education - London
- 3. Medical education - Edinburgh
- 4. Medical education - Göttingen
- 5. Medical education - Cambridge
- 6. Optical discoveries - first epoch
- 7. Lectures: cohesion of fluids
- 8. Marriage, medical life and works
- 9. Philological essays, reviews
- 10. Hierographical researches
- 11. Commissions, Board of Longitude
- 12. Optical discoveries - second epoch
- 13. Researches on the value of life and assurance
- 14. Miscellaneous memoirs
- 15. Events in later life, death
- Appendix A
- Appendix B.
