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20166042 No.20166042 [Reply] [Original]

Biographical books on cool scientists? I really like Faraday's story and would like to read good books on him and other scientists with interesting lives.

>> No.20166088
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20166088

Évariste Galois' life was really tragic and a shame I think.

>> No.20166388
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20166388

bump.

>> No.20166389

Faraday is so fucking cool, we studied him in my history of science classes. He had a unique style of research and his job uniquely made him have to find ways to "blow up" minute phenomena into forms observable by an auditorium.

>> No.20166764
File: 91 KB, 761x550, Faraday_Michael_Christmas_lecture.jpg [View same] [iqdb] [saucenao] [google]
20166764

>>20166389
Yeah, in his day it was a gentlemanly endeavor to be a scientist and coming from a lowly background he was looked down upon in the beginning. It was not uncommon for gentleman scientist to also give public demonstrations of their work, and Faraday--having been inspired by many proto-Pop.Sci. books to become a scientist while he was still just a poor bookbinder's apprentice--was especially keen on this sort of public outreach, for which reason he initiated a series of Christmas lectures at the Royal Institution to be given to the public (including children) annually.
He was an extremely devout and humble man and an excellent experimentalist and, I would say, theorist as well (though he did not have the mathematical powers necessary to translate his thoughts into equations--something Maxwell had to help him out with) due to his very keen insight into the nature of his subject of study and his pursuance of truth regardless of academic precedent (something we may thank his poor education and brilliant imagination for).
You probably know about all this already but yeah, all this stuff is just so endlessly interesting to me.
> He had a unique style of research and his job uniquely made him have to find ways to "blow up" minute phenomena into forms observable by an auditorium.
I hadn't considered that but it makes a lot of sense actually. I should look into his public lectures some day, they sound interesting.

>> No.20166914

>>20166042
Unfortunately books on 19th century scientists and mathematicians are scarce compared to 20th century figures. If you’re interested in medicine specifically, I would rec the book The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, which is a great history of it and its practitioners that’s 18th to 20th century focused. It is humbling to consider how the discoveries and intuitions of just a relatively small group of people in history have saved humanity unfathomable pain and suffering, and how 99% of those people saved will never even know the names of the people responsible

>> No.20167890

>>20166914
Interesting, I don't know much about medicine but I will have to check it out. Thanks anon.