Now in Papervision: My Article on 18th Century Scientists

This ran in Time, and I just decided it was germane to this blog. Just like that.

It’s a piece about a book — no wait, hear me out — about late 18th century scientists, who were working at a time when the field was so wide open, anybody with a basement lab and some free time could make major discoveries.

The book is called Age of Wonder, by Richard Holmes, and the title makes it sound like a YA novel about a young girl’s erotic flowering at summer camp, but it’s actually about hardcore hacking, or what passed for it in the 1780s, and I couldn’t put it down. I would be talking to people, and my eyes would literally be wandering over to it, trying to decide how rude it would be if I picked it up and started reading.

A free sample from the review:

The book is organized as a series of linked biographical sketches. One of them is of Humphry Davy, a cocky little guy who was born in Cornwall, England, in 1778. He was an apothecary’s apprentice who practically frothed with genius and ambition. Over the course of his career, he postulated the carbon cycle, used electricity to isolate sodium and potassium and saved countless lives by inventing a safety lamp for coal miners. He also studied the health benefits of nitrous oxide — laughing gas. Oh, to be a fly on the wall while Davy huffed 18th century whippits with Robert Southey and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, both close friends. After ingesting 100 (!) quarts (95 liters) of nitrous using a homemade gas chamber, Davy wrote:

I seemed to be a sublime being, newly created and superior to other mortals, I was indignant at what they said of me and stalked majestically out of the laboratory to inform Dr. Kinglake privately that nothing existed but thoughts.

Davy’s not here, man. (Coleridge was less impressed. As an opium addict, he was used to harder stuff.)

If for no other reason, you should click through to see one of the worst headlines ever written.

Obama’s Inner Geek: Robots to Flying Marshmallows

On Tuesday, Obama hosted the second White House Science Fair, an exhibit of more than 30 student projects that ranged from a system to detect nuclear threats to a prosthetic hand to portable disaster shelters. For nearly an hour, Obama toured the displays and visited with students, pressing them for details and admiring their work.

anon76

Less condescension towards modern scientists (“sounds like a course you slept through in college”), please. Come to think of it, where is the voice of science (not to be confused with technology) in this supposedly nerdly blog? Is there a greater calling for the nerd-inclined? I feel poorly served, which is to say nothing about the lack of discussion of good science fiction here, specifically a near-legendary, 4-year saga of the last remnants of humanity and their voyage through the stars.
http://youtube.com/churchhatestucker Church

That’s not science, this is science.
http://www.simonvinkenoog.nl/beeld/Yogi%20-%20Annelies%20Rigter.jpg yogi

You had me at whippits.
Kemper

The full title is The Age of Wonder – How the Romantic Generation Discovered the Beauty and Terror of Science. Baltar found some real beauty and terror of science once Caprica 6 showed up in that red dress.

Now that the BSG snark is out of the way, it does sound like a pretty interesting read. That nitrous oxide incident sounds like something out of Neal Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle books.
dennitzio

When I first read this I mistakenly thought it was fiction, and got excited… Then when I read the actual review I see it’s nonfiction. Still cool, but I guess I imagined the intimacy of a novel.
Cliff

I read the review – it made me want to read the book. So…good job there.

Also:
I would be talking to people, and my eyes would literally be wandering over to it, trying to decide how rude it would be if I picked it up and started reading.

Awesome.