So, normally I like to be sensitive to the fact that history is complicated and there are very few simple, neatly packaged stories. But this is the end of the course, and I feel like indulging myself in some bad history. So, without further ado, I present my list of people that are awesome and people that are jerks.
People That Are Jerks
Isaac Newton: I was surprised to learn that he was kind of a self-centered egotist. Really the only thing he had going for him was his astonishing genius.
Humphrey Davy: He made some important discoveries, which saved many lives, but he was very concerned about his own reputation. For being mean to Michael Faraday, I classify Davy a jerk.
John Hunter: This guy stole the body of a giant Irishman from the reinforced casket he’d built specifically to avoid being put on display in Hunter’s museum. What’s even more outrageous is that the body is still on display in Hunter’s museum. Hunter was also just kind of a creepy dude in general.
Samuel Morse: Wait, really, Morse? Yep! Turns out Samuel Morse didn’t know much of anything about electricity, but he was happy to pretend he did to please potential investors. He was one of Cyrus Field’s telegraph “experts” who raised £350,000 for a project doomed to failure.
Elisha Perkins: He’s less well known than Mesmer, but he too rode on Galvani’s coattails, trying to pitch his quack cure on the basis of electromagnetism in the body. Perkins sold pointy metal “tractors” that were supposed to cure disease just by touching the body and drawing out (or putting in?) electric energy. He ruined it for everyone for 30 years.
Richard Owen: Let’s face it, nobody liked this guy. John is welcome to support him in the comments.
People That Are Awesome
Charles Kingsley: He was a devout Christian, outspoken minister, and staunch supporter of Darwin. He firmly believed that humans should study the natural world to better appreciate God’s works. He was also a sharp-witted novelist, who wrote a delightful satire of the evolution debate. For merging good science with good religion, and being a fun guy at the same time, Charles Kingsley is awesome!
William Herschel: He was trained as a musician, but he managed to build the world’s best telescopes in a little room of his house using dung. He then discovered Uranus. How cool is that?
Michael Faraday: A stark contrast to Newton and Davy, Faraday was a humble, devout, self-made man who worked his way up from a bookbinder’s apprentice to the leading scientist of a global empire. He was one of the founders of my own discipline of electrical engineering. He was a great lecturer who cared deeply about education and public engagement in science. He was also a phenomenal experimentalist, though he left mathematical theory to others, like Thomson.
William Thomson, Lord Kelvin: Is there anything Kelvin didn’t do? When he got through with revolutionizing thermodynamics, he swooped into the telegraph debates, gave a mathematical foundation to Faraday’s observations, and invented almost every electrical measurement instrument that would be used for the rest of the century. He seemed to dabble in every part of science, from the age of the earth to the mariners’ compass. He defeated his enemies by sheer force of brilliance, and was gracious in victory. He also managed to get rich from his scientific work. When I get home, I want to learn more about Kelvin, and possibly hang his portrait on my wall.
Oliver Heaviside: Perhaps the most underappreciated Victorian scientist. Heaviside was a terrible communicator, and most of his contemporaries didn’t understand a word he said. But what he was saying was brilliant. Heaviside finally solved the telegraph’s theoretic problems with his telegraphers’ equations. He invented the operator method for differential equations, much to the outrage of conservative mathematicians. And he reduced Maxwell’s large, complicated theory to the elegant set of four partial differential equations we know today.
Magnus Hirschfeld: One of the first gay rights activists, back before anyone was talking about gay rights. This sexologist was a brave and noble pioneer!
Isambard Kingdom Brunel: Besides having an awesome name, an awesome hat, and an impressive smoking habit, Brunel was the model of heroic engineering. He built things bigger, stronger, and faster than anyone had built them before. He lost a lot of people money in the process, but he always kept going, pushing the limits of what everyone thought was possible. Even though he didn’t do much with electricity, Brunel makes my list of engineering role models.
… and finally…
Our class. You all have been amazing these past two months. This was the best summer I’ve ever had, and I’m going to miss everyone so much! Now I know that some Harvard folks aren’t half bad. Best of luck to you all in the future!
