Brilliant Blunders: From Darwin to Einstein - Colossal Mistakes by Great Scientists That Changed Our Understanding of Life and the Universe (56 page)

Mysterium Cosmographicum
(Kepler),
260

My World Line
(Gamow),
232
–33

Nabokov, Vladimir,
23

Nanotechnology,
161

Napoléon, Emperor of France,
7

Narlikar, Jayant,
212
–14,
218

National Academy of Sciences, Proceedings of
,
104
,
113

National Institute of Standards and Technology,
226

Natural selection,
18
–21,
26
–35,
38
–39,
48
,
269

hereditary processes in,
41
–44,
47
,
49
–50,
52
,
54
,
162

Jenkin’s criticism of,
39
–41,
48
–49,
58

Kelvin’s objections to,
80
,
85
,
210
,
282
n

tautological arguments against,
32
–33

Natural Theology
(Paley),
273
n

Nature
,
40
,
49
,
86
,
90
,
92
,
146
–48,
150

Nature of the Chemical Bond and the Structure of Molecules and Crystals, The
(Pauling),
115

Navy, US,
235
–26

Bureau of Ordnance,
233

Nazism,
182

Nernst, Walther,
249

Neuroses, female,
7

Neutrinos,
255

“New Genesis” (Gamow),
175
–76

Newlands, John,
293
n

Newton, Isaac,
9
,
16
,
36
,
83
,
246
–48,
281
n
,
300
n

on age of Earth,
64
–65

incompatibility of Einstein’s theories with,
225
–27,
229
,
265
,
269

tomb of,
69

Newtonian physics,
66
,
228
,
243
–44

New York Times, The
,
11
,
205
,
296
n

Nicholls, C.,
179

Niessl, Gustav von,
56

Nilsson, Lars-Göran,
291
n

Nobel Prize,
99
,
266
,
286
n

Chemistry,
7
,
110
,
129
,
134
,
286

Economics,
6

Peace,
7

Physics,
110
,
111
,
181
,
235
,
239
,
251
,
254
,
264
,
283
n

Physiology or Medicine,
151
,
291
n

North British Review
,
39
–40,
48

Nottingham, University of,
161

Nubian Aquifer,
283
n

Nuclear astrophysics,
100
–101,
159
,
161
–62,
171
,
173
–74,
178
,
181
,
184

Nuclear physics,
93
,
159
,
173
,
178
,
302
n

Nucleosynthesis,
162

big bang,
167
–69,
219
,
232
,
237
,
294
n

stellar,
169
–82,
257

Oberhummer, Heinz,
295
n

Oedipus complex,
7

Olby, Robert,
292
n

Olds, James,
98

“On the Age of the Sun’s Heat” (Kelvin),
70
,
74
–75

Once and Future King, The
(White),
241

“On the Dynamical Theory of Heat” (Kelvin),
279
n

“On the Electrodynamics of Moving Bodies” (Einstein),
226

“On the Origin of Life” (Kelvin),
280
n

On the Origin of Species
(Darwin),
18
,
20
,
52
,
275
n

amendments to,
48
,
274
n

extended geological age world view in,
67
,
79
–80,
101
–2

first edition of,
9
,
17
,
19

German editions of,
54
–55,
54
,
55

Jenkin’s criticism of,
39
–40,
44
,
47
,
56

mathematical errors in,
44

natural selection described in,
26
–29

and nineteenth-century theory of heredity,
37

“On the Secular Cooling of the Earth” (Kelvin),
69
–70

Oort, Jan,
181

Öpik, Ernst,
171

Ordinary Geniuses
(Segrè),
235

Oster, Gerald,
287
n
,
288
n

Oxford English Dictionary
,
8

Oxford University,
57
,
107
,
130
,
263
,
285
n
,
286
n
,
297
n

New Museum,
81

Paleontology,
74

Paley, William,
273
n

Pangenesis,
50
–51,
57

Panspermia,
210

Parkinson, Stephen,
279
n

Particle physics,
251
,
255

Pasadena Conference on the Structure of Proteins,
154

Pasteur, Louis,
103

Patterson, Clair,
283
n

Pauli, Wolfgang,
239
,
249
–50,
294
n

Pauling, Ava Helen,
107
–8,
142
,
291
n

Pauling, Linus,
7
,
10
,
145
,
212
–13,
269
–71

approach and methods of,
126
–27

DNA research by,
116
,
119
–23,
127
–28,
129
–44,
148
–49,
151
–55,
286
–88
nn
,
291
n

Einstein and,
233

influence on molecular biology of,
114
–16

passport trials and tribulations of,
128
–29,
289
n

protein structure research by,
103
–9,
110
–14,
127
,
285
nn

Vitamin C preoccupation of,
215

Pauling, Peter,
119
,
134
–35,
139
,
141
,
142
,
151
–52

Pecker, J.-C.,
300
n

Penzias, Arno,
210

Perfect Cosmological Principle,
198

Periodic table of elements,
160
,
160
–61,
163
,
293
n

Perlmutter, Saul,
253
,
254

Perrin, Jean-Baptiste,
161
,
162

Perry, John,
85
–92,
95
,
97
–98,
102
,
281
n
,
282
n

Perutz, Max,
109
–14,
120
,
125
,
137
,
141
,
145
,
154

Petrosian, Vahe,
301
n

Pflanzen-Mischlinge, Die
(Focke),
53

Phillips, John,
80

Philo Judaeus,
62

“Phospho-tri-anhydride Formula for the Nucleic Acids” (Ronwin),
119

Phylogenetic tree,
23
,
275
n

Physical Review
,
168

Physics,
7
,
16
,
67
,
120
,
241
,
260
,
261
,
271

of accelerating universe,
252
,
254

anthropic reasoning in,
260
,
261
,
263
,
264

applied,
85

atomic,
203

of big bang,
210

in calculations of age of Sun and Earth,
72
,
75
,
79
–81,
83
,
91
,
109

classical,
68
–69,
165

Copernican principle in,
32
–33

and cosmological constant,
245
–46,
249
,
257
, 364

in DNA research,
154
,
155

evolutionary nature of theories in,
269

Newtonian,
74

Nobel Prize in,
110
,
111
,
181
,
235
,
239
,
251
,
254
,
264
,
283
n

nuclear,
93
,
159
,
173
,
178
,
302
n

philosophy and,
62
,
222

simplicity in,
32

symmetry in,
32
,
265

see also
Astrophysics; Mechanics

Physics World
,
83
,
281
n

Pioneer 10 spacecraft,
221

Pius XII, Pope,
181
,
181

Pixley, Ralph,
173

Planck, Max,
270

Plato,
60
,
160
,
225

Platonic solids,
260

Playfair, John,
76
–77,
82

Pocket universes,
261

Poliakoff, Martyn,
161

“Polypeptide Chain Configurations in Crystalline Proteins” (Bragg, Kendrew, and Perutz),
110

Pontifical Academy of Sciences,
180

Popper, Karl,
33
,
184
,
201
,
262
,
263

Population genetics,
66

Positron-emission tomography (PET) scans,
98

Presidential Medal of Merit,
129

Princess Bride, The
(film),
271
–72

Princeton University,
210
,
233
,
300
n

Institute for Advanced Study,
235

Principia
(Newton),
64
,
246

Principles of Geology
(Lyell),
66
,
70
,
274
n

“Proposed Structure of the Nucleic Acids, A” (Pauling and Corey),
132
–33

Prout, William,
161

Psychoanalysis,
7

Quantum mechanics,
24
,
159
,
163
,
165
,
173
,
244
,
249
–53,
256
,
263
–64,
268
,
270
,
294
nn