Seeing Further (53 page)

Laws of Thought, 349
, 350

botanical gardens, 189, 191–92, 195, 198, 275

Boulton, Matthew, 172

Boyle, Robert, 10,
23
, 24, 111,
112
, 189, 300, 301, 468

on chemistry, 123–24,
125
, 128

critics of, 119n

experiments by, 21, 22, 29–30,
31

and Newton, 33

Boyle’s Law, 378

Boylston, Zabdiel, 48

Bragg, William Henry, 253–55,
254
, 260

Bragg, William Lawrence, 253–55,
254
, 256–57, 258, 263, 264, 266, 268, 271

Bragg’s Law, 254

Brenner, Sydney, 267

bridges, 230–49

aesthetic appeal of, 246, 247–48,
248–49

arch design, 231, 238

cable-stayed, 248–49

cantilever structure, 239,
239
, 241

collapses of, 238–39, 240, 241, 245,
245
, 303

designs of today, 245–49

hybrid cantilever-suspension, 241–42, 244

moving in the wind, 245

“signature,” 249

structural tests of, 233–35

suspension, 231, 238, 241, 243–45, 248

testing trends of behaviour, 234

trusswork of, 241, 244

tubular, 238

Britannia Tubular Bridge, 232–35

failure of, 237–38

group portrait of engineers for, 235–36,
236
, 237, 238, 249

British Museum, 191

British Museum Act (1753), 199

Bronx-Whitestone Bridge, 246, 247

Brook, Abraham, 139, 152, 153

Brooklyn Bridge, 241, 246

Brouncker, William, 2nd Viscount, 21, 22, 26

Brunel, Isambard Kingdom, 237, 238, 319

Buckingham, George Villiers, Duke of, 27

Buckland, William, 196

Bulletin of Atomic Scientists, clock, 408

Byron, George Gordon, Lord, 12

calculus, 352–53

fluxional, 127

origins of, 86, 89, 105, 348, 359

Canada goose,
282
, 283

cancer treatments, 434

Canton, John, 5

carbon, 329, 395

Carlin, George, 391

Carnot, Sadi, 457

Caro, Anthony, 247

Caroline, Princess of Brandenburg-Ansbach, 86, 89

causality, 129

cause and effect, laws of, 363

Cavallo, Tiberius,
177

A Treatise on the History and Practice of Aerostation,
176, 178–80

Cavendish, Henry, 136, 137, 145, 160, 172, 174–75

celestial vs. terrestrial realm, 65–66, 69, 72, 80

Celestine Prophecy, The
(Redfield), 79

cellular automata, 97–98

celluloid, 310–11

cellulose nitrate (gun cotton), 311

CERN, 271, 318

Cernan, Gene, 386

chaos, 377–79, 381–83

Chao Tang, 381

Charles, Alexander, 158, 161, 169, 173

Charles II, king of England, 3, 47, 301

Chartres, Duke of, 167

Chelsea Physic Garden, 198,
200
, 201

chemistry:

Boyle on, 123–24,
125
, 128

experimentation in, 124

chess, robotic intelligence in, 477–78

Chester & Holyhead Railway, 231–32

Churchill, Winston,
442

Cicerone, Ralph, 431

Civil Engineering,
247

Clarke, Arthur C., 389

Clarke, Samuel, Leibniz-Clarke correspondence, 86, 89–90, 93, 97

Clausius, Rudolf, 457

Clement IV, Pope, 70

climate, vs. weather, 427

climate change, 293

and apocalypse, 408, 417, 418–19

Bayesian inference on, 433–34, 435

communicating to policy-makers, 430–31, 432, 435

Intergovernmental Panel on, 428, 434, 435–36, 437–41

modelling, 427–31,
429

risk assessment in, 435–41, 442–43

science of, 432

uncertainty in, 408, 426–27, 428–29, 437, 439, 441–43, 479–80

Climatic Research Unit, 134

cloning, 479

Coga, Arthur, 12

cognitio,
92

Cohn, Norman, 407

collections:

access to, 196, 198

diffusion of knowledge via, 198

funding of, 201

living vs., inert, 198–99

in museums, 187–92, 196–99, 201

open to paying customers, 197

ownership of, 197

in public domain, 199

science and, 181, 196, 201

Collier, Hon. John, 206

complexity:

and chaos, 377–79

organised, 379–81,
380
, 382

science of, 333

compossibility, 101–2

Compsognathus,
185

Computational Fluid Dynamics, 358

computers:

in digital photography, 354

as logic engines, 350, 351

science in, 97, 475, 477–78

Stepped Reckoner, 85

conception, assisted, 317

Condorcet, Marquis de, 166

Conference of Engineers at Britannia Bridge
(Lucas), 235–36,
236,
237, 238, 249

continuity, 80

Conway, John, 473

Cook, Captain James, 6, 10, 135, 189

Cooper, Samuel, 139, 152

Copernican principle:

applied to laws, 372–73

in cosmology, 322–23, 324–31, 333–39

Copernicus, Nicolaus, 62, 66, 111,
112

followers of, 127

rationalism of, 113, 115, 122

and solar system, 116,
116
, 322,
323

Copley Medal, 141,
141

coral reefs, 290

Cornelio, Tommaso, 32, 34–35

cosmological constant, 375

cosmology, 62, 64, 66–67, 322–39

Copernican principle in, 322–23, 324–31, 333–39

cosmos vs., 76

post-Newtonian space, 74–76

theological consequences of, 72–73, 109

and time, 462–63, 465, 474

Cotterill, Rodney, 307

Cowley, Abraham,
The Advancement of Experimental Philosophy,
301

Cox, Stephen, 14

Creation, dating of, 452

Creationism, 80

Crick, Francis, 264–65, 472

see also
Watson/Crick

Cromwell, Oliver, 301

Croone, William, 26, 28

crystallography, 258, 260–61, 270, 271

Crystal Palace, 237

Cumberland, George, 159

cyberfiction, 80

Dale, Sir Henry, 257

Dante Alighieri,
The Divine Comedy,
64,
65
, 81

Darwin, Charles, 134,
164
,
207

and biodiversity, 275–79, 280, 289, 293

bridges crossed by, 219–22, 226

and evolution, 204–6, 208–24, 265, 275, 331–32, 449, 451, 461, 484

on missing link, 39

The Origin of Species,
186, 208, 210–11, 213–14, 216,
217, 220,
221, 274, 275, 276, 277, 293

as Royal Society member, 9

specimens collected by, 201,
281

and Wallace, 211–18, 221, 461

Darwin, Erasmus, 142, 206

and ballooning, 163, 166, 170, 171

The Loves of the Plants,
163–65

Zoonomia,
195

Darwinism:

digital, 222, 224

neo-Darwinism, 221–22

opposition to, 80

Davies, Nick,
Flat Earth News,
409, 414

Davies, Paul, 75, 470

Davis, Philip, 344

Davy, Humphry, 6, 13, 256

de Beer, Sir Gavin, 187

Dee Bridge, 303

Delaval, Edward, 145, 146

Dempster, W. J., 211

Descartes, René, 111,
112
, 127

cosmology of, 22, 26, 62, 73

dualism of, 76

rationalism of, 113, 115, 118, 119n, 122, 124, 128, 315

design:

illusion of, 206, 209

random chance vs., 205–6, 289–93

determinism, 97

Deutsch, David,
The Fabric of Reality,
103

Diamond Light Source, 268–69

Dicke, Robert, 329

Dickens, Charles, 407

Diodorus Siculus, 303

Dirac, Paul, 328–30, 471

DNA:

and biodiversity, 278

building blocks of, 333

and genetic code, 265

and natural selection, 226

recombinant, 315–16

structure of, 224,
225
, 264–66

X-rays of, 256

Dobson, Henry Austin, 457

Doppler shift, 325

Dryander, Jonas, 166, 168

dualism:

of body and soul, 65, 76–77

of Christian vs. Greek heritage, 79

res extensa
vs.
res cogitans,
76

Duggan, G. H.,
240
, 241

DuPont, 311, 312

Dutch Elm disease, 293

Earth:

age of, 450–52, 485

cycles of, 394–98, 400–401, 403, 450, 484–85

energy of, 397–98, 400–401

environment of, 389–91, 401

life on, 328, 331

moon of, 328

objects on collision courses with, 401–2,
407

as planet in peril, 391, 393, 400

roundness of, 386–88,
387
,
388

seen from space, 386–88,
387
, 389, 396, 398, 402–3,
402

ecology, 390

necessity vs. chance in, 278, 279

neutral model of, 289

non-linear interactions in, 290

“Red Queen” model of, 277

Eddington, Arthur, 328, 330

Edens, J., 22

Edgerton, Samuel, 71

Edgeworth, Richard, 170

Edison, Thomas, 9

Eggborough power station,
439

Ehret, Georg Dionysius, botanical print by,
194
, 195

Einstein, Albert, 100, 204, 339, 448,
464

hyperspace theories of, 74, 75

mass-energy equivalent, 371

relativity theories of, 74, 337, 373, 453–54, 470,
471

theory of gravity, 373

thought experiments of, 453

on time and space, 452–56, 463, 465

and unified theory, 472

Eiseley, Loren, 79, 219

electricity, and lightning rods, 140–48,
151
, 152

electrodynamics, 153

Eliade, Mircea, 79

Ellis, Charles A., 242–43,
242

Elton, C. S., 415

embryo research, 317

Embury, Aymar II, 246, 247

empiricism, rationalism vs., 111, 113–21, 122–23, 129

encounter hypothesis, 326–27

Encyclopaedia Britannica,
180

Endeavour,
10, 189–92

end of the world, 406–23

energy:

conservation of, 100–101

“free,” 457

engineers:

and architects, 246–49

construction site visits by, 236–37, 238, 242, 244

ethical responsibilities of, 317

genetic, 154–55, 314–17, 479, 483

group portrait of, 235–36,
236
, 237, 238, 249

in pure vs. applied science, 318–19

of railway bridges, 230–49

Enlightenment, 76

Ent, George, 27

entropy, 457, 460

ethics, 479

Euclid, ideal seen by, 77

Euclidean geometry, 90, 353

Euclidean view of space, 71–72, 74

Evelyn, John, 189, 468

Everett, Hugh, 102

evolution:

blind, 335

as branching tree, 214

bridges to understanding of, 219, 221–22, 224, 226

and Darwin, 204–6, 208–24, 265, 275, 331–32, 449, 451, 461, 484

and Deep Time, 461

and DNA structure, 265

and extinction, 280

and genetics, 222–23, 226–27, 278–79

group selection in, 211, 216

hereditary variation in, 222

of human intelligence, 336

and Lamarck, 206, 214

mutation in, 223, 278

natural selection, 206, 208, 214–15, 218, 219, 221, 223, 226–27, 276, 278, 335, 449, 461

non-random selection, 223

and origins of life, 331–32

and race, 216

series of rules, 277–79

significance of the idea, 211

timescale of, 290

variation in, 278

and Wallace, 211–19, 221

exobiology, 470

explanation:

mathematical nature of, 122, 128

observable facts in, 114–15, 119

rationalist vs. empiricist, 111, 113–21, 122–23, 129

teleology, 110, 111, 117, 119, 120, 126, 129

uses of knowledge, 121–29

extinction, 280,
282
, 283, 461, 480–81

five great extinctions, 289, 480

Fairbairn, William, 233–34,
233
, 235, 236

Faraday, Michael, 256, 266

Faulkner, Benjamin, portrait by,
233

Fermat’s last theorem, 359

Feynman, Richard, 101, 102, 365

Filmer, William P., 242,
242

fingerprinting, 359

fire,
416

Fisher, R. A.,
The Genetical Theory of Natural Selection,
223–24

fisheries management, 291–92,
292

Florey, Howard, 262

Folkes, Martin, 12

Ford, Henry, 311

Forth Rail Bridge, 239,
239

fossil fuels, 398

fossils:

Archaeopteryx,
186–88,
187,
191, 201

and evolution, 461

Mesolimulus,
185,
185

in museum collections, 187–92, 196, 197, 201

at Solnhofen, 184–86,
185

Foster, Norman, 247, 249

Fourier, Joseph, 355

Fourier transform, 355

Fowler, William, 239

Franklin, Benjamin, 6,
168

and ballooning, 158–59, 168–69, 171, 176

Copley Medal awarded to, 141

and electricity, 5, 141, 147, 153

and lightning rods, 140–42, 143–44, 145, 147, 150, 153

Franklin, Rosalind, 256, 264

Franzoni, Carlo,
Clio
sculpture by, 446,
447

free will, 93–94, 97

French Academy of Sciences, 166

French Revolution, 154

Freud, Sigmund, 77, 79

Fries, Elias, 196

fuel efficiency, 358