This biography of John Ray, the seventeenth-century naturalist, was first published in 1942 at the height of the Second World War. It was written by Charles Raven, an eminent theologian who shared Ray's deep respect for intellectual integrity, honest exploration of the natural world, and the value of both theology and scientific endeavour. More than a superb history, this offers an opportunity to reassess the pivotal contributions of a brilliant but often undervalued scientist. Ray's major publications were written in Latin; Raven's linguistic skills coupled with his passion for natural...
This biography of John Ray, the seventeenth-century naturalist, was first published in 1942 at the height of the Second World War. It was written by C...
Sir Charles Lyell (1797 1875) is remembered today as much for his profound influence on the young Charles Darwin as for his own work as a geologist: Darwin read the three volumes of his Principles of Geology (1830 3) as they came out, and was greatly interested in Lyell's theory of the huge effects over geological time of an accumulation of tiny, almost unobservable changes. The Geological Evidences of the Antiquity of Man was published in 1863, and went into three editions in that year alone. The work synthesises the then existing evidence for the earliest humans in Europe and North America...
Sir Charles Lyell (1797 1875) is remembered today as much for his profound influence on the young Charles Darwin as for his own work as a geologist: D...
Richard Owen (1804 1892) was a contemporary of Darwin, and like him, attended the University of Edinburgh medical school but left without completing his training. His career as an outstanding palaeontologist began when he was cataloguing the Hunterian Collection of human and animal anatomical specimens which had passed to the Royal College of Surgeons in London. His public lectures on anatomy were attended by Darwin, and he was entrusted with the classification and description of the fossil vertebrates sent back by Darwin from the Beagle voyage. He was responsible for coining many of the...
Richard Owen (1804 1892) was a contemporary of Darwin, and like him, attended the University of Edinburgh medical school but left without completing h...
Erasmus Darwin (1731 1802) is remembered not only as the grandfather of Charles but as a pioneering scientist in his own right. A friend and correspondent of Josiah Wedgwood, Joseph Priestley and Matthew Boulton, he practised medicine in Lichfield, but also wrote prolifically on scientific subjects. He organised the translation of Linnaeus from Latin into English prose, coining many plant names in the process, and also wrote a version in verse, The Loves of Plants. The aim of his Zoonomia, published in two volumes (1794 6), is to 'reduce the facts belonging to animal life into classes,...
Erasmus Darwin (1731 1802) is remembered not only as the grandfather of Charles but as a pioneering scientist in his own right. A friend and correspon...
The author of this life of Erasmus Darwin, published in 1879, is given as Ernst Krause (1839 1903) a German biologist, but in fact more than half the book is a 'preliminary notice' by Charles Darwin, who explains in the preface that he has written it because of his access to family papers which add 'to the knowledge of Erasmus Darwin's character'. Krause wrote his original article in a German periodical because, in turn, he was intrigued by a reference made by Charles Darwin in the later editions of On the Origin of Species to his grandfather's anticipation in his Zoonomia (also reissued in...
The author of this life of Erasmus Darwin, published in 1879, is given as Ernst Krause (1839 1903) a German biologist, but in fact more than half the ...
In 1863, the biologist and educator Thomas Henry Huxley published Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature, a compilation of his public lectures on Darwin's theory of evolution specifically the controversial idea of the ape ancestry of humans. An energetic supporter of Darwin, Huxley's argues that in order to understand the universe, everyone must know their place in the natural world. The book is divided into three parts, each written with the aim of persuading lay audiences. The first covers earlier human beliefs about exotic animals, especially 'man-like' apes. In Part 2, Huxley suggests that...
In 1863, the biologist and educator Thomas Henry Huxley published Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature, a compilation of his public lectures on Darwin...
Sir Charles Lyell (1797 1875) was one of the most renowned geologists of the nineteenth century. He was awarded the Copley Medal by the Royal Society in 1858 and the Wollaston Medal by the Geological Society of London in 1866 for his contributions to geology. Lyell's most important contribution to modern geology was his refining and popularising the geological concept of uniformitarianism, the idea that the earth has been formed through slow-acting geological forces. This biography, first published in 1881 and edited by his sister-in-law K. M. Lyell, provides an intimate view of Lyell's...
Sir Charles Lyell (1797 1875) was one of the most renowned geologists of the nineteenth century. He was awarded the Copley Medal by the Royal Society ...
Sir Charles Lyell (1797 1875) was one of the most renowned geologists of the nineteenth century. He was awarded the Copley Medal by the Royal Society in 1858 and the Wollaston Medal by the Geological Society of London in 1866 for his contributions to geology. Lyell's most important contribution to modern geology was his refining and popularising the geological concept of uniformitarianism, the idea that the earth has been formed through slow-acting geological forces. This biography, first published in 1881 and edited by his sister-in-law K. M. Lyell, provides an intimate view of Lyell's...
Sir Charles Lyell (1797 1875) was one of the most renowned geologists of the nineteenth century. He was awarded the Copley Medal by the Royal Society ...
