Revolutionary Science

by Steve Jones

Overview

Paris at the time of the French Revolution was the world capital of science. The city was saturated in scientists; many had an astonishing breadth of talents. Paris in the century around 1789 saw the first lightning conductor, the first flight, the first estimate of the speed of light and the invention of the tin can and the stethoscope. The theory of evolution came into being. Perhaps the greatest Revolutionary scientist of all, Antoine Lavoisier, founded modern chemistry and physiology, transformed French farming, and much improved gunpowder manufacture. His political activities brought him a fortune, but in the end led to his execution. The judge who sentenced him to death claimed that "the Revolution has no need for geniuses."In this enthralling and dazzling book, acclaimed science writer Steve Jones shows how wrong this was and takes a new look at Paris, its history, and its science, to give the reader dazzling new insight into the City of Light.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781681773735
Publisher:	Pegasus Books
Publication date:	01/10/2017
Sold by:	SIMON & SCHUSTER
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
File size:	8 MB

About the Author

Steve Jones is professor of genetics at University College London. He is the author of The Darwin Archipalego; Y: The Descent of Man; Darwin's Ghost; and Almost Like a Whale: The Origin of Species. Jones is the winner of Royal Society Faraday Medal for the Public Understanding of Science.

Table of Contents

Preface: Confessions of a Soixante-Huitard ix

Dramatis Personae xxv

Prelude: A Flash of Inspiration 1

I The Wall of the Farmers-General 33

II Ashes to Ashes 65

III Let Them Eat Chips 97

IV Fire and Ice 129

V Einstein's Pendulum 169

VI The Empire of Anarchy 207

VII A Degree of Latitude 237

VIII President Jefferson's Moose 269

IX Handing It On 303

Envoi: After the Deluge 329

Index 344

Editorial Reviews

11/14/2016
In this erudite mixture of science and history, Jones (The Serpent’s Promise), professor of genetics at University College London, explains how Paris during the time of the French Revolution served as a center of scientific discovery and advancement. “This book celebrates the scientists of Paris in that era,” Jones writes, noting that “their work laid the foundations of much of today’s physics, astronomy, biology, and chemistry.” But this is less a study of time and place and people than a wide-ranging look at the discoveries of the era and the impact they’ve had on their respective disciplines and the wider world. For example, in one chapter Jones touches upon the modern Tour de France and marathon running before looking back at the research done on human physiology and narcotics some 200 years prior. In that fashion, Jones explores genetics, chaos theory, agriculture, weights and measures, explosives, and more. Jones’s style is engaging and accessible, but it can be hard to follow some connections between topics, especially when he gets mired down in technical matters. Even so, significant evidence supports his conclusion that “it became perhaps the most productive episode in the history of science and led to an era of unprecedented social change.”(Jan.)

Publishers Weekly

Every section provides a richly informative guide to the history of a different scientific subject.

The Daily Mail

A wonderful read.

The Guardian

This well-written work covers an interesting, tragic, and dreadful period in France. A terrific background for any individual interested in the scientific events of this period. Highly recommended.

Choice

An ingenious guidebook to the scientific past of Paris, written in lucid, erudite prose.

The New Statesman

With typical wit and easy storytelling, Jones makes his mark as a popular science historian.

New Scientist

A sparkling scientific history. A fine homage to the evolution of game-changing science, born in the City of Light.

Nature

With typical wit and easy storytelling, Jones makes his mark as a popular science historian.

New Scientist

11/15/2016
Jones (genetics, Univ. Coll. London; Darwin's Ghost) does not restrict his exploration of science to the 1789 French Revolution. His work highlights the crucible of scientific thought that was turn-of-the-18th-century France and all the places it has led human civilization. That journey reaches into the atmosphere with early balloonists and into the earth itself to uncover mammoth fossils and unlock the secrets of nitrogen. At times, it seems amazing and confounding that so many disparate topics have common origins, but in fairness, the author lays out his intentions in the preface. A listing of 18th- and 19th-century French scientists in the front matter is also helpful. Regrettably, there are no bibliographical notes or references, so readers seeking more information will have to look elsewhere. Note: the author is British and frequently refers to people and places "across the water" when discussing France; some readers may be confused. VERDICT Best for those with some familiarity with the period or early modern science generally.—Cate Hirschbiel, Iwasaki Lib., Emerson Coll., Boston

Library Journal

2016-12-14
A history of the startling scientific innovations that rose to meet disconcerting troubles in revolutionary France.Jones (Genetics/Univ. Coll. London; The Serpent's Promise: The Bible Retold as Science, 2013, etc.) fashions an elegant, somewhat meandering, and never dull narrative about the rich contributions by Age of Enlightenment-era French scientists who were encouraged by the wobbly state and monarchy to come up with solutions to mankind's many problems. These involved addressing famine, correct measurements (the metric system), modern maps, new crops, and the establishment of new observatories and academies. Many of these scientists—all male save for mathematician Sophie Germain and, later, chemist Marie Curie—were members of the Collège de France (which received a "spring clean" by Louis XV's finance minister, the economist Jacques Turgot) or the Royal Academy of Sciences. They included well-educated aristocrats who were also civic-minded—e.g., the radical Jean-Paul Marat, who was trained in medicine and known for conducting studies of venereal infections. In Paris, the wild enthusiasm for the electrical experiments of adopted Frenchman Benjamin Franklin occurred "at a period when science had entered the public arena, and when there seemed to be almost no limit to what it could do." In a loosely thematic approach, Jones delves into the world-changing experiments and research by these able and daring scientists, beginning with the harnessing of electricity and working through the revolution itself, which was a "celebration of reason over passion" (at least at first). The author notes that the revolutionary year of 1789 also saw the publication of seminal works by Antoine Lavoisier, botanist Antoine de Jussieu, and mathematician Pierre-Simon Laplace. Jones also examines the processes of solving problems related to explosives, famine calories and heat retention, flight, relativity, evolution, and chaos in the universe. A passionately presented book that offers sparkling tangents for further study.

Kirkus Reviews