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
E
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
F
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
Fugger family of Augsburg, 302–3
fundamentalism, 80
G
Gaia, 389
Galá pagos, threats to, 280
galaxies, expanding, 325–26
Galen, 109
Galileo Galilei, 95, 111, 112
The Assayer, 111, 115–16
and cosmology, 62, 67, 73
followers of, 127
on motion, 127
opponents of, 114
rationalism of, 113–14, 115, 117–18, 120, 121, 122–
23, 124, 128
Galois, é variste, 350, 351
Galois fields, 346, 351
galvanism, 153
Gamble, Dixon, 139, 149, 150, 152
game of life, 473
Gardeners’ Chronicle, 209–10
Gaskell, Elizabeth, 407
Gateshead Millennium Bridge, 247, 248
gauge theories, 365
Gee, Maggie:
The Burning Book, 411, 414
The Flood, 411–12, 414, 419
The Ice People, 411
Where Are the Snows, 411
gene pool, 226–27
gene sequencing, 335
genetic drift, 289
genetic engineering, 154–55, 314–17, 479, 483
genetics:
and evolution, 222–23, 226–27, 278–79
Mendelian, 222, 223–24, 279
molecular, 223
necessity vs. chance in, 278–79
population, 223, 278
Watson/Crick and, 223, 224, 225, 265
geochemistry, 394
geography, and biodiversity, 285–86
Geological Society, 274
geology, 450–52
geometry, Euclidean, 90, 353
geophysicists, 469
George I, king of England, 89
George III, king of England, 174
George Washington Bridge, 244, 246
Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, 160, 174
Gibbon, Edward, 12, 135
Gilbert, Cass, 246
Gilbert, William, 111, 113, 122, 123, 127
Giotto di Bondone, 67, 69, 71
Arena Chapel scenes by, 69
The Last Judgement, 68, 69
global warming, see climate change
Gödel, Kurt, 94, 103–4, 103
Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von, 30
Golden Gate Bridge, 241–43, 242
Goldilocks enigma, 339
Goldschmidt, Victor, 394
Gore, Al, 442
Gould, Stephen Jay, 219
GPS (Global Positioning System), 357, 358, 454
Graham, James, 135, 137
graph theory, 356
gravitational “redshift,” 454
graviton, 371
gravity:
force of, 61, 72, 329, 368, 371
Newton on, 72, 344, 347, 348, 363, 373, 450, 463, 470
and space-time, 454, 455
Gray, Asa, 213, 216
Gray, John, Black Mass, 407
Great Exhibition (1851), 237
Greatorex, Ralph, 21, 22
Great Stove, design of, 237
Greece, ancient, 69, 446
Green, Charles, 181
Green, Michael, 366
greenhouse gas emissions, 428, 429, 433–34, 437, 441
Gresham College, 18, 21, 109, 111, 113, 122
Grosseteste, Robert, 298
group theory, 473
Grove, Sir William, 9
H
Häberlein, Karl, 201
haemoglobin, 263–66, 264, 271
Haggard, Rider, She, 55
Haldane, J.B.S., 223, 332
Halley, Edmond, 9
Hao Wang, 104
Hardy, G. H., 476
Harrington, Ralph, “The Neuroses of the Railway,” 407
Hartlib, Samuel, 300
Harvey, William, 111, 112, 113, 122, 127
Haskin, Byron, 42
Hastings, Warren, 12
Hawaiian crow, 282, 283
Hawking, Stephen, 318, 460
Haynes, John, engraving by, 200
heat, flow of, 355
heaven:
in cyberfiction, 80
location of, 72–73
Heckingham House of Industry, Norwich, 133–35, 137, 138
destruction of, 153
lightning rods at, 134, 138–40, 144, 148, 149, 150, 152–53
lightning strike at, 133–34, 150
Heisenberg, Werner, 471
Herschel, William, 135, 137, 172, 325
Hill, John, 137
Himba tribe, 81
HMS Beagle, 9, 275, 276, 280, 281
Hobbs, Thomas, 315
Hodgkin, Dorothy Crowfoot, 252–53, 260–63, 262, 269–71, 270
Insulin, Chemistry and Biochemistry, 269, 270–71
Hodgkinson, Eaton, 234, 236
Holdren, John, 431
Hooke, Robert, 10, 26, 28, 468
and Newton, 33–34, 35
Hooker, Sir Joseph, 213
Hoover Dam, 398, 399
Horvitz, Robert, 267
Houghton, John, 435–36
house-sparrow, collapse of, 293
Housman, A. E., 465
Hubble, Edwin, 325, 338
Hubble Space Telescope, 326, 336, 337
Huffman coding, 356
Hughes, Thomas, Tom Brown’s School Days, 51–52
Human Genome Project, 271, 316–17, 474
Hume, David, 204–5, 206
Husserl, Edmund, 104
Hutton, James, 396
Huxley, T. H., 13, 134, 210, 223
Huygens, Christiaan, 5, 468
Huysum, Jacob van, botanical prints by, 194, 195
Hyatt, John and Isaiah, 311
hyperspace theories, 74–76
hypothesis, 128
I
IBM, Deep Blue, 477, 478
ice ages, 289–90, 401
immortality, quest for, 55
Imperato, Ferdinand, 34
Industrial Revolution, 303
Ingold, Tim, “Globes and Spheres,” 389–90, 394
insulin, genetic engineering of, 316
insulin molecule, 269, 270–71
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), 428, 434, 435–36, 437–41
International Union for the Conservation of Nature, 281, 283, 286
Internet, 356, 359, 475, 475
Iraq, invasion of, 407
island biodiversity, 277–78, 289
J
Jammer, Max, 71
Jankvist, Uffe, 344
Jardin Botanique, Paris, 195
Jeffries, John, 160, 175–76, 179
Jenkin, Fleeming, 222, 223, 224
Jervas, Charles, portraits by, 40, 88
Johnson, Louise, 266, 268
Joseph, Sir Keith, 270
Journal, Le, 162, 163
K
Critique of Pure Reason, 94
and Leibniz, 94, 104
Kapteyn, Jacobus, 325
Kasparov, Garry, 477
Kelly, William, 306
Kelvin, William Thomson, Lord, 222, 451
Kendrew, John, 264, 265, 266, 268
Kepler, Johannes, 62, 111, 112, 127
rationalism of, 113, 115
on solar system, 375, 376, 376
Kerseboom, Johann, portrait by, 23
Kevlar, 313
Kew Gardens, 191–92, 195, 275
Klug, Aaron, 267
Kneller, Sir Godfrey, portraits by, 79, 199
knowledge:
diffusion of, 198
as end in itself, 122
future, 469–74
as power, 297, 314, 317
pure, 319
purpose of, 121–29
Knowles, Tim, artwork by, 392, 393
Köhler, Georges, 267
Kuhn, Thomas, 435
Kunzig, Robert, Fixing Climate, 421–22
L
Lamarck, Jean-Baptiste, 206, 214
Laplacian determinism, 93
Large Hadron Collider, 318
Le Corbusier, 246
Leeuwenhock, Antoni van, 6, 7
drawings by, 8, 10
letter about duckweed from, 7
microscopes of, 7, 8
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm, 85–105, 87
and background-independent theories, 99–100
on “best of all possible worlds,” 102
and binary arithmetic, 97
and calculus, 86, 89, 105, 34
8, 359
Characteristica Universalis, 97
on compossibility, 101–2
on conservation of energy, 100–101
and Continuum, 91
death of, 86, 89, 91, 94
and Gödel, 94, 103–4
on Identity of Indiscernibles, 90–91, 98–99
Leibniz-Clarke correspondence, 86, 89–90, 93, 97
and metaphysics, 85–86, 90–91, 105
Monadology, 90, 91–94, 96, 97–99, 102, 104
on motion, 100–101
and Newton, 85, 89–94, 100–102, 105
on pre-established harmony, 100, 102
Principle of Sufficient Reason, 90
Production Rule of, 93, 97–98
and rationalism, 117, 119n
and Royal Society, 85
and Russell, 90, 92, 95–96
Theodicy, 90
Lessing, Doris, Mara and Dann, 423
Lewis, David, Plurality of Worlds, 102
Lewis, Jerry, 51
Lewis, Peter, 238
Liebermann, Max, portrait by, 464
life:
complexity of, 330–31
elements needed for, 333–34, 339
engineering, 314–17
game of, 473
habitability window for, 330
human life expectancy, 478
intelligent, 335–36, 470
living in the present, 415
made in laboratories, 333
origins of, 278, 315–17, 331–32, 335–36
other forms of, 278, 315–17, 470
on other planets, 328–31, 334
“primordial soup” theory of, 331–32
structure of, 253
lightning rods:
and electricity, 140–48, 151, 152
experiments on, 145–47, 146, 152
at Heckingham, 134, 138–40, 144, 148, 149, 150, 152–53
idiomatic use of term, 155
invention of, 142
and Promethian science, 142–43, 148–54
Lily House, Chatsworth, 237
Linnaeus, Carolus:
on the fixity of species, 195, 196
floral clock of, 193
Systema Naturæ, 192–93
systematic plantings of, 193, 195
Linnean Society of London, 193, 213, 216, 221, 274
Littleton, Sir Edward, 172
Locke, John, 5, 78, 89, 111, 112, 118
and science of mind, 77, 79–80
logic, 115
and computers, 350, 351
and mathematics, 350, 371
logical positivism, 94
London Millennium Bridge, 247–48
Long, James, 28–29
Long, Richard, 393
Lonsdale, Kathleen Yardley, 256–57, 258, 262
loop quantum gravity, 100, 105
Lovelock, James, 389, 403, 415, 421
Lowell, Percival, 330
Lubbock, John, 14, 15
diary entry of, 15
Lucas, John, group portrait by, 235–36, 236, 237, 238, 249
Lunardi, Vincenzo, 160, 172, 173–74, 178
Lunar Society, 163