The Project Gutenberg EBook of Pioneers of Science, by Oliver Lodge

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Title: Pioneers of Science

Author: Oliver Lodge

Release Date: April 26, 2009 [EBook #28613]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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Transcriber's Note

The punctuation and spelling from the original text have been faithfully
preserved. Only obvious typographical errors have been corrected.

There are several mathematical formulas within the text. They are
represented as follows:
Superscripts: x^3
Subscripts: x_3
Square Root: [square root] Greek Letters: [pi], [theta].

Greek star names are represented as [alpha], [gamma], for example.

PIONEERS OF SCIENCE

[Illustration]

[Illustration: NEWTON

_From the picture by Kneller, 1689, now at Cambridge_]

PIONEERS OF SCIENCE

BY
OLIVER LODGE, F.R.S.

PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS IN VICTORIA UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, LIVERPOOL

_WITH PORTRAITS AND OTHER ILLUSTRATIONS_

London
MACMILLAN AND CO.
AND NEW YORK
1893

RICHARD CLAY AND SONS, LIMITED,
LONDON AND BUNGAY.

PREFACE

This book takes its origin in a course of lectures on the history and
progress of Astronomy arranged for me in the year 1887 by three of my
colleagues (A.C.B., J.M., G.H.R.), one of whom gave the course its name.

The lectures having been found interesting, it was natural to write them
out in full and publish.

If I may claim for them any merit, I should say it consists in their
simple statement and explanation of scientific facts and laws. The
biographical details are compiled from all readily available sources,
there is no novelty or originality about them; though it is hoped that
there may be some vividness. I have simply tried to present a living
figure of each Pioneer in turn, and to trace his influence on the
progress of thought.

I am indebted to many biographers and writers, among others to Mr.
E.J.