Thursday, June 10, 2004
Book Reviews - Newton's Tyranny
Title: Newton's Tyranny
Pages: 188
Read time: 4 hours
Style: non-fiction, investigative science/history, highly detailed
Author: David Clark, Stephen P.H. Clark
I must admit that when I picked up this book the first couple of times, I couldn't get into it. Of course, this changed with my vacation. I started reading and was engrossed. As with all people in power, there are untold stories - and Newton at the time had a lot of power, both as leader of the countries mint and the Royal Society for science. Unfortunately, this meant that he could expunge records of others work, or copy it and not give due credit - and he did this quite vehemently for his adversaries. The book tells of John Flamsteed, the Royal Astronomer, who singlehandedly improved the star charts of the time and increased the accuracy of the readings. Unfortunately, he was also involved in lunar viewings, which Newton needed to not only prove his gravitional theories, but also to put his name into the books for an accurate system (longitude) of sailing by lunar cycles. Newton harried Flamsteed into publishing unfinished work, and gave no credit where credit was due - even Halley, who's comet still bears his name, was involved in Newton's schemes, editing Flamsteeds work and crediting himself with the accuracy of the calculations. Stephen Gray was Flamsteed's friend. Unfortunately, this meant he also came under Newton's tyrannical view. Gray was a dyer at the time, but had started producing a large number of expirements into electrical charge. Newton stopped the publishing of this work, thus delaying electricity and transmittion of communication by a good 20 years. After Newton's death Gray started the expirementation once again - and became the forefather of electricity - though he recieves little credit even now.
Pages: 188
Read time: 4 hours
Style: non-fiction, investigative science/history, highly detailed
Author: David Clark, Stephen P.H. Clark
I must admit that when I picked up this book the first couple of times, I couldn't get into it. Of course, this changed with my vacation. I started reading and was engrossed. As with all people in power, there are untold stories - and Newton at the time had a lot of power, both as leader of the countries mint and the Royal Society for science. Unfortunately, this meant that he could expunge records of others work, or copy it and not give due credit - and he did this quite vehemently for his adversaries. The book tells of John Flamsteed, the Royal Astronomer, who singlehandedly improved the star charts of the time and increased the accuracy of the readings. Unfortunately, he was also involved in lunar viewings, which Newton needed to not only prove his gravitional theories, but also to put his name into the books for an accurate system (longitude) of sailing by lunar cycles. Newton harried Flamsteed into publishing unfinished work, and gave no credit where credit was due - even Halley, who's comet still bears his name, was involved in Newton's schemes, editing Flamsteeds work and crediting himself with the accuracy of the calculations. Stephen Gray was Flamsteed's friend. Unfortunately, this meant he also came under Newton's tyrannical view. Gray was a dyer at the time, but had started producing a large number of expirements into electrical charge. Newton stopped the publishing of this work, thus delaying electricity and transmittion of communication by a good 20 years. After Newton's death Gray started the expirementation once again - and became the forefather of electricity - though he recieves little credit even now.
