Famous Men of Science

Scientific ambition meets the pressure of earning a living in Sarah Knowles Bolton's biographical sketches. Her opening account follows Galileo from a family hoping to secure his future through medicine to his growing commitment to mathematics. Lessons with Ostilio Ricci, observations of a swinging cathedral lamp and disagreement with university teachers give the portrait a practical focus on learning, experiment and resistance to unfamiliar ideas.

The collection also includes Newton, Caroline and William Herschel, Audubon, Lyell and Darwin. Bolton sets out to show how poverty, illness and early setbacks shaped scientific lives, making perseverance part of her explanation of achievement. An excerpt from the life of Samuel Morse brings in his painting career, financial worries and letters to his wife. Readers interested in the human circumstances behind scientific work will find biographical narratives built around family pressures, personal character and the search for a vocation.