Revolutionary Science

November 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.”

January 1, 2017
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 College 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.

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November 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

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