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The Royal Institution of Great Britain is renowned the world over, first, because it is a premier arena for the advancement of new scientific and technological knowledge; and second because it highlights the advance of knowledge of all kinds. It bridges the sciences and the humanities, and as much publicity is given to advances in the arts, archaeology, architecture, drama and literature as to the pure and applied sciences. More famous scientists have lived and worked in the Royal Institution than in any other laboratory in the world. A roll-call includes Rumford, Davy, Faraday, Tyndall, Dewar, Rayleigh, W. H. Bragg, W. L. Bragg and George Porter. Not is it only the home of continuous electricity, it is also the birthplace of many aspects of molecular biology and viruses and enzymology. Some fifteen scientists who have won the Nobel Prize have, at one time or another, worked or lectured at the RI. And eminent individuals, like Howard Carter and Coleridge, have lectured there.
Albemarle Street - Portraits, Personalities and Presentations at The Royal institution is a lively and compelling personal selection of the remarkable personalities and achievements of some of the extraordinary scientists and individuals who, during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, worked or lectured at 21 Albemarle Street in Mayfair, central London. John Meurig Thomas offers a unique and valuable insight into the history of this prestigious address, having himself lived and worked at the Royal Institution for some twenty years.
List of contents
- 1: Setting the Scene
- 2: Count Rumford's Remarkable Creation in Albemarle Street
- 3: Sir Humphry Davy: Natural Philosopher, Discourser, Inventor, Poet and Man of Action
- 4: Michael Faraday: Paragon
- 5: The Incredible Lord Rayleigh
- 6: The Fuel Cell: W. R. Grove's Discourse in 1843 and Francis Bacon's in 1960
- 7: Molecular Biology, and the Crucial Role Played by the Davy Faraday Research Laboratory in its Birth
- 8: Modern Diagnostic Medicine: Memorable Discourse in 1986 by Andrew on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI)
- 9: Egyptomania at the Royal Institution: Howard Carter's Discourse on "The Tomb of Tut-Ank-Amun from Ante-room to Burial Chamber" (1925)
- 10: Peter Mark Roget: Facilitator of the Writing of Good English and two of his Distinguished Successors as the Fullerian Professor of Physiology (T. H. Huxley and Peter Medawar)
- 11: The Most Beautiful Experiment in Physics: Candidates from the Royal Institution and Elsewhere
- 12: The Uniqueness of the RI: George Porter, my Predecessor, as its Director
- Afterword
About the author
Sir John Meurig Thomas is Former Director of the Royal Institution of Great Britain and the Davy-Faraday Research Laboratory, London, and former Master of Peterhouse, Cambridge. He was Head of the Department of Physical Chemistry and Professorial Fellow of King's College, University of Cambridge. John Meurig Thomas was knighted for services to chemistry and the popularisation of science. His biography of Michael Faraday has been translated into Japanese, Chinese and Italian. He has received numerous international and national awards for his work, including the Royal Medal of the Royal Society for his contributions to green chemistry and clean technology. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Science, and of the Swedish and Russian Academies of Sciences.
Summary
The book presents a selection of the remarkable personalities who have worked at The Royal Institution in London. Many of them revolutionized various facets of science and technology, others were renowned for their general cultural contributions to the arts, literature, drama, anthropology, medicine, music, poetry, politics and religion.
Report
The publisher spared no expense in obtaining high--quality color reproductions of portraits and photos relating to TRI. Thomas intended the book as a popular treatment rather than a scholarly history. Although the text is annotated by footnotes, most of the material is drawn from secondary sources such as obituaries, and historians will find it more entertaining than illuminating. That said, for conveying what TRI is all about and documenting the scope and variety of famous people who passed through its doors over the years, this book has no peer. K. D. Stephan, Texas State University, CHOICE
