The Waterbury Democrat., 1943-02-11

pdBe"IOr"pdge VdLueI UI1e biographies
A good biography can give your
sagging personal spirits q lift, in
spire you to greater work and
greater achievements. It can pre-
serve factual background better
than an historical novel, and 1t can
be definitely entertaining. Here are
three important biographies, recon-
mended to your attention.
MAN OF SCIENCE
TNHE name Of Willard Gibbs Is
L almost unknown to contempo-
rary Americans, yet by his achieve
nents In creative scientific thought
the keystone was laid for the great
structure Of scientific mad industrial
progress upon which we now so
Largely depend.
, In willard Gibbs: American
Genius" Doubleday Doran: $500
Muriel Rukeyser pays long overdue
tribute to one OF Americas great
test minds and traces lucidly the
history of Gibbs discoveries.
Gibbs, a professor at Yale Uni
versity, formulated the Phase Rule
In 1875 and In doing so propounded
what has become known as 1.-The
Rosetta stone Of science" BY show
ing that all cases conform to the
same laws he enabled scientists to
interpret data which might other
wise have remained dead In the
laboratory.
Son Of Josiah Gibbs, great phil
logist, Willard Gibbs spent almost
all his life In New Haven. With the
exception of few years spent In
study abroad, his world was bound
de by the green elrns and white
houses Of a small New England
town. His mind, however, knew no
boundaries Exploring realms of
mathematical conjecture In terms
completely cryptic to the laymen, he
yet evolved language for COM
munication of his discoveries which
is still spoken by modern scientists
and upon whose grammar are based
the technics by which our scientific
achievements are made, including
those which are helping us win this
wa rof mechanization.
Miss Rukeyser has written this
biography with consummate skill.
Tackling a difficult task of inter-
probation she has yet made clear
the record of the greatest creative
scientific mind America has yet
known. willard Gibbs: American
Genius" S difficult but infinitely
rewarding book.
MAN OF INVENTION
T ESS technical and equally inter-
II esting is "The American Leo
nardo," biography Of Samuel F.
B. Morse, by Carleton Mabee
(Knopf: So. Best known to lis to-
day for his accomplishments in the
fields Of science and invention.
Morse was equally we'll known in
his own time as a painter. In fact,
he combined in his lifetime four
careers-that of artist, that of in
ventor, that of businessman and
financier, and that of politician. AS
politician. he was unsuccessful,
but in the other three fields he met
with distinguished success, despite
the more than usual difficulties and
nlisfortunes which were entailed.
In this portrait Of Morse, Mabee
has painted excellently a whole
period as reflected In the colorful
personality of one of its representa-
tive men. Written skillfully. THE
American Leonardo" Is highly rec
commended as q first-rate study of
q distinguished American and his
time,
MAN OF DREAMS
THE world will not forget Jules
i Verne. Half q century before
man came TO know airplanes. SUBJ
marines, long range guns and pow.
erful telescopes as fact, this great
French story teller was introducing
them as Action. George Y. Waltz.
Jr.. reeoufts the full life story Of
the wFiter-selentist- adventurer and
dreamer IN Jules Verne-The Bio
graphy Of an Imagination" (Holti
e2.b0l.
Every reader WIN recall the thrills
o. Ten thousand Leagues Under
the Sea" and al the other Verne
adventures. Fantastic aa they mas
have seemed a the time OF firat
publication, they created the spark
q hops and Inventive genius N
those who read them and they eau |
be credited as the Inspiration Of
subsequent discoveries.
while Verne Was no scientist
WaiiA llplnta nli, 10 vas "a eAnei-