Title: The Last Man Who Knew Everything
First published: December 7, 2005
Description: No one has given the polymath Thomas Young (1773–1829) the all-round examination he so richly deserves—until now. Celebrated biographer Andrew Robinson portrays a man who solved mystery after mystery in the face of ridicule and rejection, and never sought fame.

As a physicist, Young challenged the theories of Isaac Newton and proved that light is a wave. As a physician, he showed how the eye focuses and proposed the three-colour theory of vision, only confirmed a century and a half later. As an Egyptologist, he made crucial contributions to deciphering the Rosetta Stone. It is hard to grasp how much Young knew.

This biography is the fascinating story of a driven yet modest hero who cared less about what others thought of him than for the joys of an unbridled pursuit of knowledge—with a new foreword by Martin Rees and a new postscript discussing polymathy in the two centuries since the time of Young. It returns this neglected genius to his proper position in the pantheon of great scientific thinkers.
Subjects: Physicians, Linguists, Science, Scientists, Discoveries in science, Biography, History, Young, thomas, 1773-1829, Scientists, biography, Physicians, biography, Science, history, Physicians, great britain, BG, BGT, BJ, HDDG, BIO000000, BIO015000, HIS002030, decipher, Egyptologist, physician, physicist, Rosetta Stone, Thomas Young
Places: Great Britain
People: Thomas Young (1773-1829)
Time periods: 19th century, 18th century
LC classification: Q143.Y7 R63 2006