Henry Thomas Schnittkind (1886-1970) was the full name of the American author who also wrote under the pen name Henry Thomas. Highly educated, with a PhD from Harvard, his subjects ranged from mathematics and politics to biography and philosophy. In a Who's Who entry from the late 1930s, he listed his hobby as "education of the masses."
I just love an easy-reading book that accomplishes its main goal: To make the reader more knowledgeable about the written subject matter. And this book certainly did that for me, with flair. Henry Thomas wrote books for the Average Joe which could be translated as keeping Joe interested without getting too fancy-schmancy. Goal completed.
Each scientist gets about 12-15 pages each with information about their discoveries, their personal lives, and their final years. It's all placed in chronological order so the reader can trace the advancement of science through the ages with each subject getting an appropriate logo based on their specialty (natural history, astronomy, chemicals). Like I said, easy to read. Published in 1941, this was probably used by libraries for school reports. Einstein was still alive at that time, so it's interesting to see the author writing of him as a "present" personage.
Since I was never a science person (it was my worst subject), I never really knew what most of these scientists did to earn fame. Now I know. A good, decent, middle-class type of book and one that gets added permanently to my collection. Another great secondhand bookshop find.
Every life moves far too swiftly. A few anecdotes, one or two passages of laughter, a midnight flight of sorrow, and then the end.