Cavendish: The Experimental Life

by Christa Jungnickel, Russell McCormmach

This biography is an extensive revision of the authors' earlier Cavendish. Based upon new archival and secondary sources, it offers an enlarged understanding of the eighteenth-century world of science, a reevalution of the person of Henry Cavendish, and the first, and complete, edition of Henry Cavendish's scientific letters.

Genres: Biography, Science

814 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 1996

Reviews

[Craig · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an intriguing book and such an interesting man. Before I stumbled upon this I had no idea who Cavendish even was, but I am glad I read this. It was a particularly good book for my own research. but what was most interesting about him, is that way before we ever identified autism or Asperger's, Henry displayed this same characteristic in how his peculiarities, habits, dress, and food consumption were all daily routine for him, repeated virtually every single day. His quirks were so deep that once, because he accidentally ran into one of the housekeepers on the stairway to his office, he was so put off that he had them build a private external entrance from the outside so he wouldn't have any further awkward encounters. Yet at the same time his interest in science was incredible. He was the first person to figure out how to weigh the earth. Very interesting man! Great book.