Riddles of Science

by John Arthur Thomson, Bernard Jaffe (revised)

Some of those aspects of science which were but poorly understood, at the time of writing.

Genres: Science

222 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1932

About the author

Sir John Arthur Thomson FRSE LLD was a Scottish naturalist who authored several notable books and was an expert on soft corals. He was the second son of Isabella Landsborough (1828 - 1905) and the Rev. Arthur Thomson (1823 - 1881), a minister in the Free Church of Scotland, originally from Muckhart.

He studied natural history at the University of Edinburgh graduating with an MA in 1880. He had already established a reputation as a worthy scientist within his first years and in 1887, aged 25, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. His proposers were Patrick Geddes, J. T. Cunningham, Sir John Murray and Robert McNair Ferguson.

He taught at the Royal (Dick) Veterinary College from 1893 until 1899 then University of Aberdeen from 1899 until 1930 as Regius Professor of Natural History (Aberdeen), the year he was knighted. His popular works sought to reconcile science and religion. Thomson's Outline of Science, published in 1922, sold more than one hundred thousand copies in five years.

Reviews

[Andrewcharles420 · Rating 2 out of 5]

To say the least, this book is dated--both culturally (as it appears to be written for your average mid-20th century Christian Scotsman), and scientifically (with the discovery of the structure and utility of DNA being the most pointed (IMO) missing discovery). Both of these aspects make it difficult to recommend to anyone. I skipped over many questions that I didn't find interesting or for which I knew the history of fairly well. Would have been disappointed acquiring this at a garage sale but it was amusing enough to find on a rented beach house bookshelf.

[Dona]

Riddles of Science by By Sir J. Arthur Thomson (1958)