The Last Man Who Knew Everything: Thomas Young, The Anonymous Polymath Who Proved Newton Wrong…
Review
Though the author cheerfully acknowledges that Thomas Young didn’t know everything and isn’t necessarily the last polymath to have lived, this biography is an attempt to to paint a better picture of this unique man and his contributions. It’s worth noting that he was a child prodigy who, as Isaac Asimov noted, matured to an adult prodigy, a relatively rare occurrence. If you see the name Young attached to optics, color theory, linguistics and many other fields, this is the guy. While a few of his contributions are somewhat ambiguous and his clashes with Champollion are well-documented, this biography places things in a different light and is worthwhile if only for that.
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