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Thomas Harriot: A life in science by Robyn Arianrhod

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November 2019, no. 416

Thomas Harriot: A life in science by Robyn Arianrhod

Oxford University Press, $45 hb, 370 pp, 9780190271855

Thomas Harriot: A life in science by Robyn Arianrhod

by
November 2019, no. 416

Galileo and Kepler went down in history for prising European science from the jaws of medieval mysticism and religion. But where was England’s equivalent? Newton would not make his mark for another century. Surely the free-thinking Elizabethans also had a scientific star?

They did: Thomas Harriot (c.1560–1621). Most of us have never heard of him, for Harriot did not publish his findings. His day job was teaching navigation to Sir Walter Raleigh’s ship captains. Queen Elizabeth’s favourite was intent on colonising North America for the Crown. But it was also down to Harriot’s personality: retiring, cautious, and meticulous.

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