Biography

Thomas Harriot: A life in science by Robyn Arianrhod

Item: Thomas Harriot
Author: Elizabeth Finkel

by Elizabeth Finkel •

November 2019, no. 416

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

Biography

Thomas Harriot: A life in science by Robyn Arianrhod

by Elizabeth Finkel •

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.

Elizabeth Finkel

Elizabeth Finkel is a former biochemist who switched to journalism. She co-founded Cosmos Magazine, serving as Editor in Chief from 2013 to 2018, and is now Editor at Large. She has published two books: Stem Cells (2005), which won the Queensland premier’s Literary award and The Genome Generation (2012). Her work is regularly anthologised in Best Australian Science Writing. Her journalism has earned her numerous awards, membership of the order of Australia (AM), and in 2019 a medal by the Australian Society for Medical Research. Besides journalism, she now serves as a Vice Chancellor’s fellow at La Trobe University and on advisory committees for Latrobe University Press, two centres of excellence (OzGrav, and CABAH), and the Melbourne Zoo.