Thu, 30 Mar 2006
J.D.Bernal
Andrew Brown, J.D.Bernal The Sage of Science,
Oxford University Press
This thick (562 pages including index) describes a man
who was not thick at all, except, some would say, in his
political beliefs.
J.D. Bernal was the father of x-ray crystallography and
was known as Sage because of his wide knowledge of just about
everything. This was tested one day at lunch at his lab at
Cambridge University when one of his colleagues introduced
in a spirit of fun the topic of Mexican architecture. Sage's
response was to ask which period they were interested in
and then gave a lively talk. Just as well he wasn't
surrounded by the meanspirited... most of the time. During
WWII he worked on a number of projects where it was later
falsely said that he had made little contribution.
This biography traces J.D. Bernal from his birth in Ireland
through school and university and includes quite a lot of detail
of his work in crystallography, and also that of others in the field.
The time stretches through WWI and through WWII. It thus encompasses
the birth of Quantum Mechanics and various political movements
including communism and the nazis. J.D. Bernal, like quite a
few educated people of his time were very keen on the Russian
communist model. Cambridge, at the time also had the likes of Blunt and Philby
who would become famous spies. This is said to be Bernal's
blind spot as when the true measure of Stalin was becoming plain,
Bernal still stuck to his communist guns. In fairness, anyone
seeing the complete faillure of capitalism during the depression
could be forgiven for thinking there was a better model ...
particlularly people such as scientists who were regarded as
an elite in Russia - as long as they toed the political line.
Bernal also had a notoriously active sex life which is alluded
to in the book but not dealt with in a prurient way. What we end up
with is quite a detailed portrait of the man such that we feel
we might predict what is going to happen as circumstances arise.
All in all, the scholarship is breathtaking and it is all quite
readable as well. For those interested in the history of science,
this book is a worthy contender for the bookshelf and also for those
just interested in people.
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pre Dec 04 reviews are here
