Jean Fernel and the humanist spirit
Jean Fernel (1497-1558) embodied the humanist spirit of the Renaissance. He studied philosophy (especially Aristotle), astrology, arithmetic, mathematics and Latin literature before devoting his life to medicine. He conducted a comprehensive synthesis of the medical system of Galen, and invented the terms “ physiology ” and “ pathology ”. His taste for teaching, his extensive clinical practice, his benevolent attitude to the sick, and his consideration for individuals and for human nature all contribute to Jean Fernel’s image as a humanist. He was the most famous physician of hi...
Joseph Fouché, Villain Of The French Revolution
There are always those who see opportunity in chaos. The destruction of the old order leaves gaps that need filling, and “men of vision” see nobody better than themselves to fill those gaps. This does require a certain moral flexibility, of course. A willingness to leave behind your old beliefs and embrace new ones even more fervently. There were many such men who rose and fell during the French Revolution, but few were as blatant or as successful as Joseph Fouché.Fouché was born in the tiny village of Le Pellerin in western France in 1759. His father Julien Joseph Fouché was a slave...
Theodore Beza: A Reassessment
The claim in recent years of a radical disjunction between the theologies of Calvin and the Calvinists has frequently come to focus on the seminal influence of Calvin's successor at Geneva, Theodore Beza. Scholars who have suggested Beza as the main culprit behind an increasing trend in sixteenth century Reformed theology to a rationalistic, scholastic, predestinarian rigidity include Ernst Bizer, Walter Kickel, Basil Hall, Brian G. Armstrong, Johannes Dantine, Edward A. Dowey Jun., John W. Beardslee III, and R. T. Kendall. Indeed, in order to appreciate Beza's significance we a...
The Man Who Put the "Big" in "Big Bang": Alan Guth on Inflation
On the night of December 6, 1979--32 years ago today--Alan Guth had the “spectacular realization” that would soon turn cosmology on its head. He imagined a mind-bogglingly brief event, at the very beginning of the big bang, during which the entire universe expanded exponentially, going from microscopic to cosmic size. That night was the birth of the concept of cosmic inflation.Such an explosive growth, supposedly fueled by a mysterious repulsive force, could solve in one stroke several of the problems that had plagued the young theory of the big bang. It would explain why space is so...
Claude Monet and the birth of Impressionism
Carla Rachman, the author of our Art & Ideas book on Monet (born 174 years ago this very day), tells a lovely story about how she once stood in the street with four post cards: a Monet, a Turner, a van Gogh and a da Vinci. “When I asked the people passing which one they’d like to own, they opted almost universally for the Monet - an image of The Japanese Bridge,” she says. When Carla asked what had drawn them to the image their replies were also universal, and a variation on “Because I find it beautiful". The story is telling in a number of ways – not least that it was Monet’...
