American Scientist the Magazine of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Society
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A reprint from American Scientist the magazine of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society This reprint is provided for personal and noncommercial use. For any other use, please send a request to Permissions, American Scientist, P.O. Box 13975, Research Triangle Park, NC, 27709, U.S.A., or by electronic mail to [email protected]. ©Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society and other rightsholders knowledge through publishing, trade comprehensive view it provides of the Overall, this is a very well-written or exploration. In doing so, she goes origin of science and its evolution over and highly readable book. The lan- beyond merely recounting how science the past four millennia. Those inter- guage is clear and the arguments are itself developed to show how it has ested in more detail can find ideas for lucid. Frequent examples and anec- been shaped by cultural and economic further reading at the end of the book. dotes enliven dry, theoretical concepts. trends. An example is the revival of Regrettably, to some extent the book The text is subdivided into short chap- natural history during the Renaissance, falls victim to the author’s own scien- ters, each of which focuses on a differ- which owed more to the rapid expan- tific background. In places it draws a ent topic and reads like an indepen- sion of international trade—and to little too heavily on physics (the field dent essay. This makes it inviting for the desire of rich Europeans to adorn she was trained in) and related areas, readers who can devote no more than their homes with exotic plants and and it focuses too much on British sci- a few moments at a time to reading animals—than to the investigations ence. This slight bias is, however, offset or who are interested only in specific of scholars at universities. Fara also by the fact that most of the points Fara aspects or periods. Unfortunately, the analyzes how scientific discoveries in makes for one discipline or country ap- unnecessarily short chapter titles can turn shaped the politics and ideology ply equally to others. make it difficult to determine what of their time, such as when scientists One curious omission from this other- an individual chapter actually covers. and politicians in various countries mis- wise comprehensive book is the Roman But with the author’s engaging style appropriated Darwin’s ideas to justify Empire. Certainly, Roman scholars did of writing, even those dealing with large-scale eugenics programs. not excel in the sciences as much as topics that might not normally have Inevitably a book of only 400 pages those in Greece and in Islamic countries captured one’s interest become a plea- that tries to cover 4,000 years of human at around that time. But as Fara empha- sure to read. scientific endeavor must remain superfi- sizes when discussing the Middle Ages, cial in its treatment of individual topics. scientific progress very much depends Ralf Dahm is Director of Scientific Management This book therefore excels not so much on technological innovation too, and at the Spanish National Cancer Research Centre in the novelty of its insights regarding undoubtedly the ancient Romans were (CNIO) in Madrid and is a visiting professor at the different periods and cultures as in the great technological innovators. University of Padua, Italy. BIOGRAPHY searching the book, nearly every time he mentioned Cousteau’s name people would respond with testimonials about Archangel with Aqua-Lung how they had been changed by him. Craig McClain “Everybody had a story,” Matsen says, adding that not all of the stories were kind to Cousteau’s memory. JACQUES COUSTEAU: The Sea King. Brad Matsen. xviii + 296 pp. Pantheon Books, Matsen handles the issue of how to 2009. $27.95. separate the myths and legends from what was real about Cousteau’s life by n article by American journalist recruit many to be menfish and women- showing him from a number of differ- James Dugan that appeared in fish. I was one such recruit. Growing up ent perspectives, weaving the dispa- A Science Illustrated in December in a landlocked Southern state, in my rate stories told about Cousteau into of 1948 began as follows: youth I rarely visited the ocean, but I a cohesive narrative with a dramatic devoured every page of the 21-volume structure like that of a great novel. The In the clear, warm waters of the encyclopedia The Ocean World of Jacques early chapters describe the innovations French Riviera a new species of Cousteau. Those books and Cousteau’s that Cousteau and his collaborators large mammalian fish have been television programs were staples of my came up with that allowed for breath- observed in the last few years, childhood—my connection to the envi- ing, filming and living underwater. one-eyed monsters shaped and ronment, to which I later dedicated my Next come accounts of the events that colored like nude human beings career. As a marine biologist, I continue solidified his status as a legend: acqui- with green rubber tail fins, gills of to depend on technologies Cousteau sition of the Calypso, the minesweeper metal, and tubular scales on their developed decades ago to explore both that he converted into a research ship; backs. They are called Cousteau the shallow and deep oceans. The key to the many expeditions that followed; Divers. They swim around sport- his success in public outreach and edu- filmmaking, and the Oscar won in 1956 ively at hundred-foot depths, ex- cation was fascination, and that model by the documentary The Silent World; amining sunken ships, taking pho- guides my own efforts to educate the the launch of an enormously popular tographs, and harpooning big fish. public about oceans. Whenever anyone television series, The Undersea World They are the first of the menfish, a asks me what inspired me to become of Jacques Cousteau; and the founding new order of marine life invented a marine biologist, I always begin my of the Cousteau Society, a nonprofit by Lieutenant de Vaisseau Jacques- story with Jacques Cousteau. organization with “the protection and Yves Cousteau of the French Navy. Many people have a similar story improvement of life” as its mission. Jacques Cousteau died in 1997, but to tell. In the superb new biography Then a downward arc begins—the his remarkable ability to reveal worlds Jacques Cousteau: The Sea King, Brad television series declines in popular- below the ocean’s surface continues to Matsen notes that while he was re- ity and is canceled. In 1979 Cousteau’s 354 American Scientist, Volume 98 © 2009 Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society. Reproduction with permission only. Contact [email protected]. beloved son Philippe dies. The Cous- 24.5 feet wide with a displacement of teau Society deteriorates, exploration 270 tons. After starting out as a mine- giving way to “military campaigns” sweeper, she had been converted into to meet “a steady grind of production a ferry for passengers, cars and other deadlines.” In 1990 Cousteau’s wife cargo. Then Cousteau acquired her and dies. A few weeks later he reveals to transformed her from a mere seagoing his son Jean-Michel that he intends to vessel into the ship that ferried his vi- marry Francine Triplet, a woman he sion around the world. has been secretly seeing for 15 years, Cousteau once said to his son Jean- with whom he has two children. When Michel that his life was “a lot of little Cousteau dies a few years later, having things that came together just right.” designated his new wife his successor, The book confirms this: Matsen de- turmoil plagues the family and its en- scribes many instances in which events terprises. Matsen does not gloss over and people interconnected fortuitously any of this, candidly titling the final to provide the tools and opportunities chapter “Chaos.” Cousteau needed. When Cousteau was Small character portraits abound a young man serving in the French throughout the book, and Matsen ulti- Navy, he began swimming in the ocean mately portrays Cousteau as the sum of to help facilitate his recovery from a car his interactions with the people around accident, and the officer he swam with him. First we meet the woman who be- turned out to be a snorkeling enthusi- came his first wife, Simone Melchior, ast who introduced him to the world who later acquires the nickname “La beneath the water. (This same accident Bergère” (the Shepherdess) when she prevented Cousteau from becoming plays the role of caretaker for the crew an aviator, which presumably saved of the Calypso. Next we are introduced his life, given that every member of his to Philippe Tailliez and Frédéric Du- flight-school class was killed during In 1952 and 1953, making headlines all over mas, who with Cousteau formed the the first few weeks of World War II.) Europe, Cousteau and his crew worked from Sea Musketeers; the three men worked During the war, Cousteau’s superior Calypso to raise thousands of artifacts, includ- together to perfect skills and technolo- officers allowed him to continue exper- ing amphorae and Campanian pottery, from two Roman ships that sank more than 2,000 gies that made it possible to breathe imenting with diving and underwater years ago in the Marseilles basin off Grand- underwater. A few chapters later Mat- photography, recognizing that what he Congloué. The first underwater television sen shows Simone using her family con- learned might have military applica- camera was used during the project to allow nections to introduce Jacques to Émile tions. Decades later, the president of archaeologists to watch the divers so that they Gagnan, who will help him develop the the Explorers Club in New York, Tom could then advise them what to spend their first self-contained underwater breath- Moore, needed an after-dinner speaker time on.