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written a vast amount of material, very little has survived, some letters intact and some fragments. Most of his work is known from later writers reporting on his life. His philosophical ideas all but disappeared throughout the middle ages, finding a revival of interest in the twentieth century.Eratosthenes (c.276–194 BCE).Eratosthenes was a Greek mathematician and astronomer born in Cyrene. He was in charge of the library at Alexandria and regarded as the greatest polymath of his time. Besides calculating the circumference of the earth, he wrote on geography and literary criticism. Only fragments of his work remain, secondary sources providing most of the information regarding his accomplishments.Figuier, Louis (1819–1894).Born in Montpelier, Figuier trained in medicine and became professor at L'Ecole de Pharmacie of Paris. He wrote extensively on matters scientific and held some extreme views. His wife was a writer of novels.Fitzroy, Robert (1805–1865).Born at Ampton Hall in Suffolk. At the age of 12, he entered the Royal Naval College and a year later, he joined the Royal Navy. He commanded the Beagle on its five‐year voyage with Darwin. Not long after arriving back in 1836, Fitzroy married Mary Henrietta O'Brien, they had four children. After the death of Mary, Fitzroy married Maria Smyth in 1854 and had one daughter. He became Member of Parliament (Tory) for Durham in 1841.Galilei, Galileo (1564–1642).Born in Pisa, as the son of a musician, he studied music before mathematics and physics. At 25, he was professor of mathematics at Pisa. After he had moved to Padua, Marina Gamba moved in with him. Although they never married, there were three children. He came into direct conflict with the Papacy and at the age of 69 was sentenced to house arrest. His life was filled with mathematical and scientific accomplishments for which he is justifiably remembered.Gesner, Conrad (1516–1565).Born in poverty in Zürich, Switzerland, he was sponsored to study theology and languages in France and medicine in Basel, later to become city physician in Zürich. His interests were wide and he is often considered a true polymath, writing on scientific matters as well as languages and bibliography.Gillray, James (1757–1815).Gillray was born in Chelsea, a trooper's son. It was in about 1784 that he became known as an engraver. His work contained many satirical ideas, for which he became justly famous. For the last four years of his life he was judged to be insane.Goldschmidt, Richard (1878–1958).Gldschmidt was born in Frankfurt and educated in the classical tradition, gaining a place at Heidelberg University, studying anatomy and zoology. He moved to University of Munich to study nematode histology but became interested in genetics. In 1909 he became professor at Munich and studied sex determination. In 1914 he was stranded in Japan with the outbreak of WWI. Travelling to the USA he was interred, returning to Germany in 1918. As the political situation worsened, he realised it was no longer safe for him in Germany, so in 1936 he moved to the USA becoming professor at Berkley, University of California.Gosse, Philip (1810–1888)Born in Worcester, Gosse went to North America in 1827. It was in Jamaica that he became a professional naturalist with a particular interest in coastal marine species, a subject which he expanded on when he returned to the UK.Gutenberg, Johannes Gensfleisch (1400–1468).Born in Mainz, he moved to Strasbourg where it is thought he trained and worked as a goldsmith from 1430 to 1444. About 1450 he entered into a partnership to fund a printing press. Five years later the partnership ended and his partner received the printing equipment in lieu of the unpaid debt. Gutenberg is credited with the invention of printing, although the details are not clear, his early products and development of the art were seminal.Haeckel, Ernst (1834–1919).Haeckel was born in Potsdam, studying in Würzburg, Berlin and Vienna and becoming professor of Zoology at Jena between 1862 and 1909. He travelled widely and wrote on many different biological subjects, being one of the first to produce a genealogical tree of life.Hawkins, Benjamin Waterhouse (1807–1894).Born in Bloomsbury, London, Benjamin was the son of an artist. His early education was in art and sculpture, only in his 20s did he become interested in natural history and geology. Hawkins was married to Mary Green in 1826, but left her and their children to enter a bigamous marriage with Francis Keenan with whom he had more children. After the death of Mary in 1880, he re‐married Francis Keenan, mainly to legitimise their children. Francis died in 1884.Herodotus (c.485–425 BCE).A Greek philosopher, Herodotus was born at Halicarnassus. He travelled extensively in and around Greece and the Mediterranean. He collected considerable information regarding history, geography and social motivations. This information formed the basis for his Histories. So comprehensive was his work that Cicero called him ‘the father of history’.Hokusai, Katsushika (1760–1849).Born in Tokyo, he was apprenticed to a wood‐engraver where he learnt the traditional commerative engraving technique, surimono. He quickly went his own way, moving into the more modern Ukiyoye style. His skill and versatility were renowned and he studied Dutch painting before his most famous illustrations were produced, from 1823 onwards.Homer.Homer is the name of an author of unknown provenance and debatable existence. It is not even certain whether the works attributed to the name were even written by the same person.Hooke, Robert (1635–1703).Born on the Isle of Wight, he moved to London in 1660 and in 1662 helped found the Royal Society. During the 1660s he formulated what we now know as Hooke's law, dealing with the elastic limit of materials, and realised a spiral spring could control a clock, although it was Huygens who produced the first working model. In 1665 he published Micrographia describing the compound microscope and coined the use of the word cell in the biological sense. He was unrivalled as an improver of instruments, such as the microscope, barometer and telescope. Although he was greatly respected, it is said that his cantankerous nature made him difficult to deal with.Hooker, Joseph Dalton (1817–1911).Born in Halesworth, Suffolk, Hooker was educated at Glasgow High School and Glasgow University where he studied medicine. His interests were botanical and after many fruitful expeditions overseas took over as director of the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, a position his father had held. He married Francis Henslow in 1851 and had seven children, two years after her death in 1874, he married Lady Hyacinth Jardine (this could be an example of nominative determinism) and had two sons.Hubbard, Bernard (1888–1962).Born in San Francisco, he studied at several American Jesuit colleges and seminaries before moving to Innsbruck in Austria where he studied theology and was ordained a priest in 1923. Returning to the USA he taught theology and geology, regularly travelling in Alaska. He was often criticised for his inaccurate geology, a similar reception was found when he started anthropological studies in Alaska. He was a renowned and popular lecturer.Hutton, James (1726–1797).Born in Edinburgh, he was originally apprenticed to a lawyer, but moved to the continent and studied medicine there, graduating at Leyden. He never practised as a doctor, returning to Scotland to take up farming. This did not hold him and for 14 years he amassed a large sum by extracting ammonium chloride from soot. This financial independence allowed him to return to Edinburgh and devote himself to science.Huxley, Thomas Henry (1825–1895).Huxley was born in Ealing, the son of a school master, nonetheless he only received two years of formal instruction, being mainly self‐taught. Having studied medicine at Charing Cross Hospital, he entered the Royal Navy Medical Service. After a four‐year voyage around Australia he returned to become a self‐employed science writer in 1850, and by 1854 was lecturing on natural history at the School of Mines. He worked extensivel in zoology and palaeontology. His employment at the school of mines made him sufficiently financially stable for him to marry his Australian girl friend from eight years previously. Of their seven children there was Sir Julian (biologist) Aldous (writer) and Sir Andrew (Nobel Laureate 1963).Johnson, Samuel (1709–1784).Always referred to as Dr. Johnson, he was a lexicographer, writer and critic. Born in Lichfield, Staffordshire, he was a keen reader from an early age in his father’s bookshop. He was educated at Lichfield Grammar School and Pembroke College, Oxford. After a period as a teacher, he moved to London where he made a living as a writer. He married a widow 20 years his senior, who died in 1752, plunging Johnson into depression. In 1755 his famous dictionary was published and although a lasting success, Johnson was short of money. In 1760 he was granted £300 a year for life by George III which gave him financial security for the first time.Kepler, Johannes (1571–1630).Kepler was the son of a mercenary. He studied theology at Tubingen, but was more interested in mathematics. It was mathematics that he taught at a protestant seminary in Graz. He was forced out of his position in 1600 on religious grounds. As a consequence, he joined Tycho Brahe and being unable to fit observations to the Copernican cosmology formulated
