The 100 Most Influential Scientists of All Time (43 page)

In
Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language
(1999), Pinker focused on the human faculty for language, offering an analysis of the cognitive mechanisms that make language possible. Exhibiting a lively sense of humour and a talent for explaining difficult scientific concepts clearly, he argued that the phenomenon of language depended essentially on two distinct “ingredients,” or mental processes—the memorization of words and the manipulation of them with rules of grammar. Among Pinker's later books were
The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature
(2002) and
The Stuff of Thought: Language as a Window into Human Nature
(2007).

Pinker's work, while enthusiastically received in some circles, stirred controversy in others. Predictably, there were religious and philosophical objections to Pinker's strictly biological approach to the mind, but scientific questions were raised as well. Many scientists, including paleobiologist Stephen Jay Gould, felt that the data on natural selection were as yet insufficient to support all of Pinker's claims and that other possible influences on the brain's development existed. Although he conceded that there was much research left to be done, Pinker—along with a considerable number of other experts—remained convinced that he was on the right track.

abreaction
The discharging of unconscious emotional material through verbalization.

anatomical
How the body of a human or animal is constructed.

binomial nomenclature
The uniform system for naming natural genera and species.

climatology
The study of climates and meteorological phenomena.

diamagnetism
Being repelled by a magnet.

dissection
A detailed analysis through cutting and exploration of human or animal anatomy.

eccentric
Deviating from a standard elliptical orbit.

epicycle
A small circle, the centre of which moves on the circumference of a larger circle at whose centre is Earth.

equant
A circle around whose circumference a planet moves uniformly.

equinox
Two times a year when the Sun crosses the celestial equator, creating a day during which daylight and nighttime are of roughly equal length.

eugenics
The theory that the human race can be improved by selectively breeding specific individuals with one another.

ferromagnetism
The result of substances such as iron and nickel that are extremely susceptible to electromagnetic forces.

geocentric
Earth-centred.

harbinger
An event that foreshadows a different, future event.

heliocentric
Sun-centred.

homeopathy
A system of therapy based on the concept that illness-bearing substances have a curative effect when given in very dilute quantities to sick people with a disease caused by the same substances.

humours
The four main bodily fluids—blood, yellow bile, black bile, and phlegm—linked to ancient diseases and cures.

linkage
The phenomenon that certain features are consistently inherited together.

naturalist
Someone who studies and knows a great deal about natural history, especially with regard to zoology or botany.

paramagnetism
When a substance in which an induced magnetic field is parallel and proportional to the intensity of the magnetizing field.

piezoelectricity
The generation of electricity or of electric polarity in dielectric crystals subjected to mechanical stress.

quantitative
Relating to or based on quantity.

stoichiometry
The complete depiction of the principles of chemical combining proportions.

syllogism
A deductive argument that has a major premise, a secondary or minor premise, and a conclusion; going from general to specific reasoning to reach a conclusion.

taxonomy
The classification of organisms in an ordered way that highlights natural relationships.

thermodynamics
The study of the relationships and conversions between heat and other forms of energy.

ungulates
Creatures that have hooves.

Ackerman, Jane.
Louis Pasteur and the Founding of Microbiology
. Greensboro, NC: Morgan Reynolds Publishing, 2004.

Bird, Kai, and Sherwin, Martin J.
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer
. Conshohocken, PA: Atlantic Books, 2008.

Bowman-Kruhm, Mary.
The Leakeys: A Biography
. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005.

Brown, Kevin.
Penicillin Man: Alexander Fleming and the Antibiotic Revolution
. Salem, MA: The History Press, 2005.

Cousteau, Jacques.
The Human, the Orchid, and the Octopus: Exploring and Conserving Our Natural World
. New York, NY: Bloomsbury USA, 2008.

Darwin, Charles.
The Origin of the Species: 150th Anniversary Edition
. New York, NY: Penguin Group, 2003.

da Vinci, Leonardo, edited by H. Anna Suh.
Leonardo's Notebook
. New York, NY: Black Dog and Levanthal Publishers, Inc., 2005.

Finocchiaro, Maurice A., ed.
The Essential Galileo
. Indianapolis, IN: Hackett Publishing Company, Inc., 2008.

Frankenberry, Nancy H.
The Faith of Scientists: In Their Own Words
. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2008.

Goldsmith, Barbara.
Obsessive Genius: The Inner World of Marie Curie
. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2005.

Greene, Meg.
Jane Goodall: A Biography
. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2005.

Hawking, Stephen.
A Briefer History of Time
. New York, NY: Bantam, 2008.

Jardine, Lisa.
The Curious Life of Robert Hooke: The Man Who Measured London
. New York, NY: Harper Perennial, 2005.

Kluger, Jeffrey.
Splendid Solution: Jonas Salk and the Conquest of Polio
. New York, NY: Berkley Books, 2006.

MacGillivray, Alex.
Rachel Carson's Silent Spring
. Hauppauge, NY: Barron's Educational Series, 2004.

Neffe, Jurgen.
Einstein: A Biography
. New York, NY: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 2007.

Rose, Steven, ed.
The Richness of Life: The Essential Stephen Jay Gould
. New York, NY: W.W. Norton & Company, Inc., 2006.

Thurschwell, Pamela.
Sigmund Freud
. New York, NY: Routledge, 2009.

Van Gorp, Lynn.
Gregor Mandel: Genetics Pioneer
. Mankato, MN: Compass Point, 2009.

Whitaker, Andrew.
Einstein, Bohr, and the Quantum Dilemma: From Quantum Theory to Quantum Information
. New York, NY: University Press, 2006.

A

absolute temperature scale,
192

Academy of Sciences, Paris,
113
,
116
,
117
,
136
,
184
,
231

Adam's Ancestors
,
282

Ad Vitellionem Paralipomena, Quibus Astronomiae Pars Optica Traditur
(“Supplement to Witelo, in Which Is Expounded the Optical Part of Astronomy”),
72

Agassiz, Louis,
132
,
164–167

Alberti, Leon Battista,
41

alchemy,
37
,
38
,
40
,
52
,
78
,
80
,
91
,
243–244

Almagest
,
29–30
,
31–32

Alpher, Ralph,
286–287

Alvarez: Adventures of a Physicist
,
302

Alvarez, Luis W.,
14
,
300–302

Alvarez, Walter,
301

ampere, the,
135
,
138

Ampère, André-Marie,
13
,
134–138
,
140
,
158

Ampère, Jean-Jacques,
135
,
136

Ampère's law,
137

analytic psychology,
242

anatomical drawings,
42–44

anatomical studies,
41
,
42

anatomy, study of,
10–11
,
22
,
32–34
,
35
,
41
,
42
,
54
,
55–56
,
57

animal classification,
128
,
129
,
166

“animal electricity,”
106
,
107

Animals of East Africa
,
282

anthrax,
12
,
183
,
188
,
211–212

Anthropology: A Human Science
,
278

anthropology, science of,
276–278
,
283–284

antibiotics,
13
,
253
,
254–255
,
263–264

antiseptic medicine,
13
,
195
,
197–199

ants, study of,
320–322
,
323

Ants, The
,
323

Apotelesmatika (Astrological Influences)
,
32

Aqua-Lung,
298

Arago, François,
132
,
136

archaeology, science of,
280–284

Aristotle,
9–10
,
19
,
22–26
,
27
,
32
,
33
,
36
,
38
,
47
,
49
,
59
,
60
,
66
,
68
,
77
,
80
,
310

Ars deformationum
(“Art of Deformation”),
62

Articuli centum et sexaginta
(“160 Articles”),
61

artificial intelligence,
302
,
305

artificial life,
302
,
306

Asclepius,
10
,
17–18
,
21

Astronomia Nova (New Astronomy)
,
72

Astronomy and Cosmology
,
311

Atkinson, R.,
286

atomic bomb,
250
,
259
,
260
,
274
,
275
,
287
,
289–290
,
293
,
295
,
300
,
316

atomic theory,
123
,
124–126
,
157

Audubon, John James,
154–155

Avery, Oswald,
313

Avicenna,
10
,
36–37
,
52

Avogadro, Amedeo,
125
,
138–142

Avogadro's number,
138
,
142
,
224
,
240

B

Bachman, John,
155

Bacon, Roger,
37–40

bacteriology,
11
,
81
,
211
,
212–213
,
253
,
254

Balinese Character: A Photographic Analysis
,
276

Bates, Henry Walter,
189

Bateson, William,
182
,
227–228

Beagle
, HMS,
168

Becquerel, Henri,
230
,
231
,
233

Benedict, Ruth,
276
,
278

Berzelius, Jöns Jacob,
125
,
148
,
149–154
,
205

Bethe, Hans,
286–287
,
291–294
,
316

big-bang theory,
285
,
287
,
310–311
,
331

binomial nomenclature,
93
,
96–97

Biot, Jean-Baptiste,
143

Birds of America, The
,
155

Blackberry Winter
,
278

blackbody radiation,
223–224

black holes, theory of exploding,
330
,
331

Blagden, Charles,
98

Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature, The
,
338

Bloch, Felix,
300

Boas, Franz,
276

Bohr, Niels,
241
,
256–260
,
288

Bohr atomic model,
256–257

Boltwood, Bertram Borden,
238–239
,
240

Boltzmann constant,
224

Bondi, Hermann,
310

Bonpland, Aimé,
130–131

Book of Healing
,
36
,
37

Borlaug, Norman Ernest,
306–308

Born, Max,
288

Boscovich, Ruggero Giuseppe,
124
,
157

Boyle, Robert,
79–80
,
84

Boyle's law (Boyle-Mariotte law),
80
,
204–205

Bragg, William Lawrence,
292

Brahe, Tycho,
31
,
57–59

Breuer, Josef,
216
,
217

Briefer History of Time, A
,
332

Brief History of Time: From the Big Bang to Black Holes, A
,
332

Brown, Gerald,
294

Brown, W.L.,
320

Bruno, Giordano,
59–63