Famous authors who were also scientists

[Admin]

Go through this list of search results

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Some of them were doctors and scientists, others just wrote about them.



<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: Admin on 2001-10-21 19:22 ]</font>

[Admin]

http://www.online-literature.com/keats/

[GaiusMariusJifus]

I'm not certain about his specific education, but I know that Arthur C. Clarke was personally involved in the operation design and the training of the Apollo missions and that he was employed by NASA as a special consultant and he has contributed in the design of several satelites. The idea of using the cetrifuge as a form of artificial gravity is attributed to Arthur C. Clarke.
Also Arthur Conan Doyle was a trained physician, which is why many think that the inspiration for Dr. Watson is the author himself.

[Homer]

I know John Steinbeck was a trained biologist. But does anybody know what other famous authors and writers of literature were also trained as scientists and engineers? I would appreciate any help. Need it for a speech! Thanks!

[Homer]

Thanks, everybody. Now that I think about it - my hero Homer Hickam (Rocket Boys/October Sky, Sky of Stone, etc.) is a trained engineer and scientist. I absolutely adore his books (I guess subconsciously that's why I chose Homer as my nick). Sky of Stone is reviewed this week in the NY Times (I live in New York) and it's another hit. I really hope everybody is reading his stuff. It's some of the best writing in the world today. Check out http://www.homerhickam.com.

[elvis]

hello &quot;homer&quot;, if that is your real name?
sorry but could you direct me to some worthwhile info on john keats

<font size=-1>[ This Message was edited by: elvis on 2001-10-24 07:11 ]</font>

[Peer Gynt]

C.P.Snow was a physicist

[cruciverbalist]

Lewis Carroll was a mathematician.

[Aurora Ariel]

The most I have heard of is in the genre of science fiction.I have not read as much about this in poetry.I only know of John Keats(who turned to only poetry later) and Erasmus Darwin(the grandfather of Charles Darwin who also wrote poems).Alot of sci-fi was written by those who had previously studied fields of science or were deeply interested in science in general.So they had some scientific knowledge or interest, even if they weren't a professional scientist all their lives.I also knew about Lewis Carroll, who came up with the idea of Alice while looking out of a window at Oxford University, and watching a specific girl.And H.G Wells also had an interest in science.I came across this link before, which has the favourite authors of various scientists; and some of the writers featured actually studied science as well.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/life/feature/story/0,13026,1290565,00.html

[Jekaterina]

Goethe was a scientist. He even considered some of his scientific work more important than Faust!

[starrwriter]

my hero Homer Hickam (Rocket Boys/October Sky, Sky of Stone, etc.) is a trained engineer and scientist. I absolutely adore his books (I guess subconsciously that's why I chose Homer as my nick).
So glad to see another Homer Hickam fan. I was a Homer in my small Michigan hometown in the late 1950s/early 1960s, firing off home-made rockets that scared the hell out of everyone. My buddy and I had detailed plans to send a liquid-fuel rocket across Lake Michigan to Wisconsin, but we couldn't afford to get the nozel cast at a local machine shop. More than one of my rockets blew up like a bomb (luckily, no one ever got hurt.) In hindsight I guess I didn't believe in my own mortality.

[starrwriter]

Michael Crichton got his MD because his father forced him to, but he never practiced medicine. He wrote "The Andromeda Strain" while he was still in college and the book's success led him to a writing career.

[imaditzyreader]

I read "Terminal Man" by Micheal Crichton in school. I thought that it was a grand story and I wanna look into "The Andromeda Strain". Is it very good?

[Aurora Ariel]

Yes, in my earlier post above I forgot to add Goethe.I actually remember reading about him and how he also studied science.Most sites discuss it in further detail:

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German novelist, dramatist, poet, humanist, scientist, philosopher, and for ten years chief minister of state at Weimar.

Goethe was one of the paramount figures of German literature and European Neo-classicism and Romanticism in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The author of Faust and Theory of Colours, he inspired Darwin with his independent discovery of the human premaxilla jaw bones and focus on evolution. Goethe's influence spread across Europe, and for the next century his works were a primary source of inspiration in music, drama, and poetry

*I also should mention the Romantic poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, who studied chemistry and astronomy as a young man; and hinted at a mysterious alchemist living in an attic as a teenager.He loved telescopes and flew a kite.
Yes...Shelley had some infamous experiments with electricity...

[BSturdy]

I must try reading some Goethe - I remember the quote, something like: The higher you soar the smaller you appear to those below. Maybe that was on someone's avatar here.

H G Wells did have some scientific training - he studied biology and was taught by TH Huxley (whose grandson Sir Julian Huxley became a famous biologist and Aldous Huxley was his brother). But H G didn't complete his BSc and became a writer.

Carl Sagan was a top scientist (astronomer) and played a leading role in NASA from the 50's up to the 90's. I don't think his books are classified as literature, but who cares? Cosmos is a beautifully written story.

I really like science novels (probably not the right term). John Gribbin is another favourite.