From GARRY TEE
John Nicholson justly emphasises that Michael Faraday never learnt mathematics
(Forum, 7 March); but then he asserts that Thomas Young (the inventor of
Young’s modulus of elasticity) ‘was another who did not use mathematics’.
Thomas Young (1773-1829) was a man of impressively varied achievements
in physiology and other experimental sciences. The texts of his publications
are frequently obscure, but the mathematics which he employed extensively
is often clearer than his text. The bibliography of his writings includes
the book Elementary Illustrations of the Celestial Mechanics of Laplace
and five mathematical papers.
Garry Tee University of Auckland New Zealand
