From Tim Boardman
I was interested in your editorial extolling the poetic lament for NASA’s Kepler satellite (25 May, p 3). Another scientist who turned to poetry is the 18th-century polymath Erasmus Darwin, member of the Birmingham Lunar Society and Charles’s grandfather, after whom my place of work – Erasmus Darwin Academy – is named.
Among other topics, his verses feature a proto-theory of evolution, which doubtless would have influenced his grandson. Even more prescient was his suggestion of something not unlike the big bang theory (albeit preceded by a big crunch) in his short poem To the Stars.
Stafford, UK
