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https://theconversation.com/how-do-we-understand-life-on-earth-an-18th-century-rivalry-charts-the-tension-between-two-types-of-science-genius-259132>
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Review: Every Living Thing – The Great and Deadly Race to Know all Life –
Jason Roberts (Hachette)
The modern science biography must hold back no punches in its mission to
represent the subject’s life, equally celebrating their great works while
including their personal shortcomings.
Jürgen Neffe’s
Einstein: A Biography (2005) and Dava Sobel’s
The Elements of
Marie Curie (2024) are wonderful examples of this style. Such books succeed in
clearly explaining the complex science of their subject’s work for
non-scientific readers, enabling a deep appreciation of their achievements and
bringing them to life as rounded, flawed humans.
Jason Roberts’
Every Living Thing – The Great and Deadly Race to Know all
Life is another of these rare works. This engrossing, precisely researched
book focuses on two central characters born in the same year: Carl Linnaeus
(1707-1778), a Swede, and Frenchman Georges-Louis LeClerc, the Compte de Buffon
(1707-1788), better known as just Buffon.
Roberts’ book won the 2025 Pulitzer Prize for biography. His writing pulls the
reader effortlessly through the story, revealing delightful, unexpected twists
and turns in the two men’s complex and disparate lives. Each worked diligently
to reach a level of global notoriety for their many published books. Both are
revered in the natural history world today.
Linnaeus, a biologist and physician, is known for his system of hierarchical
classification: how all living things comprise a genus and species, (we humans
are
Homo sapiens), which fit into families, orders, classes and so on. (A
good many intermediate ranks were added later). While his work has been hugely
influential, Linnaeus is portrayed by Roberts at times as being lazy, vain and
unethical.
Linnaeus was primarily driven to be the first to name new species. Buffon was
working on a grand thesis of how all life’s organisms function and are related
to one another. A wealthy count who inherited a vast fortune at the age of ten,
Buffon trained as a lawyer but became fascinated by the trees that grew in his
large garden.
Buffon is best known today for his extensive books on natural history and works
on mathematics and cosmology. He calculated the Earth was much older than the
Bible predicted and that life sprung from unorganised matter. He explored the
relationships between organisms rather than how they were classified. His core
work formed the basis for modern evolutionary theory.
Why was all this important? At the time, the task of classifying plants was
vital to the growing economies of nations. Travellers to the far reaches of the
globe brought back examples of economically valuable new species, like plant
foods, medicinal plants or beautiful ornamental specimens.
The author’s central thesis is Linnaeus was not as brilliant as history paints
him and Buffon was a far greater genius for his day. Where does genius come
from, Roberts asks? Is it inherent by birth, grown from an inspiring education,
or is it something within that is nurtured by passion?
Both these brilliant men who made a lasting mark on science came from not very
inspiring families. Nor did they excel at school or university. This story
shows success in academic work is not just about intellect, but intimately tied
to the ethics and morality of doing research."
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
