Men, Microscopes, and Living Things by Katherine B. Shippen
"Men, Microscopes, and Living Things" by Katherine B. Shippen is a historically rich exploration of significant figures in the development of scientific thought, particularly focusing on their contributions to biology and understanding of life. The book is organized into individual chapters, each serving as a short biography that emphasizes the impact of each scientist rather than their prominence or specific dates of birth and death. Beginning with Aristotle, often regarded as the first biologist, Shippen traces the evolution of scientific inquiry and knowledge through various eras, including the Roman period and the Renaissance, highlighting influential thinkers like Galen and Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, who pioneered the use of the microscope.
Shippen contextualizes these figures within their historical backgrounds, illustrating how cultural exchanges, particularly during the Renaissance, enriched scientific understanding. While primarily aimed at young readers, the book avoids controversy and emphasizes the foundational ideas that shaped modern science. The text is notable for its emphasis on the motivations and philosophical underpinnings of scientific discovery, making it a valuable resource for anyone interested in the history of science and its key contributors.
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Men, Microscopes, and Living Things by Katherine B. Shippen
First published: 1955; illustrated
Subjects: Nature and science
Type of work: Science
Recommended Ages: 13-18
Form and Content
Scientific knowledge is based on information and thought as it developed and evolved over thousands of years. Men, Microscopes, and Living Things brings this concept home to the reader. Divided into individual chapters, Katherine B. Shippen’s book highlights major figures in science in the context of their own lives and in the world that they knew.
Each chapter is itself a short biography of an individual. Figures are chosen not so much for their prominence but for the impact of their discoveries or thoughts. Each chapter is not merely a compilation of dates; indeed, the inclusion of even specific dates for birth or death is uncommon. Rather, emphasis is placed on the importance of a particular individual to the development of scientific thought.
The philosophy of the author is clear in the opening chapter, which presents a brief discussion of the nature of humankind and its place in the biological order. Humans have always been the dominant species; the question to be addressed, however, is how humans came to understand their relationship to other creatures. By what evolution of scientific thought did human beings come to accept their place in nature and gain a better understanding of the nature of all creatures? Shippen then brings her readers immediately to the story of “the first biologist,” Aristotle. Aristotle represents a paradigm of early Greek thought—or philosophy, as science was then called. Shippen’s biography contains an overview of Aristotle’s life and works. Among the questions addressed are those dealing with what he did, what he wrote, and, more important, why his works had the impact that they did. It was the ancient Greeks who founded the basis for science as it is known today, and it was Aristotle whose ideas had the greatest impact on that thought.
Each subsequent chapter deals with another scientist in a similar fashion. Shippen moves through numerous periods in history, emphasizing the person who had the most significant impact on science during a particular era. From Aristotle, readers move on to the Roman period, with Galen (physician to the gladiators) and Pliny. As readers pass through scientific history, into the Middle Ages and the Renaissance (the twelfth through sixteenth centuries), they can observe the effects of outside influences on science. New trade routes brought Europeans into contact with other cultures, such as Arab and Chinese: Both spices and knowledge were brought to Europe. The scientific establishment remained conservative, while individuals thirsted for new information and answers to questions dealing with nature in general and humans in particular. It was the invention of the microscope by Antoni van Leeuwenhoek, a Dutch lens maker and the owner of a dry-goods shop, that made it possible to address some of these questions.
Pictures and diagrams are rare in the book. It is the written word that brings the subject to the reader. In some cases, a subject’s own words are used to convey the importance, and excitement, of the discovery.
Critical Context
Katherine B. Shippen was a noted writer of numerous books for children and young adults for much of her professional career, as well as curator of social studies for the Brooklyn Children’s Museum. Her emphasis was on both history, epitomized by Passage to America (1952), the winner of the Boys’ Clubs of America Junior Book Award, and on science. Men, Microscopes, and Living Things was one of several books dealing with scientific history. It was followed by such titles as Mr. Bell Invents the Telephone (1955) and Men of Medicine (1957). While the specific subjects covered in each of her books varied, Shippen continued to emphasize the role of individual discovery in the larger context of scientific understanding.
In its time, Men, Microscopes, and Living Things was an important contribution to the body of science books for the young reader, and it was named a Newbery Honor Book. Rather than a compilation of the famous, the book placed an emphasis on those who laid the foundation of modern science. At an appropriate level, it provided a context for the names, dates, and facts that characterized much of the teaching of science. It addressed the question of the scientist—not so much what he did (and, in this era, it was primarily “he”), but rather why he thought this way. The book avoided controversy; for example, there is only an allusion to Darwin’s theory on the origins of humankind. It was, after all, written during the 1950’s. Yet, the book remains an excellent source as an overview on the origins of the scientific principles with which students are familiar today.