Villain of Steam: A Life of Dr. Dionysius Lardner (1793–1859)

In assessing Lardner we must not rush to judgement but, with the author, learn to appreciate the frailty of this human being whose weaknesses and foibles in the end led to incredible personal trauma and trouble. The book is written throughout with a true affection for 'the hero', and more importantly, with an appreciation of the astonishing social and scientific/technological importance of the man. The book bravely confronts in an honest fashion all the facets of the man, who was a true enigma; the reader will here begin to glimpse his extensive social footprint which touched generations of lives. This wonderful book is thoroughly researched and vividly written by a professional librarian who shares with us the fruits of her efforts to fully appreciate Lardner's legacy. Steam, scandal and the six shilling sciences: Dionysius Lardner was an expert in all three. The most famous editor of his day, he rubbed shoulders with the rich and famous, commissioning Sir Walter Scott, Mary Shelley and Robert Southey to write for his encyclopaedia, and supporting Rowland Hill in the campaign for a cheap postal service. Satirised in cartoons by William Makepeace Thackeray and Daniel Maclise, he moved from his native Dublin first to London, and then to Philadelphia and Paris, promoting the Stephensons railways, helping Charles Babbage to publicise the calculating engine and producing books that inspired Charles Darwin and others to take up science. After he claimed that a successful steam passage across the Atlantic was as likely as a man walking on the moon his career was left in tatters. The crisis became worse when he fell disasterously in love with a married woman and found himself battling society in a downward spiral of scandal, disgrace and exile. In this first ever biography of the man Brunel fans love to hate, A. L. Martin draws together original material from many sources to rebuild Lardners astonishing, triumphant and surprisingly hilarious story.