xiv
Preface
I have tried to tell the story simply and—hopefully—entertainingly by
sprinkling the facts with anecdotes and events involving important and wellknown personalities. I have avoided overloading the text with data, references,
and documentation. There is no cumbersome academic apparatus of footnotes and textual bibliographical citations, although there are bibliographical
notes in the back matter for those readers who wish to delve further into various aspects of the story told here. Neither will you find exhaustive accounts of
scientific discoveries and achievements. All that is now amply available in
great detail on the internet (web addresses are given where you will find all the
facts and figures).
Since the events described are interrelated and overlap, the book is conceived as a mosaic of self-contained chapters that do not follow a strict chronological order. I hope, nevertheless, that the overall collection brings the global
picture into sharp relief.
You will see as you read on that scientific research is heavily influenced by
the political and economic vicissitudes of the moment—even more so in
Spain, where wealthy patrons are few indeed. But you will also come to realize
that this weakness is always surmountable through constancy. Not all the stories told here are as epic or literary as those related in the first chapters. Some
chapters may even seem heavy going because of their densely packed content.
This book has been a labour of love, but I have throughout endeavoured to be
rigorous.
La Laguna, Spain 2019
Francisco Sánchez
Preface
I have tried to tell the story simply and—hopefully—entertainingly by
sprinkling the facts with anecdotes and events involving important and wellknown personalities. I have avoided overloading the text with data, references,
and documentation. There is no cumbersome academic apparatus of footnotes and textual bibliographical citations, although there are bibliographical
notes in the back matter for those readers who wish to delve further into various aspects of the story told here. Neither will you find exhaustive accounts of
scientific discoveries and achievements. All that is now amply available in
great detail on the internet (web addresses are given where you will find all the
facts and figures).
Since the events described are interrelated and overlap, the book is conceived as a mosaic of self-contained chapters that do not follow a strict chronological order. I hope, nevertheless, that the overall collection brings the global
picture into sharp relief.
You will see as you read on that scientific research is heavily influenced by
the political and economic vicissitudes of the moment—even more so in
Spain, where wealthy patrons are few indeed. But you will also come to realize
that this weakness is always surmountable through constancy. Not all the stories told here are as epic or literary as those related in the first chapters. Some
chapters may even seem heavy going because of their densely packed content.
This book has been a labour of love, but I have throughout endeavoured to be
rigorous.
La Laguna, Spain 2019
Francisco Sánchez