The Last Man Who Knew Everything

Thomas Young (1773-1829) was a man from a by-gone age. The last da Vinci, the extent of his knowledge and scale of achievement will perhaps never be matched. The subtitle to Andrew Robinson’s book from which this post borrows it’s title is Thomas Young, The Anonymous Polymath Who Provided Newton Wrong, Explained How We See, Cured the Sick, and Deciphered the Rosetta Stone, Among Other Feats of Genius. Readers of this blog might be interested to know Simon Singh describes (as does his wikipedia article) that, at the tender age of 14, Young was fluent in Latin and Greek and knew his way around French, Italian, Hebrew, German, Chaldean, Syriac, Samaritan, Arabic, Persian, Turkish and Amharic.

The conditions required for genius are diverse, there isn’t a formula, but there usually are subtle reasons. Young was distant from his Quaker parents and a keen autodidact – he believed that the need for a tutor was purely the result of a lack of self-discipline. He said of himself that he was born old and died young.

To those of us who recognize the importance of youth in shaping your own future and who desire to be informed human beings, the thought often occurs of men such as Young. To what extent should they be mimicked, copied and imitated? Upon reading of the lone, self-taught polymath, should we swiftly lock ourselves up in voluntary confinement? This is neither likely, nor wise. Genius probably can be developed and honed, but the decision should not be prescriptive. Besides, none of us really have any hope of achieving a fraction of what Young managed in his 55 years on planet Earth. Tentative talent too, rarely morphs into success later on. But, said Isaac Asimov of Young... "He was the best kind of infant prodigy, the kind that matures into an adult prodigy”.

I hope there are young readers of this blog who will achieve something like one of Young’s multitude of accolades – I also think it likely. Future scientists, authors, speakers and keen amateurs all can learn something from the early life of this admirable truth-seeker. An innocence; that all knowledge is attainable and worth attaining, should not be lost entirely with age. Young Freethinkers – let’s do our best to keep this freedom.