Surendra Verma

‘The Cause of Mosquitoes’ Sorrow’ might sound like a contender for some prestigious literary award, but the subtitle ‘Beginnings, Blunders & Breakthroughs in Science’ assures us this is a work of anecdote, not angst.

The cause of mosquitoes’ sorrow, by the way, is DDT, developed in 1939 as a pesticide by the Swiss chemist Paul Mueller – who was recognized with the Nobel Prize for Physiology in 1948 – although the original organic compound was synthesized by a German chemist back in 1874.

The stories of the Piltdown Man, N-Rays, and the batmen on the Moon are explored and exploded, together with accounts of Mauve [the first synthetic dye], climate change and colour blindness.

“Pi,’ we are told, ‘has captured the imagination of mathematicians since ancient times”. And that sums up the book in a nutshell: if you care that a supercomputer has calculated the value of Pi to 1, 241, 100, 000, 000 decimal places, this is the read for you.… (more)

It was a short book, very clearly written that summarizes the incident and the various theories to explain it. It spends most of the time on the valid scientific theories, but there is a chapter where it covers the wacky ones too. There still is no complete answer as we approach the 100 year (2008) anniversary.

The author is very clear with the scientific details, and doesn't get lost in the minutia. There is also a discussion of the KT event that is proposed to have wiped out the dinosaurs. Very interesting.… (more)