Mirage: Napoleon's Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt

Science News,  Jan 12, 2008  

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MIRAGE: Napoleon's Scientists and the Unveiling of Egypt

NINA BURLEIGH

When Napoleon invaded Egypt in 1798, he brought along some 150 civilian specialists, including astronomers, botanists, chemists, engineers, mathematicians, and even an opera singer. Journalist Burleigh tells the story of Napoleon's Egyptian expedition through the eyes of its scientists and engineers. As the venture unraveled, the savants coped with insurgencies, plague, military politics, and an international dispute over who owned their notes and specimens. Remarkably, some science did get done. Biologists studied mummies and crocodiles. Joseph Fourier started thinking about heat conduction. The savants' most widely known discovery, an inscribed stone discovered in the town of Rosetta, ended up in the hands of the British. Yet when the survivors of the expedition finally limped home, Egypt indeed had become less mysterious. HarperCollins, 2007, 286 p., b&w illustrations, hardcover, $25.95.

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