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John Emsley
(19 Dec 1938 - )
John Emsley, Cambridge University Former Science Writer in Residence, and chemist with a gift for storytelling who has won the Rhone-Poulenc prize for the best science book of the year.
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Science Quotes by John Emsley (1 quote)
The autopsy of a person who had died from phosphorus poisoning would reveal inflammation and haemorrhage in the stomach and bowel, the liver would show fatty changes and both it, and the kidneys would be enlarged, greasy and of a yellow colour. But the most convincing proof of death due to phosphorus exposure would be to turn off all the lights in the mortuary and see its tell-tale glow...
— John Emsley
The 13th Element: The Sordid Tale of Murder, Fire and Phosphorus (U.S., 2000), 191. Also published in Great Britain as The Shocking History of Phosphorus (2000).
In science it often happens that scientists say, 'You know that's a really good argument; my position is mistaken,' and then they would actually change their minds and you never hear that old view from them again. They really do it. It doesn't happen as often as it should, because scientists are human and change is sometimes painful. But it happens every day. I cannot recall the last time something like that happened in politics or religion.
(1987) -- 
