to name the ten greatest: The list that appeared in the December 1999 issue of Physics World included, in this order: Albert Einstein, Isaac Newton, James Clerk Maxwell, Niels Bohr, Werner Heisenberg, Galileo Galilei, Richard Feynman, Paul Dirac, Erwin Schrödinger, and Ernest Rutherford. Slightly different lists appeared in other polls. (In particular, on several lists, Newton was ranked first, with Einstein second.)

We know today that the age: See, eg. Dalrymple 2001.

Chapter 5: Certainty Generally Is Illusion

“Mathematics may be compared”: Huxley 1909 [1869].

the engineer John Perry: John Perry (1850–1920) was born in Ireland. After being a professor of mechanical engineering in both the United Kingdom and Japan, he was appointed professor of engineering and mathematics at Finsbury Technical College in London. In 1896 he advanced to a professorship at the Royal College of Science. Throughout his career, Perry introduced novel teaching methods in mathematics and worked on problems of applied electricity. See, eg, Nudds, McMillan, Weaire, and McKenna Lawlor 1988; Armstrong 1920.