Excalibur: The Sword of Science That Reshaped the World

This book brings an overview of ideas generated during the Age of Science, ideas that have forever changed our perceptions of the universe and of mans place on Earth. The past 400 years have seen the keen blade of the sword of science carve out a redefined world. As a scholar, thinker, surgeon and now a nonagenarian, Dr. Mueller explores the development of science as a cultural phenomenon that began in a climate of opposition and now dominates many features of our daily lives. In doing so he draws from such diverse elements as western religious thought, evolution and human prehistory, astronomy and cosmology, the life processes of glycolysis and photosynthesis, the development of spoken and written language, and the unifying presence of the seven SI units in the sharing and propagation of scientific thinking.

C. Barber Mueller was born and raised in Carlinville, Il. His public school education was followed by two years each at Blackburn College, a work college in Carlinville, and the University of Illinois, a State Land Grant University. A Jackson Johnson Scholarship made possible his medical education at Washington University in St. Louis. After a surgical internship, three years were spent with the 4th Marine Division of the Fleet Marine Forces, Pacific. Four invasion landings resulted in a Bronze Star and two Purple Hearts. His return to St. Louis was preceded by a year as a Rockefeller Scholar in Biochemistry at Harvard Medical School. After surgical residency training, he remained on the Washington University Faculty with research interest in acute renal failure a frequent complication seen in the wounded of World War II. Six years at Washington University were followed by twelve at SUNY, Syracuse, as Department Chairman of Surgery, then his remaining years in Hamilton, Ontario, as founding Chairman of Surgery at McMaster University Medical School, where he became Professor Emeritus. He holds four honorary degrees. His wife, Jean, predeceased him in 2009, leaving one daughter and three sons. He resides in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.