1. A. L. Mackay, 2001.
2. Cicero, better known for his literary writings, was the editor of the text of Lucretius’ “De rerum natura,” [“On the Nature of Things,” a title also used by William Bragg for a lecture series on the structure of matter at the Royal Institution]. He also found and restored the tomb of Archimedes in Sicily and perhaps also saw the anti-Kythera machine, a complex analog astronomical computer, or something like it. Our school teaching has underestimated the scientific activities of antiquity.
3. Plato, in particular, in spite of the reputed legend “let no one ignorant of geometry enter here,” is supposed to have suppressed the works of Democritos and propagated the technology of state myths to which would be attributed the social order.
4. George Sarton, doyen of historians of science, labels the influence of Plato’s “Timaeus” as an evil one.
5. Sokal, Alan; Bricmont, Jean, Intellectual Impostures; Profile: London 1998.