…energy that we produce can be explained by the food we take in. And this was assumed in the 1850s by Hermann von Helmholtz, who was eager to prove that living organisms were nothing but machines. He didn't prove it, he assumed it. And since then, it's…

…kind of energy over and above the regular kinds. They called it vital energy or life force. In the 1850s, Hermann von Helmholtz, better known as a physicist, made it his mission to prove that living organisms were nothing but machines. He was a doctor…

…energy that we produce can be explained by the food we take in. And this was assumed in the 1850s by Hermann von Helmholtz, who was eager to prove that living organisms were nothing but machines. He didn't prove it, he assumed it, and since then it's…

…displaced day lengths for weeks. All these pigeons can home. They can home with magnets strapped on their wings or with Helmholtz coils over their heads. With blindfolds on? Yes, frosted glass contact lenses. They've been released up to 200 miles away, and…

…threatened by any theory of hill formation or whatever. There's a rather nice... example given, which I think is given by, either by Helmholtz in his little autobiography he wrote towards the end of his life, or maybe in some account I read, of how he…

…account I read, of how he was with some friends in the Alps. and a storm blew up. And this fascinated him, and Helmholtz immediately pulled out paper and pencil and started making some calculations and looking for a theory of storm genesis. And one of…

…intrigued by is the assumption that our bodies or any animal body is a thermodynamic machine was a 19th century assumption. And Helmholtz, who started this, at first tried to prove it scientifically and he failed. So he then just said, well, don't bother…