United Kingdom 1999 "Scientists' Tale"

Issue Date	03.08.1999
ID	Michel: 1819-1822 Scott: 1867-1820 Stanley Gibbons: 2103-2106 Yvert: 2122 -2125 UPU: N/A Category: pF
Author	Mark Curtis, Ray Harris Ching, Colin Gray
Stamps in set	4
Value	19p - discovery of the structure of DNA by the Cambridge biologists Francis Crick (designed by Mark Curtis) 26p - "Darwin's theory" (designed by Ray Harris Ching) 44p - "Faraday's Electricity" (designed by photographer Colin Gray ) 64p - a tribute to Isaac Newton and shows a photograph taken by the Hubble Space Telescope.
Size (width x height)	37x35mm
Layout	100 stamps per sheet
Products	FDC x 1 MC PP x1
Paper	phosphor bras as appropriated, GUM: PVR
Perforation	14x14.5
Print Technique	lithography, gravure
Printed by	The House of Questa, Byfleet KT14 7JL
Quantity
Issuing Authority	Royal Mail of Great Britain

On August 8^th, 1999, Royal Mail issued a set of four stamps titled "Scientists' Tale", to sign the achievements of Britain's greatest scientists: Isaac Newton, Michael Faraday, Charles Darwin and the biologists Crick and Watson and to mark 1,000 years of British achievements.

One of these stamps shows Archaeopteryx—an iconic fossil, described only four years after the publication of Charles Darwin’s book On the Origin of Species (1859), and which became one of the first recognized transitional fossils (a “missing link”).

The 26p First Class stamp, "Darwin's theory", was designed by the wildlife artist Ray Harris Ching. A bird stands next to a limestone fossil of Archaeopteryx, the first known bird, from which it evolved.

Awareness of science was particularly high at the time, as Darwin’s work—often considered second only to the Bible in its impact—sparked intense debate. Darwin (1809–1882) explained how evolution works, building on observations he made as a naturalist aboard the survey ship HMS Beagle in the 1830s. The Beagle’s five-year journey provided him with the material and insights needed to construct a “tree of life,” showing how complex organisms evolved from simpler ones. Radically, Darwin included humans in his theory, which led to considerable controversy, especially with the religious establishment, although by the 1870s his ideas were increasingly accepted.
Archaeopteryx has both bird-like and reptile-like characteristics in its skeleton. The bird-like features include feathers and limbs adapted for flight. The reptile-like features include teeth, claws on the fingers (which themselves are more reptile-like), and a long tail composed of caudal vertebrae.
The discovery of Archaeopteryx provided strong early support for Darwin’s theory of evolution by demonstrating a clear transitional form between major groups of animals. It showed that birds evolved from reptile-like ancestors, offering tangible fossil evidence for the gradual change of species over time. At a time when Darwin’s ideas were still controversial, Archaeopteryx became one of the most important fossils cited in favour of evolutionary theory.

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Other three stamps of the set

Understanding the great complexities of nature has intrigued scientists for centuries.
Newton showed the power of mathematics and analysis in explaining the world. He reduce all that was known about the orbits of the planets to a single law of nature which could predict their position in future.

The 64p stamp is a tribute to Isaac Newton and shows a photograph taken by the Hubble Space Telescope

In the mere ten generations since Newton's time the scientific project has gained momentum and success in explaining the workings of life and the universe, from human evolution to the shape a fern adopts as it grows, from how galaxies form to the symmetry of a snowflake crystal Albert Einstein thought Newton the greatest scientist who had ever lived.

Sir Isaac Newton (1642-1727) was responsible for major advances in fields as diverse as mathematics, physics and optics. He formulated the laws of gravity to explain the positions of heavenly bodies, and he perfected the reflecting telescope to observe them more clearly. Newton proved that comets were part of nature, not portents of divine disapproval. The impact of Newton's discoveries extended beyond the scientific world. The poet Keats berated him for explaining a rainbow and lessening its mystery. Yet a thriving market developed for scientific explanation, and for popular books which non-scientists could understand. Museums of natural history, public scientific lectures and societies of enthusiastic amateurs were inaugurated. In 1799 the Royal Institution was founded improve life for everybody. It presided over a golden age.

The photographer Colin Gray designed the 44p stamp, "Faraday's Electricity," dedicated to the pioneering researcher.

Humphry Davy (1728-1829) was a brilliant chemist and lecturer there, and in his audience one day in 1812 was a bookbinder' apprentice called Michael Faraday. He became Davy's assistant and was later to succeed him to the Chair of Chemistry at the Royal Institution. Michael Faraday (1791-1867), was one of the first of the modern scientists, discovered the principles of the electric motor and generator. Importantly, he also hit upon the notion of a "field of force" to account for the principles, a concept that is used today to explain what holds everything together from the particles inside an atom to the entire universe. Faraday inaugurated the Royal Institution Christmas Lectures for young people, which are still popular today.

The breakthrough discovery of the structure of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), the molecule that carries information from one cell to another, is frequently cited as the discovery of our century. At the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge in 1953, Francis Crick (1916–2004) and James Watson (born 1928) turned biology upside down with their discovery of the twin-helical structure.

The inspiration for the 19p stamp, designed by Mark Curtis, is the1953 discovery of the structure of DNA by the Cambridge biologists Francis Crick and James Watson - for which they shared the Nobel Prize.

Their insights, combined with the work of Maurice Wilkins and Rosalind Franklin, have propelled us in less than half a century to the world of Dolly the cloned sheep and the Human Genome Project which seeks to map the millions of elements of human gene, which looks deeper into space (and further back in time) with greater clarity than ever before. British expertise, particularly well-developed in instrument-building and applied science, also contributes to the Darwin's theory and the discovery of the building blocks of life underpin modern biology. An account of the physical world of time and space has been provided by theoretical physicists including Stephen Hawking (1942-2018), who holded the same Chair in Mathematics at Cambridge as Newton did (and whose A Brief History of Time is one of the most successful books-ever). Hawking's ground-breaking work is largely responsible for the theories surrounding the existence of black holes, and may one day allow us to understand the very beginnings of the universe and time itself. Work progresses on formulating a single theory to unify all the forces of nature. British scientists are playing key roles in international projects such as the Hubble Space Telescope International Space Station taking shape in orbit above our heads, and to the proposed robot mission to search for evidence of past life on Mars. The name of the Mars probe: Beagle 2.

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Scientists have shaped the way we think about the world. Indeed, they have largely created the modern word. Scientists ask questions to find out how nature works - from the inner world of minute particles and our genes to the outer realm of the entire universe. As science progresses from one: generation to the next, the level of this questioning becomes more insistent and comprehensive. Newton himself noted that his great achievements were possible only because he could stand on the shoulders giants and pygmies. Before and since Newton, great British scientists have contributed to a greater understanding of nature; but all discoveries are related to insights and data provided by others. Indeed, science today is an international, collaborative venture, and the work of countless individuals and groups in the background can be as important as the breakthrough of an outstanding "giant". An exhibition of the original artwork used in the stamps, along with the other 12 "tales" which make up the Millennium Collection, has opened at the British Library in London in August 1999. An array of related historical artefacts is also on display. These include an original letter by Newton explaining his theory of gravity and a copy of his 1687 work "Principia Mathematica".

Products and associated philatelic items

Gutter pairs	FDC
	Official FDC	Some personalized FDC
Pane with Archaeopteryx stamps from prestige booklet	Presentation Pack	Post Cards
Inside text is here

References

Royal Mail of Great Britain, BBC, BFDC - these articles does not exist on these websites anymore.
Inside text of Presentation Pack.