Higher Speculations

After graduation from the University of Copenhagen in Physics and Chemistry, and a period as teacher in gymnasium schools, Helge Kragh became Associate Professor at Cornell University, Departments of History and Physics. Later, he took positions as Curator at the Steno Museum for Science and Medicine and Professor of the History of Science at the University of Oslo, Norway. Since 1997, he has been Professor of the History of Science and Technology, University of Aarhus, Denmark. He is a Member of the Royal Danish Academy of Science, the International Academy for the History of Science, and of the European Academy of Science. He was President of the European Society for the History of Science (2008-2010).

Helge Kragh is one of our best historians of physics, and the author of several outstanding books. The idea of a history of highly speculative theories in physics is excellent. Although there are popular accounts of recent cosmological and grand-unifying theories, no historian has so far attempted to bring together old and new cases of such theories. The result makes fascinating reading and induces thought-provoking comparisons.

• 1. Beginnings of Modern Science ; 2. A Victorian Theory of Everything ; 3. Electrodynamics as a World View ; 4. Rationalist Cosmologies ; 5. Cosmology and Controversy ; 6. The Rise and Fall of the Bootstrap Programme ; 7. Varying Constants of Nature ; 8. New Cyclic Models of The Universe ; 9. The Anthropic Principle ; 10. Multiverse Scenarios ; 11. String Theory and Other Models of Quantum Gravity ; 12. Astrobiology and Physical Eschatology ; 13. Summary: Final Theories and Epistemic Shifts