History of Science – serie

A compelling history of science from 1900 to the present day, this is the first book to survey modern developments in science during a century of unprecedented change, conflict and uncertainty. The scope is global.Science's claim to access universal truths about the natural world made it an irresistible resource for industrial empires, ideological programs, and environmental campaigners during this period. Science has been at the heart of twentieth century history - from Einstein's new physics to the Manhattan Project, from eugenics to the Human Genome Project, or from the wonders of penicillin to the promises of biotechnology. For some science would only thrive if autonomous and kept separate from the political world, while for others science was the best guide to a planned and better future. Science was both a routine, if essential, part of an orderly society, and the disruptive source of bewildering transformation.Jon Agar draws on a wave of recent scholarship that explores science from interdisciplinary perspectives to offer a readable synthesis that will be ideal for anyone curious about the profound place of science in the modern world.

A compelling history of science from 1900 to the present day, this is the first book to survey modern developments in science during a century of unprecedented change, conflict and uncertainty. The scope is global.Science's claim to access universal truths about the natural world made it an irresistible resource for industrial empires, ideological programs, and environmental campaigners during this period. Science has been at the heart of twentieth century history - from Einstein's new physics to the Manhattan Project, from eugenics to the Human Genome Project, or from the wonders of penicillin to the promises of biotechnology. For some science would only thrive if autonomous and kept separate from the political world, while for others science was the best guide to a planned and better future. Science was both a routine, if essential, part of an orderly society, and the disruptive source of bewildering transformation.Jon Agar draws on a wave of recent scholarship that explores science from interdisciplinary perspectives to offer a readable synthesis that will be ideal for anyone curious about the profound place of science in the modern world.

Of all the inventions of the nineteenth century, the scientist is one of the most striking. In revolutionary France the science student, taught by men active in research, was born; and a generation later, the graduate student doing a PhD emerged in Germany. In 1833 the word ‘scientist’ was coined; forty years later science (increasingly specialised) was a becoming a profession. Men of science rivalled clerics and critics as sages; they were honoured as national treasures, and buried in state funerals. Their new ideas invigorated the life of the mind. Peripatetic congresses, great exhibitions, museums, technical colleges and laboratories blossomed; and new industries based on chemistry and electricity brought prosperity and power, economic and military. Eighteenth-century steam engines preceded understanding of the physics underlying them; but electric telegraphs and motors were applied science, based upon painstaking interpretation of nature. The ideas, discoveries and inventions of scientists transformed the world: lives were longer and healthier, cities and empires grew, societies became urban rather than agrarian, the local became global. And by the opening years of the twentieth century, science was spreading beyond Europe and North America, and women were beginning to be visible in the ranks of scientists. Bringing together the people, events, and discoveries of this exciting period into a lively narrative, this book will be essential reading both for students of the history of science and for anyone interested in the foundations of the world as we know it today.

Of all the inventions of the nineteenth century, the scientist is one of the most striking. In revolutionary France the science student, taught by men active in research, was born; and a generation later, the graduate student doing a PhD emerged in Germany. In 1833 the word 'scientist' was coined; forty years later science (increasingly specialised) was a becoming a profession. Men of science rivalled clerics and critics as sages; they were honoured as national treasures, and buried in state funerals. Their new ideas invigorated the life of the mind. Peripatetic congresses, great exhibitions, museums, technical colleges and laboratories blossomed; and new industries based on chemistry and electricity brought prosperity and power, economic and military. Eighteenth-century steam engines preceded understanding of the physics underlying them; but electric telegraphs and motors were applied science, based upon painstaking interpretation of nature. The ideas, discoveries and inventions of scientists transformed the world: lives were longer and healthier, cities and empires grew, societies became urban rather than agrarian, the local became global. And by the opening years of the twentieth century, science was spreading beyond Europe and North America, and women were beginning to be visible in the ranks of scientists. Bringing together the people, events, and discoveries of this exciting period into a lively narrative, this book will be essential reading both for students of the history of science and for anyone interested in the foundations of the world as we know it today.

An encyclopedic collection of key scientists and the tools and concepts they developed that transformed our understanding of the physical world.Many are familiar with the ideas of Copernicus, Descartes, and Galileo. But here the reader is also introduced to lesser known ideas and contributors to the Scientific Revolution, such as the mathematical Bernoulli Family and Andreas Vesalius, whose anatomical charts revolutionized the study of the human body. More marginal characters include the magician Robert Fludd. The encyclopedia also discusses subjects like Arabic science and the bizarre history of blood transfusions, and institutions like the Universities of Padua and Leiden, which were dominant forces in academic medicine and science.Includes over 200 A–Z entries covering topics ranging from Gregorian reform of the calendar to Thomas Hobbes, navigation, thermometers, and the trial of GalileoProvides a chronology of the scientific revolution from the founding of the Casa de la Contratacion, a repository of navigational and cartographic knowledge, in 1503, to the death of Antoni van Leeuwenhoek in 1727

The first introductory A–Z resource on the dynamic achievements in science from the late 1600s to 1820, including the great minds behind the developments and science's new cultural role.Though the Enlightenment was a time of amazing scientific change, science is an often-neglected facet of that time. Now, Science in the Enlightenment redresses the balance by covering all the major scientific developments in the period between Newton's discoveries in the late 1600s to the early 1800s of Michael Faraday and Georges Cuvier.Over 200 A-Z entries explore a range of disciplines, including astronomy and medicine, scientists such as Sir Humphry Davy and Benjamin Franklin, and instruments such as the telescope and calorimeter. Emphasis is placed on the role of women, and proper attention is given to the shifts in the worldview brought about by Newtonian physics, Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier's "chemical revolution," and universal systems of botanical and zoological classification. Moreover, the social impact of science is explored, as well as the ways in which the work of scientists influenced the thinking of philosophers such as Voltaire and Denis Diderot and the writers and artists of the romantic movement.

This work is a unique introductory A–Z resource detailing the scientific achievements of the contemporary world and analyzing the key scientific trends, discoveries, and personalities of the modern age.An authoritative reference survey of the modern age of scientific discovery, Science in the Contemporary World is a scholarly yet accessible chronicle of scientific achievement from the discovery of penicillin to the latest developments in space exploration and cloning.Over 200 A–Z entries cover the full spectrum of contemporary science, with emphasis on its diverse nature. Within the last 50 years, medicine has eradicated the killer disease smallpox, but primarily because the virus can live only in humans. Space probes have revealed that on Europa, a moon of Jupiter, an ice-capped ocean with the potential to support life probably exists. Marvels from animal psychology and deep-sea exploration are also explored extensively.

The first A–Z resource to catalog the achievements and legacy of more than four millennia of scientific thought in the ancient world of the Mediterranean and the Near East, providing a complete overview of the physical, chemical, life, medical, and social sciences of the classical world.Many are familiar with such wonders as steam power and the discovery that the planets revolve around the Sun. The fact that such phenomena were known to the ancient Greeks more than 2,000 years ago is less well known. Now, Science in the Ancient World fills this gap by covering all the major scientific developments during 4,000 years of ancient history.Over 200 A–Z entries explore the origins of science, from astronomy and mathematics to medicine and chemistry. Giants like Aristotle and Plato are examined, together with more obscure figures like Nearchus, explorer of the Indian Ocean, and Hero, discoverer of steam power. Emphasis is placed on the diversity of ancient science, from the achievements of the Mesopotamians to the science of the Romans. The philosophies behind ancient science are explored, from the Epicurean pursuit of happiness to the asceticism of the Stoics. This comprehensive survey brings to the modern reader a long lost age of scientific discovery.

The first A–Z resource on the history of science from 1900 to 1950 examining the dynamic between science and the social, political, and cultural forces of the era.Though many books have highlighted the great scientific discoveries of the early 1900s, few have tackled the wider context in which these milestones were achieved. Science in the Early Twentieth Century covers everything from quantum physics to penicillin and more, including all the major scientific developments of the period, detailing not only the scientists and their work, but also the social and political forces that dominated the scientific agenda.Over 200 A–Z entries chronicle the landmark scientific discoveries and personalities of the period, including such scientific giants as Albert Einstein and Marie Curie. Placing science firmly within its cultural context, this thoroughly researched, accessible resource takes a uniquely interdisciplinary approach, making it an invaluable text for scientists, educators, students, and the general reader.

Eugenics, to quote the definition of the man who coined the word, Francis Galton, is 'the study of agencies under social control that may improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations either 1 physically or mentally'. Eugenists believe that the knowledge so acquired can be applied to the practical task of raising the level of fitness in the human race. Man, Prometheus-like, is at last acquiring the power to control his own genetic future. To carry on the eugenical work pioneered by Galton, a Eugenics Society is in existence at the present day. Its members, predominantly academics and scientists, hope collectively to influence government policies through normal pressure-group activities. But, however seriously they take eugenics, probably few of them see themselves as having a mission to save civilization from imminent collapse, or seriously expect that eugenics will shortly replace the programmes and ideologies of the existing political parties; nor would they present eugenics as a science of man that was making redundant all previous speculations in philosophy, history, and sociology. These, however, were precisely the aims and ambitions of those who formed the original 'Eugenics Education Society' in the winter of 1907-8.

Eugenics, to quote the definition of the man who coined the word, Francis Galton, is 'the study of agencies under social control that may improve or impair the racial qualities of future generations either 1 physically or mentally'. Eugenists believe that the knowledge so acquired can be applied to the practical task of raising the level of fitness in the human race. Man, Prometheus-like, is at last acquiring the power to control his own genetic future. To carry on the eugenical work pioneered by Galton, a Eugenics Society is in existence at the present day. Its members, predominantly academics and scientists, hope collectively to influence government policies through normal pressure-group activities. But, however seriously they take eugenics, probably few of them see themselves as having a mission to save civilization from imminent collapse, or seriously expect that eugenics will shortly replace the programmes and ideologies of the existing political parties; nor would they present eugenics as a science of man that was making redundant all previous speculations in philosophy, history, and sociology. These, however, were precisely the aims and ambitions of those who formed the original 'Eugenics Education Society' in the winter of 1907-8.