The Scientific Revolution: A Very Short Introduction

ISBN-13: 9780199567416 / Angielski / Miękka / 2011 / 168 str.

Department of Lawrence M. (Drew Professor of the Humanities

Opis

The sixteenth and seventeenth centuries witnessed such fervent investigations of the natural world that the period has been called the "Scientific Revolution." New ideas and discoveries not only redefined what human beings believed, knew, and could do, but also forced them to redefine themselves with respect to the strange new worlds revealed by ships and scalpels, telescopes and microscopes, experimentation and contemplation. Explanatory systems were made, discarded, and remade by some of the best-known names in the entire history of science--Copernicus, Galileo, Newton--and by many others less recognized but no less important. In this Very Short Introduction Lawrence M. Principe explores the exciting developments in the sciences of the stars (astronomy, astrology, and cosmology), the sciences of earth (geography, geology, hydraulics, pneumatics), the sciences of matter and motion (alchemy, chemistry, kinematics, physics), the sciences of life (medicine, anatomy, biology, zoology), and much more. The story is told from the perspective of the historical characters themselves, emphasizing their background, context, reasoning, and motivations, and dispelling well-worn myths about the history of science.

Spis treści

From the contents:

Introduction: science and natural philosophy;
1: New worlds and old worlds;
2: The connected world;
3: The superlunar world;
4: The sublunar world;
5: The microcosm and the living world;
6: The artificial world;
7: Building a world of science;
Conclusion

O autorze

Lawrence M. Principe's research interests focus on the history of science and technology in the late Medieval and early modern periods, with special attention to the history of alchemy/chemistry. He is the Drew Professor of the Humanities at John Hopkins University in the Department of History of Science and Technology and the Department of Chemistry. He has authored or edited ten books and published numerous papers.