The Royal Society of London, effectively Britain's national academy of science, has been particularly concerned with experimental science. Despite all that has been written in the past decades about the first half-century of the Royal Society's existence, no one has yet examined what took place at the society's weekly meetings or how far these meetings fulfilled the expressed aim of promoting "experimental learning." Aware that Hooke performed many experiments at meetings between 1662 and 1703, students of the early Royal Society have often believed its aim to be fully expressed in the...

While scientific inquiry has its roots in both Far Eastern and Indo-European cultures, the revolutionary ideas that made modern scientific achievements possible occurred initially in Europe. This stimulating, illuminating, and thoughtfully presented work explores the early stages of this scientific revolution, beginning with the rediscovery of Greek ideas in the mid-15th century and culminating with Galileo's brilliant "Dialogue on the Two Chief Systems of the World" in 1630.
Noted historian of science Marie Boas Hall first gives a general account of scientific thought in the mid-1400s,...