This book is a trenchant analysis of the profound changes that are taking place in the whole scientific enterprise throughout the world. The author does not assume the reader has any technical knowledge of the natural sciences, their history, or politics, and addresses his book to everybody who is concerned about the future of science and its place in society.

This is a textbook of advanced quantum theory for graduate students and research workers which gives a connected mathematical derivation of the important results, concentrating on the central ideas without burdening the exposition with elaborate detail or unnecessary rigour, and explains, in the simplest possible terms, the symbols and concepts which frequently confront the active research worker in solid state, nuclear and high-energy physics, and in theoretical chemistry. Professor Ziman brings to his task the sympathetic guidance of a lecturer who has not forgotten the difficulties that he...

'Science, Technology, and Society' - STS - has become a major educational theme. There are many courses in schools, universities and other institutions, dealing with all sorts of topics such as the history of science, energy policy, industrial innovation, technology assessment, Third World development, scientific method, and so on. But what is this subject really about? Why should it be taught? Who should study it? What should they learn? How should the subject be approached? Who should teach it? These questions are being asked by both teachers and students in many fields of science,...

Professor Ziman provides a coherent account of the different perspectives on science and technology that are normally studied under various disciplinary heads such as philosophy of science, sociology of science, and science policy. It is intended for students embarking on courses in these subjects and assumes no special knowledge of any science. It is written in a direct and simple style, and technical language is seldom introduced. It will appeal to students in a wide range of scientific disciplines and complements Professor Ziman's earlier books.

Why believe in the findings of science? John Ziman argues that scientific knowledge is not uniformly reliable, but rather like a map representing a country we cannot visit. He shows how science has many elements, including alongside its experiments and formulae the language and logic, patterns and preconceptions, facts and fantasies used to illustrate and express its findings. These elements are variously combined by scientists in their explanations of the material world as it lies outside our everyday experience. John Ziman's book offers at once a valuably clear account and a radically...

After expanding steadily for centuries, science is reaching the limits to its growth. We can no longer afford the ever-increasing cost of exploring ever wider research opportunites. In the competition for resources, science is becoming much more tightly organized. A radical, pervasive and permanent structural change is taking place. It already affects the whole research system, from everyday laboratory life to national budgets. The scientific enterprise cannot avoid fundamental change, but excessive managerial insistence on accountability, evaluation priority setting and so on, can be very...

Ground-breaking yet non-technical analysis of the analogy that technological artefacts 'evolve' like biological organisms.

Unlike most other similar books, this systematic, carefully reasoned, non-technical analysis of the nature and significance of scientific knowledge opens the way to reconciliation in the 'science wars'. By describing how academic scientists actually undertake research and communicate their findings, it shows that the philosophy, psychology and sociology of science are inextricably entwined, and that 'realism' and 'relativism' are just two sides of the same coin. The writing is well-informed, down-to-earth and lucid.

This superb collection by the eminent physicist and critic John Ziman, opens with an album of portraits of scientists--Albert Einstein, Freeman Dyson, Lev Landau, Mark Azbel, Andrei Sakharov. Ziman takes readers into the world of the contemporary scientist, showing how discoveries are made and how claims are tested. He then travels into the minds of scientists as they are drawn into competing directions. Here Ziman exposes the path of discovery, which is strewn with complex human needs, governmental restrictions, the desire for profits, and the exercise of technical virtuosity.

Professor Ziman paints a broad picture of science, and of its relations to the world in general.