To explain the world : the discovery of modern science
Title:
To explain the world : the discovery of modern science
Author:
ISBN:
9780062346650
Edition:
First edition.
Physical Description:
xiv, 416 pages : illustrations ; 24 cm
Contents:
Part I: Greek physics. Matter and poetry ; Music and mathematics ; Motion and philosophy ; Hellenistic physics and technology ; Ancient science and religion -- Part II: Greek astronomy. The uses of astronomy ; Measuring the sun, moon, and earth ; The problem of the planets -- Part III: The Middle Ages. The Arabs ; Medieval Europe -- Part IV: The scientific revolution. The solar system solved ; Experiments begun ; Method reconsidered ; The Newtonian synthesis ; Epilogue: the grand reduction.
Summary:
Weinberg takes us across centuries from ancient Miletus to medieval Baghdad and Oxford, from Plato's Academy and the Museum of Alexandria to the cathedral school of Chartres and the Royal Society of London. He shows that the scientists of ancient and medieval times not only did not understand what we understand about the world--they did not understand what there is to understand, or how to understand it. Yet over the centuries, through the struggle to solve such mysteries as the curious backward movement of the planets and the rise and fall of the tides, the modern discipline of science eventually emerged. Presents a commentary on the history of science that examines historic clashes and collaborations between science and the competing realms of religion, technology, poetry, mathematics, and philosophy.
