The Making of Modern Science

David Knight 지음

Polity 2013년 04월 26일 출간

작품소개

책소개

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 lsquo;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.

목차

List of Illustrations Preface: the Age of Science Acknowledgements Introduction: Approaching the Past Chapter 1: Science in and after 1789 Chapter 2: Science and its Languages Chapter 3: Applied Science Chapter 4: Intellectual Excitement Chapter 5: Healthy Lives Chapter 6: Laboratories Chapter 7: Bodies, Minds and Spirits Chapter 8: The Time of Triumph Chapter 9: Science and National Identities Chapter 10: Method and Heresy Chapter 11: Cultural Leadership Chapter 12: Into the New Century Timeline: Index

출판사 서평

"Knight loves science and he loves history. This work is a splendid example of how to communicate that enthusiasm."British Journal for the History of Science"A fine synthesis, the fruit of a lifetime's study and reflection, which should prompt some readers to begin a lifetime study of their own." Times Higher Education"A superb history of the discipline."The Diplomat"A magisterial survey. For anyone who has experienced the delight of hearing Knight deliver a public lecture, reading this will summon up his mellifluous voice as though he were standing in the same room."Metascience"Replete with insight and astute synthesis. It conveys the excitement of science and of its history."Social History of Medicine"Knight ably discusses the various threads in this complex story, his description of the people and events which shaped the scientific developments are always interesting, and his interpretation of the philosophical and cultural changes are always insightful. Knight has a lot to offer any reader interested in how the profession established itself as one for skilled minds ... This book is well researched and well written and is to be recommended to anyone interested in how science and scientists emerged in the 20th century."Chemistry World"The book is replete with insight and astute synthesis. It conveys the excitement of science and of its history."Social History of Medicine"David Knight has long delighted his readers with books on the history of science that have been both instructive and entertaining. Here he draws on a lifetime's study to explain how science - as a practical, intellectually challenging, and socially diverse activity - gained its cultural importance in the long nineteenth-century. Warmly recommended." John Hedley Brooke, Andreas Idreos Professor Emeritus of

작가정보

저자(글) David Knight

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David Knight is Emeritus Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at Durham University.