A Short History of Scientific Thought

by John Henry

Overview

An essential introductory textbook that shows students how science came to be such an important aspect of modern culture. Lively and readable, it provides a rich historical survey of the major developments in scientific thought, from the Ancient Greeks to the twentieth century. John Henry also explains how new scientific theories have emerged and analyses their impact on contemporary thinking.

This is an ideal core text for modules on the History of Science, Medicine and Technology, or the History and Philosophy of Science - or a supplementary text for broader modules on European History or Intellectual History - which may be offered at the upper levels of an undergraduate History, Philosophy or Science degree. In addition it is a crucial resource for students who may be studying the history of science for the first time as part of a taught postgraduate degree in European History, Intellectual History, Science or Philosophy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780230019423
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	12/06/2011
Edition description:	2011
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

JOHN HENRY Professor of the History of Science at the University of Edinburgh, UK. He has published widely in the history of science from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, including The Scientific Revolution and the Origins of Modern Science, now in its third edition
JOHN HENRY Professor of the History of Science at the University of Edinburgh, UK. He has published widely in the history of science from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries, including The Scientific Revolution and the Origins of Modern Science, now in its third edition

Table of Contents

Introduction
Setting the Scene
Plato and Aristotle
From the Roman Empire to the Empire of Islam
The Western Middle Ages
The Renaissance
Nicholas Copernicus anda New World
New Methods of Science
Bringing Mathematics and Natural Philosophy Together: Johannes Kepler
Mathematics and Mechanics: Galileo Galilei
Practice and Theory in Renaissance Medicine: William Harvey and the Circulation of the Blood
The Spirit of System: René Descartes and the Mechanical Philosophy
The Royal Society and Experimental Philosophy
Experiment, Mathematics, and Magic: Isaac Newton
Newton's Legacy: Forces and Fluids (electricity and heat)
The Chemical Revolution: From Newton to John Dalton, via Priestley and Lavoisier
Natural Theology and Natural Order: Newtonian Optimism and the History of Science
The Making of Geology: From James Hutton to Charles Lyell via Catastrophism
The History of Plants and Animals: Successive Emergence or Evolution?
Religion and Progress in Victorian Britain: Robert Chambers versus Hugh Miller
Bringing it All Together?: Charles Darwin's Evolution
Darwinian Aftermaths: Religion; Social Science; Biology
Beyond Newton: Energy and Thermodynamics
Newton Deposed: Einstein and Relativity Theory
Mathematics Instead of a World Picture: From Atomism to Quantum Theory
Afterword
Index.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Choice Outstanding Academic Title, 2012'A wide-ranging history of scientific thought, with a judicious selection of carefully explained topics. It is clear throughout that the work is based on extensive and deep knowledge of the field....an excellent text' - David Philip Miller, Professor of History & Philosophy of Science, University of New South Wales, Australia.

'This is an excellent, well-balanced overview. Especially notable for its emphasis on the significance of magic in the development of modern science, it is also shrewd and perceptive on the relations between science and religion, and on science's broader cultural role.' - Michael Hunter, Professor of History, Birkbeck, University of London.

Editorial Reviews

"A Short History of Scientific Thought offers a traditional survey of the development of Western natural philosophy and mathematical sciences and traces their transformation into basic subject fields of modern scientific inquiry and today's chief scientific theories, for example quantum mechanics and evolution ... Henry's book is a suitable replacement for twentieth-century surveys used in the undergraduate classroom, a use that is enhanced by his emphasis on scientific content and minimal engagement with historiographical debate." --Jole Shackelford, Science and Education, Vol. 48

From the Publisher