Reluctant Heroine: The Life and Work of Hélène Duhem

Description

The life-story told in this book centers on the almost forty years of delay that preceded the publication, between 1954 and 1960, of the second five volumes of [*Le système du monde*](https://isidore.co/calibre/#panel=book_list&search=title:%22Le%20syst%C3%A8me%20du%20monde%22) of [Pierre Duhem](https://www.encyclopedia.com/people/history/historians-miscellaneous-biographies/pierre-maurice-marie-duhem#1) (1861-1916). A genius in theoretical physics and in the philosophy of physics, Duhem became through that work, easily the most original scholarly achievement by a single author in modern times, the pioneering discoverer of the medieval origins of Newtonian science. Those second five volumes might still be in manuscript had it not been for the heroically persistent efforts of Hélène (1891-1974), Duhem’s only child. Stanley L. Jaki has earned international renown for his many books on the history and philosophy of science. They include monographs on Duhem’s life and work, including his marvelous landscapes. On the basis of a so far unpublished correspondence among the story's chief protagonists, he now probes into a stunning lack of objectivity among leading historians and philosophers of science.