The Oxford Illustrated History of Science

Description

The Oxford Illustrated History of Science is the first-ever fully illustrated global history of science, from Aristotle to the atom bomb - and beyond. The first part of the book tells the story of science in both the East and West from antiquity to the Enlightenment: from the ancient Mediterranean world to ancient China; from the exchanges between Islamic and Christian scholars in the Middle Ages to the Chinese invention of gunpowder, paper, and the printing press; from the Scientific Revolution of sixteenth and seventeenth century Europe to the intellectual ferment of the eighteenth century. The chapters that follow focus on the increasingly specialized story of science since the end of the eighteenth century, covering experimental science in the laboratory from Michael Faraday to CERN; the exploration of nature from intrepid Victorian explorers to twentieth century primatologists; the mapping of the universe from the discovery of Uranus to the Big Bang Theory; the impact of evolutionary ideas from Lamarck, Darwin, and Wallace to DNA; and the story of theoretical physics from James Clark Maxwell to Quantum Theory and beyond. A concluding chapter reflects on how scientists have communicated their work to a wider public, from the Great Exhibition of 1851 to the Internet in the early twenty-first century. Cover The Oxford Illustrated History of Science Copyright Dedication Acknowledgements Contents Introduction Part I: Seeking Origins 1: Science in the Ancient Mediterranean World Ancient Egypt Babylonian Mathematics and Astronomy Greek Natural Philosophy Greek Mathematics Geometrizing the Cosmos Planetary Astronomy Geography and Cartography Ancient Astrology Greek and Roman Medicine Natural History The Sciences in Ancient Education 2: Science in Ancient China Some Historical Figuresand the Formation of Scientific Knowledge Cosmogony Observation and the Structure of Heaven before the Han Han Cosmology, Astrology, and the Calendar Qi, Yin Yang, and the Five Agents Medicine Conclusion 3: Science in the Medieval Christian and Islamic Worlds Early Medieval Assertoric Science Astrology as Science, Politics, and Guidance Optics in Fatimid Cairo The Sciences between China and the Islamic World in Mongol Tabriz Map-Making in Ottoman Constantinople and Istanbul The New Naturalism and a New Society The Scientific Beginnings in Abbasid Baghdad Translation and Transformation A New Home for Science: The University Medieval Science and Religion 4: Science in the Pre-Modern East Bureaucracy, Scholarship, and Expertise Song Dynasty Yuan Dynasty Ming Dynasty Codifying Bodies of Knowledge Heaven Yuan dynasty Ming dynasty Earth-Agriculture and Hydraulics Song dynasty Yuan dynasty Ming dynasty Man: medicine and health care Yuan dynasty Ming dynasty Knowledge, Learning, and Bureaucracy 5: The Scientific Revolution How It All Began: The Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution A Revolution within a Revolution: The Copernican Revolution Replacing Aristotle: From Occult Philosophies to the Mechanical Philosophy The New Philosophies and Society: Patronage and Pragmatism The New Authority of Natural Philosophy 6: Enlightenment Science Nations and Communications Cosmic Machinery Forces, Fluids, and Feelings Collecting and Exploring Crises and Revolutions Conclusion: The Legacy of Enlightenment Science Part II: Doing Science 7: Experimental Cultures Demonstrating Nature Experimental Institutions Big Science 8: Exploring Nature Why Do Field Science? Categorizing field science Embodying field science The Political Economy of Field Science Magnetic measurements and the maritime economy Science and the sub-marine Science in the state´s service Activism, Authority, and Field Science Getting access to the field Locals, laypeople, and locating expertise Pleasure, pain, and popular narratives Conclusion 9: The Meaning of Life The Rise of Materialism The New Science of Life Electricity and Life Mind and Brain The Emergence of Evolutionism The `Vestiges´ Debate The Development of Darwin´s Theory The Darwinian Revolution The Eclipse of Darwinism The Emergence of Genetics Biology and Modern Materialism 10: Mapping the Universe A Very Different Sort of Astronomer Positional Astronomy The Nature of the Nebulae Spectroscopy Beyond the Galaxy? Redshifts? The Big Galaxy Other Galaxies? The Expanding Universe Astronomy Transformed A Steady State Universe? Astronomy from Space Telescopes into Space Conclusions 11: Theoretical Visions Restraining Speculation Industrial Theory The Power of Thought Revolutionary Theory Theory Goes to War Unified Theory The Nature of Theory 12: Communicating Science Early-Modern Roots The taming of nature: the Royal Institution Diversifying display: science in the hands of workers Science for the nation (1): the Great Exhibition and its successors Science for the nation (2): natural history Science in the marketplace of the long nineteenth century The coming of mass media Science 2.0 Further Reading 1. SCIENCE IN THE ANCIENT MEDITERRANEAN WORLD 2. SCIENCE IN ANCIENT CHINA 3. SCIENCE IN THE MEDIEVAL CHRISTIAN AND ISLAMIC WORLDS 4. SCIENCE IN THE PRE-MODERN EAST 5. THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION 6. ENLIGHTENMENT SCIENCE 7. EXPERIMENTAL CULTURES 8. EXPLORING NATURE 9. THE MEANING OF LIFE 10. MAPPING THE UNIVERSE 11. THEORETICAL VISIONS 12. COMMUNICATING SCIENCE Picture Acknowledgements Index