Title: A short history of scientific thought /
Authors: Henry, John, 1950-
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan,
Year: 2012
Subjects: SCIENCE / History.; HISTORY / General.; HISTORY / Modern / General.; Science Philosophy History; Science History; Natural history History; Science and civilization History.; Civilization, Western History
Abstract: "A highly readable historical survey of the major developments in scientific thought and the impact of science on Western culture, this book takes the reader from ancient times through to the twentieth century. Organized chronologically, the book explores the history of studies of the natural world, and man's role within that world, in a single volume"--Provided by publisher.
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 and a 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 -- The Newtonian enlightenment -- The chemical revolution: Priestly and Lavoisier; John Dalton and beyond -- Newtonian optimism: natural theology and natural order -- The making of geology: from James Hutton to Charles Lyell -- 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.