Search results for ""Author John L. Heilbron""
Oxford University Press The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science
From the biographies on Galileo and Dorothy Hodgkin to the discussions chronicling the change of science from simply a tool of learning to a major force in society, The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science is the most comprehensive one-volume resource on science from 1550 to the present. Along with chemistry, physics, and biology, the major scientific disciplines are represented in this alphabetically arranged work including astrology, ethnology, and zoology, among many others. General concepts such as gender and science and scientific development are explored along with major time periods that had a tremendous impact on the field including the Enlightenment and Globalization (post-World War II). The coverage is not limited to just one geographical area but is worldwide, tracing science from its traditional centres and explaining how non-western societies have modified and contributed to its global arena. Major divisions of thought including Aristotelianism and mechanical philosophy are also covered as well as an examination of science and its relationship to professional practice and the changing face of disciplines and sub-disciplines. Individual institutions such as CERN and the Third World Academy of Science are explored as well as the epistemology and methodology of scientific knowledge, theoretical constructs, information on apparatus and instruments, the social aspects and responsibilities of science, and the innumerable uses of the applied sciences. Over 90 biographies bring these fields to life with the stories behind the great achievements. Among the notable scientists are Linus Pauling, Margaret Mead, Niels Bohr, Albert Einstein, and Edwin Hubble. An excellent overview of the field of science and its development over the past few generations, The Oxford Companion to the History of Modern Science is an essential resource for students, historians, teachers, scientists, doctors, engineers, and anyone with an interest in the many and varied aspects of science.
£126.81
Oxford University Press Inc The Oxford Guide to the History of Physics and Astronomy
With over 150 alphabetically arranged entries about key scientists, concepts, discoveries, technological innovations, and learned institutions, the Oxford Guide to Physics and Astronomy traces the history of physics and astronomy from the Renaissance to the present. For students, teachers, historians, scientists, and readers of popular science books such as Galileo's Daughter, this guide deciphers the methods and philosophies of physics and astronomy as well as the historical periods from which they emerged. Meant to serve the lay reader and the professional alike, this book can be turned to for the answer to how scientists learned to measure the speed of light, or consulted for neat, careful summaries of topics as complicated as quantum field theory and as vast as the universe. The entries, each written by a noted scholar and edited by J. L. Heilbron, Professor of History and Vice Chancellor, Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley, reflect the most up-to-date research and discuss the applications of the scientific disciplines to the wider world of religion, law, war, art and literature. No other source on these two branches of science is as informative or as inviting. Thoroughly cross-referenced and accented by dozens of black and white illustrations, the Oxford Guide to Physics and Astronomy is the source to turn to for anyone looking for a quick explanation of alchemy, x-rays and any type of matter or energy in between.
£41.84
Oxford University Press Galileo
Just over four hundred years ago, in 1610, Galileo published the Siderius nuncius, or Starry Messenger, a 'hurried little masterpiece' in John Heilbron's words. Presenting to the world his remarkable observations using the recently invented telescope - of the craters of the moon, and the satellites of Jupiter, observations that forced changes to perceptions of the perfection of the heavens and the centrality of the Earth - the appearance of the little book is regarded as one of the greatest moments in the history of science. It was also a point of change in the life of Galileo himself, propelling him from professor to prophet. But this is not the biography of a mathematician. Certainly he spent the first half of his career as a professor of mathematics and has been called 'the divine mathematician'. Yet he was no more (or less) a mathematician than he was a musician, artist, writer, philosopher, or gadgeteer. This fresh lively new biography of the 'father of science' paints a rounded picture of Galileo, and places him firmly within the rich texture of late Renaissance Florence, Pisa, and Padua, amid debates on the merits of Ariosto and Tasso, and the geometry of Dante's Inferno - debates in which the young Galileo played an active role. Galileo's character and career followed complex paths, moving from the creative but cautious humanist professor to a 'knight errant, quixotic and fearless', with increasing enemies, and leading ultimately and inevitably to a clash with a pope who was a former friend.
£15.99
