Search results for ""author nicolaas a. rupke""
The University of Chicago Press Alexander von Humboldt: A Metabiography
Alexander von Humboldt (1769-1859) is one of the most celebrated figures of late-modern science, famous for his work in physical geography, botanical geography, and climatology, and his role as one of the first great popularizers of the sciences. His momentous accomplishments have intrigued German biographers from the Prussian era to the fall of the Berlin wall, all of whom configured and reconfigured Humboldt's life according to the sensibilities of the day.This volume, the first metabiography of the great scientist, traces Humboldt's biographical identities through Germany's collective past to shed light on the historical instability of our scientific heroes.
£25.16
The University of Chicago Press Richard Owen: Biology without Darwin
In the mid-1850s, no scientist in the British Empire was more visible than Richard Owen. Mentioned in the same breath as Newton and championed as Britain's answer to France's Cuvier and Germany's von Humboldt, Owen was, as the "Times" declared in 1856, the most 'distinguished man of science in the country'. But a century and a half later, Owen remains largely obscured by the shadow of the most famous Victorian naturalist of all, Darwin. Publicly marginalized by his contemporaries for his critique of natural selection, Owen suffered personal attacks that undermined his credibility long after his name faded from history. With this innovative biography, Nicolaas Rupke resuscitates Owen's reputation. Arguing that Owen should no longer be judged by the evolution dispute that figured in only a minor part of his work, Rupke stresses context, emphasizing the importance of places and practices in the production and reception of scientific knowledge. Dovetailing with the recent resurgence of interest in Owen's life and work, Rupke's book brings the forgotten naturalist back into the canon of the history of science and demonstrates how much biology existed with, and without, Darwin.
£31.49
Johns Hopkins University Press Cosmos: A Sketch of the Physical Description of the Universe
The first volume of Cosmos, his five-volume survey of the universe, appeared in 1845, though Humboldt had labored on the entire work for nearly half a century. He scrupulously sent sections of the work to other experts for suggestions and corrections. The last volume, put together from his notes after his death, appeared in 1861. The volumes were translated almost as rapidly as they appeared. This paperback edition reprints the Harper & Brothers edition, published in New York in 1858-59.
£25.50
