A Short History of Scientific Thought

Introduction Setting the Scene Plato and Aristotle From the Roman Empire to the Empire of Islam The Western Middle Ages The Renaissance Nicholas Copernicus anda New WorldNew 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 PhilosophyThe Royal Society and Experimental Philosophy Experiment, Mathematics, and Magic: Isaac Newton Newton's legacy: Forces and Fluids (electricity and heat) The Chemical Revolution: From Newton to John Dalton, via Priestley and Lavoisier Natural Theology and Natural Order: Newtonian Optimism and the History of Science The Making of Geology: From James Hutton to Charles Lyell via Catastrophism 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 Afterword Index

John Henry

'A wide-ranging history of scientific thought, with a judicious selection of carefully explained topics. It is clear throughout that the work is based on extensive and deep knowledge of the field....an excellent text' - David Philip Miller, Professor of History & Philosophy of Science, University of New South Wales, Australia.'This is an excellent, well-balanced overview. Especially notable for its emphasis on the significance of magic in the development of modern science, it is also shrewd and perceptive on the relations between science and religion, and on science's broader cultural role.' - Michael Hunter, Professor of History, Birkbeck, University of London.