The Ascent of ScienceFrom the revolutionary discoveries of Galileo and Newton to the mind-bending theories of Einstein and Heisenberg, from plate tectonics to particle physics, from the origin of life to universal entropy, and from biology to cosmology, here is a sweeping, readable, and dynamic account of the whole of Western science. In the approachable manner and method of Stephen Jay Gould and Carl Sagan, the late Brian L. Silver translates our most important, and often most obscure, scientific developments into a vernacular that is not only accessible and illuminating but also enjoyable. Silver makes his comprehensive case with much clarity and insight; his book aptly locates science as the apex of human reason, and reason as our best path to the truth. For all readers curious about--or else perhaps intimidated by--what Silver calls "the scientific campaign up to now" in his Preface, The Ascent of Science will be fresh, vivid, and fascinating reading. |
Contents
Par Two 3 Thomas Aquinas versus Neil Armstrong | |
The Second | |
Predicting Catastrophe | |
The Partial Triumph of Reason | |
Chaos | |
Part Six 20 The Slow Birth of Biology | |
In a Monastery Garden | |
Evolution | |
The Descent of | |
The Gene Machine | |
The Lords of Nature? | |
The Molecular Battle | |
The Revolt against Reason | |
Part Three 8 Lodestone Amber and Lightning | |
Belief and Action | |
Part Four 10 The Demise of Alchemy | |
The Nineteenth Century | |
The Atom | |
The Stuff of Existence | |
Scipios Dream | |
Part Five 15 Making Waves | |
The Ubiquity of Motion | |
Energy | |
Intimations of Mortality | |
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Common terms and phrases
acceleration amino acids appear atoms Bacon basic behavior believe Big Bang body Boyle’s law carbon cells century chemical chemistry chromosomes completely concept contains crystal Darwin Descartes Earth effect Einstein electric electromagnetic electron elementary particles elements energy Enlightenment entropy enzyme equation evolution example existence experiment explain fact Faraday Figure force frequencies Galileo gases gene genetic give gravity heat helium Higgs boson human hydrogen hydrogen atom idea laws of motion living look man’s mass material mathematical matter Maxwell’s means measure metal million molecular molecules moving mutant nature neutron Newton nucleus observed organism oxygen particles path philosophers photons physical physicist planets predict probability problem produced proteins Pythagoras quantum mechanics quarks radiation reason relativity result scientific scientists second law space special relativity species speed of light stars structure surface temperature theory universe velocity wave function