Author:
Bauer, Susan Wise.
Edition Statement:First edition.
Imprint:New York : W.W. Norton & Company, [2015]
Descriptionxx, 316 pages : illustrations 25 cm
Note:Part I. The beginnings. The first science texts: The first written attempt to explain the physical world in physical terms -- Beyond man: The first big-picture accounts of the universe -- Change: The first theory of evolution -- Grains of sand: The first use of mathematics to measure the universe -- The void: The first treatise on nature to dispense entirely with the divine -- The Earth-centered universe: The most influential science book in history -- The last ancient astronomer: An alternate explanation for the universe, with better mathematics, but no more proof -- Part II. The birth of the method. A new proposal: A challenge to Aristotle, and the earliest articulation of the scientific method -- Demonstration: The refutation of one of the greatest ancient authorities through observation and experimentation -- The death of Aristotle: The overthrow of ancient authority in favor of observations and proofs -- Instruments and helps: Improving the experimental method by distorting nature and extending the senses -- Rules of reasoning: Extending the experimental method across the entire universe -- Part III. Reading the earth. The genesis of geology: The creation of the science of the earth -- The laws of the new science: Two different theories are proposed as explanations for the Earth's present form -- A long and steady history: Uniformitarianism becomes the norm -- The unanswered question: Calculating the age of the Earth -- The return of the grand theory: Continental drift -- Catastrophe, redux: Bringing extraordinary events back into Earth's history -- Part IV. Reading life (with special reference to us). -- Biology: The first systematic attempt to describe the history of life -- Natural selection: The first naturalistic explanation for the origin of species -- Inheritance: The laws, and mechanisms, of heredity revealed -- Synthesis: Bringing cell-level discoveries and the grand story of evolution together -- The secret of life: Biochemistry tackles the mystery of inheritance -- Biology and destiny: The rise of neo-Darwinist reductionism, and the resistance to it -- Part V. Reading the cosmos (reality). Relativity: The limits of Newtonian physics -- Damn quantum jumps: The discovery of subatomic random swerves -- The triumph of the Big Bang: Returning to the question of beginnings, and contemplating the end -- The butterfly effect: Complex systems, and the (present) limits of our understanding.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references (pages 279-294) and index.
