Synopses & Reviews
From Copernicus, who put the earth in orbit around the sun, to Isaac Newton, who gave the world universal gravitation, the Scientific Revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries transformed the way Europeans understood their world. In this book, Peter Dear offers an accessible introduction to the origins of modern science for students and general readers. This second edition further explores the practice and influence of alchemy, the social standing of early scientists, and the role of medicine and medical practitioners.
- Provides a comprehensive overview of principal themes and topics
- Discusses central figures, including Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton, and describes the world in which they lived--and the new world they helped create
- Features a rich variety of illustrations, a glossary of terms, and a list of further reading
Review
This book is a clear first choice for students and teachers. Incorporating cutting-edge scholarship, it matches breadth of thematic coverage with clarity of exposition and takes the reader gently but firmly through the field.
Review
"[Dear] throws interesting light on the changing criteria used to evaluate natural knowledge, especially the increasing emphasis on experiment. . . . As a full and accurate account of such matters, this book is the best available, and I would recommend it to anyone."--Michael Hunter, Nature
Review
"Bibliography, index and footnotes of the booklet are exceptionally comprehensive."--Silke G¨obel, Zentralblatt MATH
Review
[Dear] throws interesting light on the changing criteria used to evaluate natural knowledge, especially the increasing emphasis on experiment. . . . As a full and accurate account of such matters, this book is the best available, and I would recommend it to anyone. Michael Hunter
Review
Bibliography, index and footnotes of the booklet are exceptionally comprehensive. Nature
Synopsis
From Copernicus, who put the earth in orbit around the sun, to Isaac Newton, who gave the world universal gravitation, the Scientific Revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries transformed the way Europeans understood their world. In this book, Peter Dear offers an accessible introduction to the origins of modern science for students and general readers. This second edition further explores the practice and influence of alchemy, the social standing of early scientists, and the role of medicine and medical practitioners.
- Provides a comprehensive overview of principal themes and topics
- Discusses central figures, including Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton, and describes the world in which they lived--and the new world they helped create
- Features a rich variety of illustrations, a glossary of terms, and a list of further reading
Synopsis
"Succinct, well-organized, and clearly written, this is an excellent account of the intellectual transformation of our understanding of the natural world between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries."
--Paula Findlen, Stanford University"This book is a clear first choice for students and teachers. Incorporating cutting-edge scholarship, it matches breadth of thematic coverage with clarity of exposition and takes the reader gently but firmly through the field."--Simon Ditchfield, University of York
Synopsis
"Succinct, well-organized, and clearly written, this is an excellent account of the intellectual transformation of our understanding of the natural world between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries."--Paula Findlen, Stanford University
"This book is a clear first choice for students and teachers. Incorporating cutting-edge scholarship, it matches breadth of thematic coverage with clarity of exposition and takes the reader gently but firmly through the field."--Simon Ditchfield, University of York
Synopsis
From Copernicus, who put the earth in orbit around the sun, to Isaac Newton, who gave the world universal gravitation, the Scientific Revolution of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries transformed the way Europeans understood their world. In this book, Peter Dear offers an accessible introduction to the origins of modern science for students and general readers. This second edition further explores the practice and influence of alchemy, the social standing of early scientists, and the role of medicine and medical practitioners.
- Provides a comprehensive overview of principal themes and topics
- Discusses central figures, including Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton, and describes the world in which they lived--and the new world they helped create
- Features a rich variety of illustrations, a glossary of terms, and a list of further reading
Synopsis
"Succinct, well-organized, and clearly written, this is an excellent account of the intellectual transformation of our understanding of the natural world between the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries."--Paula Findlen, Stanford University
"This book is a clear first choice for students and teachers. Incorporating cutting-edge scholarship, it matches breadth of thematic coverage with clarity of exposition and takes the reader gently but firmly through the field."--Simon Ditchfield, University of York
About the Author
Peter Dear is professor of history and science and technology studies at Cornell University.