Synopses & Reviews
In these essays, Professor Seitz, President Emeritus of Rockefeller University, and one of the developers of modern semiconductor physics, investigates the role of science in modern society, its origins, and its development.
Review
"Seitz Presents a sophisticated, balanced, and practical analysis of the relationship between science and society with a verbal parsimony that some.. might well emulate. Both scientists and literate nonscientists will find this book an easy read that is informative, and intellectually stimulating on a subject that all of us should be thinking about." --- Interdisciplinary Science Reviews "The book is recommended for all considering a career in the natural sciences as well as for their mentors. It should be required reading for policy makers in science, both academic and governmental. Laymen with an interest in science will enjoy and benefit from this concise and readable history of science" --- American Scientist
Synopsis
Why did science as we now call it develop in Western Europe rather than in another culture (some of which have far longer histories of intellectual inquiry)? What made it such a powerful force in the development of technology? In these essays, Professor Seitz, President Emeritus of Rockefeller University, and one of the developers of modern semiconductor physics, investigates the role of science in modern society, its origins, and its development.
Table of Contents
The Brain Matrix: Our Window on the World.- Technology Without Modern Science.- Crucial Steps in the Evolution of Science. The Divine Fire Across the Atlantic Ocean.- Basic Science in the Asian Countries.- The Future of Science.- The Next Million Years -- A Half Century Later.- A Physicist's View of Living Systems.- Nuclear Science: Promises and Perceptions. Science, Technology and the Environment.- Fraud, Piracy, and Priority in Science. Big Science, Small Science.