The Evolution of Modern Science Thomas L. Isenhour Download free books at Thomas L. Isenhour The Evolution of Modern Science 2 Download free eBooks at bookboon.com The Evolution of Modern Science 1st edition © 2013 Thomas L. Isenhour & bookboon.com ISBN 978-87-403-0480-0 3 Download free eBooks at bookboon.com The Evolution of Modern Science Contents Contents The cover is a painting by Patricia M. Isenhour and is entitled „Surfaces“. It is metaphorical for science and what lies ahead of us beneath the surface Preface 10 Acknowledgements 14 To the Student 16 1 Before the Greeks (Pre-history–600 BCE) 17 2 Ancient Greek Science (600 BCE–300 CE) 21 2.1 Greek Theories 21 2.2 Greek Philosophy and Science 24 2.3 Greeks under Roman Domination 31 www.sylvania.com We do not reinvent the wheel we reinvent light. Fascinating lighting offers an infinite spectrum of possibilities: Innovative technologies and new markets provide both opportunities and challenges. 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Light is OSRAM 4 Click on the ad to read more Download free eBooks at bookboon.com The Evolution of Modern Science Contents 3 A Period of Stagnancy – The Dark Ages (300–1400) 37 3.1 The Dark Ages 37 3.2 The Scholastic Synthesis 39 4 Classical Physics and Astronomy (1400–1600) 41 4.1 A New Cosmology 41 4.2 The Language of Nature 55 5 Experimental Science and Knowledge: The Scientific Revolution and The Enlightenment (1500–1700) 58 5.1 The Scientific Revolution 58 360° 5.2 A Mechanistic World 61 5.3 The Scientific Method 64 5.4 Space and Time 66 thinking 5.5 Newtonianism and The Scientific360° Revolution 75 . 5.6 The Enlightenment and the Idea of Progress 83 5.7 Preface to the Industrial Age thinking. 89 360° thinking . 360° thinking. Discover the truth at www.deloitte.ca/careers Discover the truth at www.deloitte.ca/careers © Deloitte & Touche LLP and affiliated entities. Discover the truth at www.deloitte.ca/careers © Deloitte & Touche LLP and affiliated entities. © Deloitte & Touche LLP and affiliated entities. Discover the truth5 at www.deloitte.ca/careersClick on the ad to read more Download free eBooks at bookboon.com © Deloitte & Touche LLP and affiliated entities. The Evolution of Modern Science Contents 6 Classical Chemistry (1700–1900) 90 6.1 The Foundations of Modern Chemistry 90 6.2 Chemistry Becomes a Science 96 6.3 Organic (living) Chemistry 105 7 Classical Electricity, Magnetism and Light (1700–1900) 111 7.1 Electrical Phenomena 112 7.2 Volta’s Cell Applied to Chemistry 116 7.3 Electricity, Magnetism and Light 117 7.4 Electrical Technology 124 8 Thermodynamics (1700–1900) 127 8.1 The Rise of Steam Technology 127 8.2 Heat and Energy – the First Law of Thermodynamics 128 8.2 Entropy – The Second Law of Thermodynamics 133 8.3 Entropy and Civilization 137 9 Natural History – Taxonomy and Geology (1700–1800) 139 9.1 Foundations of Natural History 139 9.2 Natural History and Classical Geology 146 We will turn your CV into an opportunity of a lifetime Do you like cars? Would you like to be a part of a successful brand? Send us your CV on We will appreciate and reward both your enthusiasm and talent. www.employerforlife.com Send us your CV. You will be surprised where it can take you. 6 Click on the ad to read more Download free eBooks at bookboon.com The Evolution of Modern Science Contents 10 Classical Biology (1800–1900) 155 10.1 Evolution 155 10.2 Darwinism 164 10.3 Darwinism in America 167 11 Origin of the Social Sciences (1750–1900) 172 11.1 Economics 172 11.2 Sociology 174 11.3 Political Science 175 11.4 Psychology 177 11.5 Social Science and Statistics 178 11.6 Social Darwinism 180 12 Atomic and Nuclear Era (1900–1950) 186 12.1 Pre-1900 American Science 186 12.2 Theories of the Aether 188 12.3 X-Rays and Radioactivity 189 12.4 Atomic Structure 195 12.5 Nuclear Fusion and Fission 202 �e Graduate Programme I joined MITAS because for Engineers and Geoscientists I wanted real responsibili� www.discovermitas.comMaersk.com/Mitas �e Graduate Programme I joined MITAS because for Engineers and Geoscientists I wanted real responsibili� Maersk.com/Mitas Month 16 I wwasas a construction Month 16 supervisorI wwasas in a construction the North Sea supervisor in advising and the North Sea Real work helpinghe foremen advising and IInternationalnternationaal opportunities ��reeree wworkoro placements solves Real work problems helpinghe foremen IInternationalnternationaal opportunities ��reeree wworkoro placements solves problems 7 Click on the ad to read more Download free eBooks at bookboon.com The Evolution of Modern Science Contents 12.6 Special Relativity 203 12.7 Quantum Mechanics 207 13 Science and the U.S. Government (1900– ) 213 13.1 The Atomic Bomb 213 13.2 Sputnik and the Space Race 224 14 A New Understanding of Life (1700– ) 227 14.1 The Cell 227 14.2 Genetics 233 14.3 DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) 237 15 Modern Cosmology – the Origin of the Universe (1900– ) 240 15.1 Galaxies and Cepheids 241 15.2 General Relativity and Black Holes 242 15.3 The Redshift and the Big Bang 243 16 The Chemical Bond (1900– ) 247 15.4 Molecular Bonding 250 8 Click on the ad to read more Download free eBooks at bookboon.com The Evolution of Modern Science Contents 17 The Computer Revolution (1900– ) 257 17.1 Counting, Numbers, and Calculation 257 17.2 Mathematics and Digital Computers 260 17.3 Boolean Algebra 262 17.4 Systems of Mathematics 266 17.5 Computing Machines 266 18 The Conservation Movement and Ecology (1900– ) 270 18.1 National Parks 270 18.2 Preservationists vs. Wise-Use Advocates 271 18.3 Food Chains and Ecology 273 19 Modern Geology (1900– ) 276 19.1 The Age of the Earth 276 19.2 Continental Drift and Plate Tectonics 279 20 Afterword 286 21 Appendices 289 21.1 Appendix 1 – Arithmetic and Geometry 289 21.2 Appendix 2 – Formal Logic 291 21.3 Appendix 3 – Algebra 293 21.4 Appendix 4 – Analytical Geometry 297 21.5 Appendix 5 – Calculus 298 21.6 Appendix 6 – Statistics 302 21.7 Appendix 7 – Boolean Algebra and Set Theory 303 21.8 Appendix 8 – The Ancients Revisited – Titus Lucretius Carus 305 22 Bibliography 313 23 Endnotes 316 9 Download free eBooks at bookboon.com The Evolution of Modern Science Preface Preface When I was a child, I would lie in the grass on a summer’s evening and stare into the starry sky. All sorts of imaginations led me to wonder about the universe, about life beyond Earth, about the beginning and the end, about where we are, what we are and most of all why we are. Why may have been the most important word in my vocabulary because it allowed me to bombard adults with questions about everything. Because of a patient father, I got a reasonable number of answers. Most of all, I learned that it was alright to question, to wonder and to seek explanations. Science (from the Latin scire, to know), seeks answers, explanations of the natural world. From the first cave person that wondered why the mountains rumbled during a storm, we have evolved a set of consistent explanations for natural phenomena. In effect, the cave dwellers were crudely practicing science when they hypothesized that the noises were made by monsters, or gods, in the mountains. The cave dwellers were practicing a crude political science when they decided to give offerings to these gods to make them benevolent. The cave dwellers were practicing religion when they decided to worship (and fear) the gods in the mountains. Perhaps religion and science began simultaneously. Unfortunately, there developed a mythology around these suppositions and, when humans became able to measure phenomena more accurately, they found the conclusions of science at odds with religion, or at least with mythology. Much of the rocky road of scientific progress has been impeded by these potholes of mythology. The Evolution of Modern Science outlines the history of science from Aristotle to the present. (I have been asked why I chose the word Evolution for the title and not Development or something else. I will answer that at the end, but we need to cover some important ideas first.) Scientific progress has always been coupled with human progress and subject to the politics and culture of the time. Scientists, in most instances, have been in the main stream of society; however, through their curiosity and innovation they have often clashed with the prevailing culture. Aristotle, who some say was the first scientist, was a student of Plato and integrated philosophy, science and religion. Aristotle tried to explain everything in the universe. Aristotle’s cosmology was incorporated into Christianity by St. Thomas Aquinas and when Galileo disproved much of Aristotle’s mechanics and cosmology, he found himself on trial for heresy. Isaac Newton was born the year Galileo died and, at the age of 22, launched the Scientific Revolution with the invention of calculus. However it took a hundred years of advocacy by such notables as Voltaire, Thomas Jefferson, and Madame du Chatelet, to establish Newton’s physics. 10 Download free eBooks at bookboon.com The Evolution of Modern Science Preface Wöhler disproved the vitalist theory of life by synthesizing an organic compound in 1828 and his laboratory research was seminal to the development of the great chemical industry.