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Books > Science & Mathematics > Science: general issues > History of science
Anxiety, the latest volume in the Vitamins and Hormones series first published in 1943, and the longest-running serial published by Academic Press, provides up-to-date information on the roles that hormones and other factors play in anxiety and stress. Each volume focuses on a single molecule or disease that is related to vitamins or hormones, with the topic broadly interpreted to include related substances, such as transmitters, cytokines, growth factors, and others thoroughly reviewed.
Proteomics in Biology Part A, the latest volume in the Methods in Enzymology series, continues the legacy of this premier serial with quality chapters authored by leaders in the field, and a focus on proteomics for this updated volume.
J.B.S. Haldane (1892-1964) is widely appreciated as one of the greatest and most influential British scientists of the 20th century, making significant contributions to genetics, physiology, biochemistry, biometry, cosmology, and other sciences. More remarkable, then, is the fact that Haldane had no formal qualification in science. He made frequent appearances in the media, making pronouncements on a variety of poignant topics including mining disasters, meteorites, politics, and the economy, and was a popular scientific essay writer. Haldane also was famed for conducting painful experiments on himself, including several instances in which he permanently himself. A staunch Marxist and convert to Hinduism, Haldane lived a diverse, lively and interesting life that is still revered by today's science community. A biography of Haldane has not been attempted since 1968, and that book provided an incomplete account of the man's scientific achievement. "The Life and Works of J.B.S. Haldane" serves to fix this glaring omission, providing a complete biographical sketch written by Krishna Dronamraju, one of the last living men to have worked personally with Haldane. A new genre of biographies of 20th-century scientists has come into being, and thus far works have been written about men like Einstein, Oppenheimer, Bernal, Galton, and many more; the inclusion of Haldane within this genre is an absolute necessity. Dronamraju evaluates Haldane's social and political background, as well as his scientific creativity and accomplishments. Haldane embodies a generation of intellectuals who believed and promoted knowledge for its own sake, and that spirit of scientific curiosity and passion is captured in this biography.
This book describes the profound changes that occurred in the teaching of chemistry in western countries in the years immediately following the Soviet Union's launch of Sputnik, the first artificial Earth satellite, in 1957. With substantial government and private funding, chemistry educators introduced new curricula, developed programs to enhance the knowledge and skills of chemistry teachers, conceived of new models for managing chemistry education, and experimented with a plethora of materials for visualization of concepts and delivery of content. They also began to seriously study and apply findings from the behavioral sciences to the teaching and learning of chemistry. Now, many chemistry educators are contributing original research in the cognitive sciences that relates to chemistry education. While Sputnik seemed to signal the dawn of far-reaching effects that would take place in political, diplomatic, and strategic, as well as in educational spheres, the seeds of these changes were sown decades before, mainly through the insight and actions of one individual, Neil Gordon, who, virtually singlehandedly, launched the ACS Division of Chemical Education and the Journal of Chemical Education. These two institutions provided the impetus for the United States to eventually become the undisputed leader in chemistry education worldwide.
This book examines the history and fundamentals of the physical organic chemistry discipline. With the recent flowering of the organic synthesis field, physical organic chemistry has seemed to be shrinking or perhaps is just being absorbed into the toolkit of the synthetic chemist. The only Nobel Prize that can be reasonably attributed to a physical organic chemist is the 1994 award to George Olah, although Jeffrey I. Seeman has recently made a strong case that R. B. Woodward was actually a physical organic chemist in disguise (I). 2014 saw the awarding of the 50th James Flack Norris Award in Physical Organic Chemistry. James Flack Norris was an early physical organic chemist, before the discipline received its name. This book provides insight into the fundamentals of the field, and each chapter is devoted to a major discovery or to noted physical organic chemists, including Paul Schleyer, William Doering, and Glen A. Russell.
Written by an immunologist, this book traces the concept of
immunity from ancient times up to the present day, examining how
changing concepts and technologies have affected the course of the
science. It shows how the personalities of scientists and even
political and social factors influenced both theory and practice in
the field. With fascinating stories of scientific disputes and
shifting scientific trends, each chapter examines an important
facet of this discipline that has been so central to the
development of modern biomedicine. With its biographical dictionary
of important scientists and its lists of significant discoveries
and books, this volume will provide the most complete historical
reference in the field.
Throughout history, people have tried to construct 'theories of
everything': highly ambitious attempts to understand nature in its
totality. This account presents these theories in their historical
contexts, from little known hypotheses from the past to modern
developments such as the theory of superstrings, the anthropic
principle and ideas of many universes, and uses them to
problematize the limits of scientific knowledge. Do claims to
theories of everything belong to science at all? Which are the
epistemic standards on which an alleged scientific theory of the
universe - or the multiverse - is to be judged?
Devices of Curiosity excavates a largely unknown genre of early cinema, the popular-science film. Primarily a work of cinema history, it also draws on the insights of the history of science. Beginning around 1903, a variety of producers made films about scientific topics for general audiences, inspired by a vision of cinema as an educational medium. This book traces the development of popular-science films over the first half of the silent era, from its beginnings in England to its flourishing in France around 1910. Devices of Curiosity also considers how popular-science films exemplify the circulation of knowledge. These films initially relied upon previous traditions such as the magic-lantern lecture for their representational strategies, and they continually had recourse to established visual iconography, but they also created novel visual paradigms and led to the creation of ambitious new film collections. Finally, the book discerns a transit between nonfictional and fictional modes, seeing affinities between popular-science films and certain aspects of fiction films, particularly Louis Feuillade's crime melodramas. This kind of circulation is important for an understanding of the wider relevance of early popular-science films, which impacted the formation of the documentary, educational, and avant-garde cinemas.
This book presents a brief compilation of results from nearly a century of research on the globular star clusters in the Andromeda Galaxy (M31). It explores the techniques and limitations of the observations, the successes and challenges of the models, and the paradigm for the formation of M31 that has gradually emerged. These results will eventually be superseded by new data, better analysis techniques, and more complex models. However, the emphasis of this book is on the techniques, thought processes, and connections with other studies.
There have been many recent discussions of the replication crisis in psychology and other social sciences. This has been attributed, in part, to the fact that researchers hesitate to submit null results and journals fail to publish such results. In this book, Allan Franklin and Ronald Laymon analyze what constitutes a null result and present evidence, spanning a 400-year history, that null results play significant roles in physics. They begin with Galileo's experiments on falling bodies and conclude with tests of the weak equivalence principle in general relativity, the search for physics beyond the Standard Model, and the search for neutrinoless double beta decay, all in the 21st century. As these case studies make evident, null results have refuted theories, confirmed theories, provided evidence for potential new theories to explain, introduced new experimental techniques, corrected previous incorrect or misinterpreted results, and have been used to explore previously unstudied phenomena. What makes these many roles possible is the development of increasingly more accurate replications of a zero value result and the value of these replications for the effective treatment of systematic uncertainty. The book concludes with a brief analysis of certain fundamental differences between physics and social psychology in the role played by replication where these differences explain the absence of a replication crisis in physics.
The goal of this book is to introduce a reader to a new philosophy of teaching and learning physics - Investigative Science Learning Environment, or ISLE (pronounced as a small island). ISLE is an example of an "intentional" approach to curriculum design and learning activities (MacMillan and Garrison 1988 A Logical Theory of Teaching: Erotetics and Intentionality). Intentionality means that the process through which the learning occurs is as crucial for learning as the final outcome or learned content. In ISLE, the process through which students learn mirrors the practice of physics.
The nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty (NPT) is the cornerstone of nonproliferation and disarmament efforts, yet its negotiation and success was not inevitable. This book aims to address the developments that led to the negotiation of the treaty, examine its implementation, and address challenges that the NPT faces going forward. It begins with an overview of precursor efforts to establish international limits on nuclear weapons and why these efforts failed. It also looks at the changes in the political environment and technical advances, which together increased the threat of proliferation and drove states to negotiate the NPT. The second chapter considers the negotiation of the treaty itself and looks at the gap between US and Soviet positions on key areas like alliance control of nuclear weapons, and how the two governments found common ground on nonproliferation language. It also explores the critical role played by the non-aligned movement to push inclusion of disarmament provisions that would become the foundation for Article VI of the treaty and the hesitancy of nuclear-armed states to support disbarment language and timelines. Chapter 3 of the book focuses on implementation of the NPT and its initial successes in heading off states with nuclear weapons research programs. It addresses how the treaty responded to challenges like the dissolution of the Soviet Union and gaps identified by the illicit nuclear weapons programs in Iraq and North Korea in the early 1990s. Chapter 3 also includes a section on the debate in 1995 over extending the treaty indefinitely, and the compromises reached to satisfy the concerns of the non-nuclear weapon states. Finally, Chapter 4 addresses some of the outstanding challenges to the NPT that remain unresolved, such as the continued failure to convene a conference on the Middle East WMD-free zone and specify the consequences of withdrawing from the NPT, and repurposing civilian nuclear technology transferred under the treaty weapons purposes. It also looks at how the ban treaty under negotiations in the United Nations will support or undermine the NPT's objectives.
The sea is steadily rising, presently at 3.4 mm per year, and it is already costing billions in Venice, on the Thames river and in New York City, to counter sea-level-related surges. Experts anticipate an accelerated rise, and credible predictions for sea-level rise by the year 2100 range from 12 inches to above six feet. Study of the Earth's geologic history, through ice-core samples, links sea-level rise to temperature rise. Since the lifetime of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere is measured in centuries, and it has upset the balance of incoming and outgoing energy, the Earth's temperature will continue to rise, even if carbon burning ceases. Engineering the Earth's solar input appears increasingly attractive and practical as a means to lower the Earth's temperature and, thus, to lower the sea level. The cost of engineering the climate appears small; comparable, even, to the already-incurred costs of sea-level rise represented by civil engineering projects in London, Venice and New York City. Feasible deployment of geoengineering, accompanied by some reduction in carbon burning, is predicted to lower the sea level by the order of one foot by 2100, which negates the expected rise and would provide an immense economic benefit. The accompanying lower global temperature would reduce the severity of extreme weather and restore habitability to lethally hot parts of the world.
Dalton's theory of the atom is generally considered to be what made
the atom a scientifically fruitful concept in chemistry. To be
sure, by Dalton's time the atom had already had a two-millenium
history as a philosophical idea, and corpuscular thought had long
been viable in natural philosophy (that is, in what we would today
call physics).
From the beginnings of industrial capitalism to contemporary
disputes over evolution, nature has long been part of the public
debate over the social good. As such, many natural scientists
throughout American history have understood their work as a
cultural activity contributing to social stability and their field
as a powerful tool for enhancing the quality of American life. In
the late Victorian era, interwar period, and post-war decades,
massive social change, economic collapse and recovery, and the
aftermath of war prompted natural scientists to offer up a
civic-minded natural science concerned with the political
well-being of American society. In Science and the Social Good,
John P. Herron explores the evolving internal and external forces
influencing the design and purpose of American natural science, by
focusing on three representative scientists-geologist Clarence
King, forester Robert Marshall, and biologist Rachel Carson-who
purposefully considered the social outcomes of their work.
Bishop Harvey Spencer never thought he'd witness a pandemic-just as he never expected to see the election of a Black president, the election of a female vice president (Black or otherwise), or an insurrection. But all of those things have happened, and our lives have been forever altered. In this book, he seeks to discover what God is trying to reveal to us by letting COVID-19 run rampant. By studying the Bible, he discovered it is not silent when it comes to fighting an infectious disease. He answers questions such as: - How did ancient Israel fight the spread of another infectious disease-leprosy? - What does the Bible tell us about quarantining individuals who are sick or may be sick? - Why do some elected officials continue to display a lack of leadership amid the pandemic? The author also examines what the Bible says about using face coverings, what the world has done to fight other outbreaks of disease, and similarities between COVID-19 and other deadly viruses. Get simple, practical explanations from the Bible that will help you understand the spread of COVID-19-and how to protect yourself-with A Biblical Response to COVID-19.
For modern scientists, history often starts with last week's
journals and is regarded as largely a quaint interest compared with
the advances of today. However, this book makes the case that,
measured by major advances, the greatest decade in the history of
brain studies was mid-twentieth century, especially the 1950s. The
first to focus on worldwide contributions in this period, the book
ranges through dozens of astonishing discoveries at all levels of
the brain, from DNA (Watson and Crick), through growth factors
(Hamburger and Levi-Montalcini), excitability (Hodgkin and Huxley),
synapses (Katz and Eccles), dopamine and Parkinson's (Carlsson),
visual processing (Hartline and Kuffler), the cortical column
(Mountcastle), reticular activating system (Morruzzi and Magoun)
and REM sleep (Aserinsky), to stress (Selye), learning (Hebb) and
memory (HM and Milner). The clinical fields are also covered, from
Cushing and Penfield, psychosurgery and brain energy metabolism
(Kety), to most of the major psychoactive drugs in use today
(beginning with Delay and Deniker), and much more.
When David Gorlaeus, a prospective theology student, passed away tragically at twenty-one years old, he left behind two highly innovative manuscripts, which were published posthumously in 1620 and 1651, respectively. As his identity was unknown, seventeenth-century readers understood him both as an anti-Aristotelian thinker and a precursor of Descartes. In contrast, by the twentieth century, historians depicted him as an atomist, natural scientist, and even a chemist. "David Gorlaeus (1591-1612)" seeks to pull together what is known of this enigmatic figure. Combining multiple historical sources, Christoph Luthy provides a narrative of Gorlaeus's life that casts light on his exceptional body of work and places it firmly at the intersection between philosophy, the nascent natural sciences, and theology. "Christoph Luthy is the first to tell the complete story of David Gorlaeus and to reconstruct his image on the basis of all remaining sources. Showing in a convincing way that Gorlaeus is one of the key figures in the renewal of atomistic philosophy in the seventeenth century and a major influence on many philosophers that are much better known, he leaves us with the melancholy picture of someone who died too young to become one of the heroes of the scientific revolution."--Theo Verbeek, Utrecht University
Once upon a time 'The Scientific Revolution of the 17th century' was an innovative concept that inspired a stimulating narrative of how modern science came into the world. Half a century later, what we now know as 'the master narrative' serves rather as a strait-jacket - so often events and contexts just fail to fit in. No attempt has been made so far to replace the master narrative. H. Floris Cohen now comes up with precisely such a replacement. Key to his path-breaking analysis-cum-narrative is a vision of the Scientific Revolution as made up of six distinct yet narrowly interconnected, revolutionary transformations, each of some twenty-five to thirty years' duration. This vision enables him to explain how modern science could come about in Europe rather than in Greece, China, or the Islamic world. It also enables him to explain how half-way into the 17th century a vast crisis of legitimacy could arise and, in the end, be overcome. Building forth on his earlier The Scientific Revolution. A Historiographical Inquiry (1994), his new book takes the latest researches duly into account, while connecting these in highly innovative ways. It is meant throughout as a constructive effort to break up all-too-deeply frozen patterns of thinking about the history of science.
This book is a long-term history of optics, from early Greek theories of vision to the nineteenth-century victory of the wave theory of light. It shows how light gradually became the central entity of a domain of physics that no longer referred to the functioning of the eye; it retraces the subsequent competition between medium-based and corpuscular concepts of light; and it details the nineteenth-century flourishing of mechanical ether theories. The author critically exploits and sometimes completes the more specialized histories that have flourished in the past few years. The resulting synthesis brings out the actors' long-term memory, their dependence on broad cultural shifts, and the evolution of disciplinary divisions and connections. Conceptual precision, textual concision, and abundant illustration make the book accessible to a broad variety of readers interested in the origins of modern optics.
When Sir Cyril Burt died in 1971, he was widely recognized as Britain's most eminent educational psychologist whose studies of gifted and delinquent children, contributions to the development of factor analysis, and research on the inheritance of intelligence brought widespread acclaim. Within five years of his death, however, he was publicly denounced as a fraud who had fabricated data to conclude that intelligence is genetically determined. Examiners of the published data found serious inconsistencies that raised questions about their authenticity; the case has divided the scientific community ever since. Were the charges justified, or was he a victim of critics fearful of validating such a politically unacceptable scientific theory? This is an up-to-date and unbiased analysis of one of the most notorious scandals in science, now more timely and widely discussed than ever with the publication of The Bell Curve, the best-selling polemic that raises arguments comparable to Burt's. The distinguished contributors examine the controversial areas of Burt's work and argue that his defenders have sometimes, but by no means always, been correct, and that his critics have often jumped to hasty conclusions. In their haste, however, these critics have missed crucial evidence that is not easily reconciled with Burt's total innocence, leaving the perception that both cases are seriously flawed. An introductory chapter lays the background to the case, followed by an examination of Burt's work that relates to the controversy. The book concludes with a chapter on Burt's character, other cases of apparent scientific fraud, and the impact of Burt's alleged fabrications. These findings have profound implications not only for the study of psychology, but for the wider issues relating to integrity in scientific research, and the impact of intelligence testing on social policy.
Was Plato a Pythagorean? Plato's students and earliest critics thought so, but scholars since the 19th century have been more skeptical. In Plato and Pythagoreanism, Phillip Sidney Horky argues that a specific type of Pythagorean philosophy, called "mathematical" Pythagoreanism, exercised a decisive influence on fundamental aspects of Plato's philosophy. The progenitor of mathematical Pythagoreanism was the infamous Pythagorean heretic and political revolutionary Hippasus of Metapontum, a student of Pythagoras who is credited with experiments in harmonics that led to innovations in mathematics. The innovations of Hippasus and other mathematical Pythagoreans, including Empedocles of Agrigentum, Epicharmus of Syracuse, Philolaus of Croton, and Archytas of Tarentum, presented philosophers like Plato with new approaches to science that sought to reconcile empirical knowledge with abstract mathematical theories. Plato and Pythagoreanism shows how mathematical Pythagoreanism established many of the fundamental philosophical questions Plato dealt with in his central dialogues, including Cratylus, Phaedo, Republic, Timaeus, and Philebus. In the process, it also illuminates the historical significance of the mathematical Pythagoreans, a group whose influence over the development of philosophical and scientific methods have been obscured since late antiquity. The picture that results is one in which Plato inherits mathematical Pythagorean method only to transform it into a powerful philosophical argument concerning the essential relationships between the cosmos and the human being. |
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