This book presents essays by eminent scholars from across the history of medicine, early science and European history, including those expert on the history of the book. The volume honors Professor Nancy Siraisi and reflects the impact that Siraisi's scholarship has had on a range of fields. Contributions address several topics ranging from the medical provenance of biblical commentary to the early modern emergence of pathological medicine. Along the way, readers may learn of the purchasing habits of physician-book collectors, the writing of history and the development of natural history. Modeling the interdisciplinary approaches championed by Siraisi, this volume attests to the enduring value of her scholarship while also highlighting critical areas of future research. Those with an interest in the history of science, the history of medicine and all related fields will find this work a stimulating and rewarding read.

The fascinating correspondence between Paul Levy and Maurice Frechet spans an extremely active period in French mathematics during the twentieth century. The letters of these two Frenchmen show their vicissitudes of research and passionate enthusiasm for the emerging field of modern probability theory. The letters cover various topics of mathematical importance including academic careers and professional travels, issues concerning students and committees, and the difficulties both mathematicians met to be elected to the Paris Academy of Sciences. The technical questions that occupied Levy and Frechet on almost a daily basis are the primary focus of these letters, which are charged with elation, frustration and humour. Their mathematical victories and setbacks unfolded against the dramatic backdrop of the two World Wars and the occupation of France, during which Levy was obliged to go into hiding. The clear and persistent desire of these mathematicians to continue their work whatever the circumstance testifies to the enlightened spirit of their discipline which was persistent against all odds. The book contains a detailed and comprehensive introduction to the central topics of the correspondence. The original text of the letters is also annotated by numerous footnotes for helpful guidance. Paul Levy and Maurice Frechet will be useful to anybody interested in the history of mathematics in the twentieth century and, in particular, the birth of modern probab ility theory.

Provides a comprehensive survey of the medical world of the European sixteenth century and clearly explains to students what medicine was and the impact of changes in society such as the print revolution, the Reformation, and the opening-up of new worlds had on medical ideas and practices allowing them to see how the history of medicine (and early modern Europe) was shaped over the course of the century. The chapters in the book explore topics such as new worlds, new drugs and new diseases, urban health, different roles in medicine for men and women, medical communication, the recovery of ancient medicine, religion and medicine and the patient experience providing students with a fascinating overview of medicine, in the broadest sense, in the sixteenth century By including material from Germany and Spain, as well as from a large range of unfamiliar authors, this book offers many new insights into the way in which European medicine was studied, practised and challenged in the age of Leonardo, Vesalius and Paracelsus.

This book is a historical-epistemological study of one of the most consequential breakthroughs in the history of celestial mechanics: Robert Hooke's (1635-1703) proposal to "compoun[d] the celestial motions of the planets of a direct motion by the tangent & an attractive motion towards a centrat body" (Newton, The Correspondence li, 297. Henceforth: Correspondence). This is the challenge Hooke presented to Isaac Newton (1642-1727) in a short but intense correspondence in the winter of 1679-80, which set Newton on course for his 1687 Principia, transforming the very concept of "the planetary heavens" in the process (Herivel, 301: De Motu, Version III). 1 It is difficult to overstate the novelty of Hooke 's Programme * The celestial motions, it suggested, those proverbial symbols of stability and immutability, werein fact a process of continuous change: a deflection of the planets from original rectilinear paths by "a centraU attractive power" (Correspondence, li, 313). There was nothing necessary or essential in the shape of planetary orbits. Already known to be "not circular nor concentricall" (ibid. ), Hooke claimed that these apparently closed "curve Line[ s ]" should be understood and calculated as mere effects of rectilinear motions and rectilinear attraction. And as Newton was quick to realize, this also implied that "the planets neither move exactly in ellipse nor revolve twice in the same orbit, so that there are as many orbits to a planet as it has revolutions" (Herivel, 301: De Motu, Version III).

First published in 1969. The historical civilization of China is, with the Indian and European-Semitic, one of the three greatest in the world, yet only relatively recently has any enquiry been begun into its achievements in science and technology. Between the first and fifteenth centuries the Chinese were generally far in advance of Europe and it was not until the scientific revolution of the Renaissance that Europe drew ahead. Throughout those fifteen centuries, and ever since, the West has been profoundly affected by the discoveries and invention emanating from China and East Asia. In this series of essays and lectures, Joseph Needham explores the mystery of China's early lead and Europe's later overtaking.

This book offers a critical update of current Wittgenstein research on the Tractatus logico-philosophicus (TLP) and its relation to the Vienna Circle. The contributions are written by renowned Wittgenstein scholars, on the occasion of the "Wittgenstein Years" 1921/1922 with a special focus on its origin, reception, and interpretation then and now. The main topic is the mutual relation between Wittgenstein and the Vienna Circle (esp. Schlick, Waismann, Carnap, Goedel), but also Russell and Ramsey. In addition, included in this volume are new studies on Wittgenstein's life and work, on the philosophy of the TLP, and on the Wittgenstein family in philosophical and historical context. Furthermore, unpublished documents on Wittgenstein and Waismann from the archives are provided in form of edited and commented primary sources. As per the book series' usual format, a general part of this Yearbook covers a study on Neurath's economy as well as reviews of related publications.

This book reflects on the various ways in which intelligence can manifest itself in the wide range of diverse contexts in which people live. Intelligence is often viewed as being tantamount to a score or set of scores on a decontextualized standardized intelligence test. But intelligence always acts within a sociocultural context. Indeed, early theorists defined intelligence in terms of adaptation to the environment in which one lives. The tradition of decontextualization is old, dating back to the very beginning of the 20th century with the development of the Binet-Simon Intelligence Scales. This tradition is not only old, however, but obsolete. Because people live in different sociocultural as well as physical environments, intelligence can take somewhat different forms in different places and even at different times. The chapters in this edited volume show that intelligence viewed in the abstract is a somewhat vacuous concept - it needs to be contextualized in terms of people's physical and sociocultural surroundings.

The book about John Michell (1724-93) has two parts. The first and longest part is biographical, an account of Michell's home setting (Nottinghamshire in England), the clerical world in which he grew up (Church of England), the university (Cambridge) where he studied and taught, and the scientific activities he made the center of his life. The second part is a complete edition of his known letters. Half of his letters have not been previously published; the other half are brought together in one place for the first time. The letters touch on all aspects of his career, and because they are in his words, they help bring the subject to life. His publications were not many, a slim book on magnets and magnetism, one paper on geology, two papers on astronomy, and a few brief papers on other topics, but they were enough to leave a mark on several sciences. He has been called a geologist, an astronomer, and a physicist, which he was, though we best remember him as a natural philosopher, as one who investigated physical nature broadly. His scientific contribution is not easy to summarize. Arguably he had the broadest competence of any British natural philosopher of the eighteenth century: equally skilled in experiment and observation, mathematical theory, and instruments, his field of inquiry was the universe. From the structure of the heavens through the structure of the Earth to the forces of the elementary particles of matter, he carried out original and far-reaching researches on the workings of nature.

Read about the dramatic life of an outstanding mathematical genius: Niels Henrik Abel (1802-1829). Arild Stubhaug, who is both a historian and a mathematician, has written the definitive biography of Niels Henrik Abel. The Norwegian original edition was a sensational success, and Arild Stubhaug was awarded the most prestigious Norwegian literary prize (Brageprisen) in the category non-fiction. Everyone with an interest in the history of mathematics and science will enjoy reading this book on one of the most famous mathematicians of the 19th century.

This collection of essays assesses the interrelationship between exploration, empire-building and science in the opening up of the Pacific Ocean by Europeans between the early 16th and mid-19th century. It explores both the role of various sciences in enabling European imperial projects in the region, and how the exploration of the Pacific in turn shaped emergent scientific disciplines and their claims to authority within Europe. Drawing on a range of disciplines (from the history of science to geography, imperial history to literary criticism), this volume examines the place of science in cross-cultural encounters, the history of cartography in Oceania, shifting understandings of race and cultural difference in the Pacific, and the place of ships, books and instruments in the culture of science. It reveals the exchanges and networks that connected British, French, Spanish and Russian scientific traditions, even in the midst of imperial competition, and the ways in which findings in diverse fields, from cartography to zoology, botany to anthropology, were disseminated and crafted into an increasingly coherent image of the Pacific, its resources, peoples, and histories. This is a significant body of scholarship that offers many important insights for anthropologists and geographers, as well as for historians of science and European imperialism.

This third volume of Gyllenbok's encyclopaedia of historical metrology comprises the second part of the compendium of measurement systems and currencies of all sovereign states of the modern World (J-Z). Units of measurement are of vital importance in every civilization through history. Since the early ages, man has through necessity devised various measures to assist him in everyday life. They have enabled and continue to enable us to trade in commonly and equitably understood amounts, and to investigate, understand, and control the chemical, physical, and biological processes of the natural world. The encyclopeadia will be of use not only to historians of science and technology, but also to economic and social historians and should be in every major academic and national library as standard reference work on the topic.

This book presents the first comprehensive history of innovation at NASA, bringing together experts in the field to illuminate how public-private and international partnerships have fueled new ways of exploring space since the beginning of space travel itself. Twelve case studies trace the messy, risky history of such partnerships, exploring the role of AT&T in the early development of satellite technology, the connections between the Apollo program and Silicon Valley, the rise of SpaceX, and more. Some of these projects have succeeded, and some have failed; all have challenged conventional methods of doing the public's business in space. Together, these essays offer new insights into how innovation happens, with invaluable lessons for policymakers, investors, economists, and members of the space community.

Yakov Alpert (b. 1911) has been making waves all his life -- in scientific laboratories, where his pioneering work as a radio physicist earned him world renown, and in the Soviet Union, where he defied the repressive Soviet regime, became a refusnik and a dissident, and at the age of 76 finally won permission to emigrate to the United States. Alpert tells in this gripping personal memoir what it was like to be a scientist during the entire life cycle of the Soviet Union. His account provides a uniquely revealing look inside the Soviet scientific community, a firsthand view of Soviet society from postrevolutionary days to the nation's ultimate collapse, and a thought-provoking description of how scientists and citizens responded, some bravely and some cravenly, to the repression and anti-Semitism of the Soviet regime.

Everyone knows that the universe is extremely old and extremely large. But how did scientists determine just how old and how large? How do astronomers know that there are upwards of 100 billion galaxies in the universe if the nearest one is over 40,000 light-years away? How do we know what the stars are made of? The answer is that our current knowledge of the universe has arisen from the work and ideas of scientists and philosophers over hundreds of years. While it's only been during the last several decades that scientists have had the technology and theories to really understand how the universe works, humans have thought about such issues for millennia. And the scientists who today are attempting to understand the most complex issues of the universe build upon the work and thought of the thinkers of the last hundreds of years. The Cosmos: A Historical Perspective provides an accessible introduction to the many ways humans have conceived of the universe throughout history and what ideas have led to our current understanding of the cosmos. The book examines: BLThe Scientific Revolution and the new ideas of the Earth's place in the cosmos BLThe importance of nineteenth-century physics and chemistry in determining the compositions of stars BLEinstein's Theory of Relativity and how it altered how scientists thought about gravity BLNew, cutting-edge science that may alter, yet again, our conceptions of the cosmos, such as the inflationary universe and the possibility of "dark energy." BLJargon and mathematics is kept to a minimum, and the volume includes an annotated bibliography and a timeline. The Cosmos is an ideal introduction for students studying space science and the history andnature of the scientific understanding of the universe.

The industrial revolution stands out as a key event not simply in British history, but in world history, ushering in as it did a new era of sustained economic prosperity. But what exactly was the 'industrial revolution'? And why did it occur in Britain when it did? Ever since the expression was coined in the 19th century, historians have been debating these questions, and there now exists a large and complex historiography concerned with English industrialisation. This short history of the British Industrial Revolution, aimed at undergraduates, sets out to answer these questions. It will synthesise the latest research on British industrialisation into an exciting and interesting account of the industrial revolution. Deploying clear argument, lively language, and a fresh set of organising themes, this short history revisits one of the most central events in British history in a novel and accessible way. This is an ideal text for undergraduate students studying the Industrial Revolution or 19th Century Britain.

The purpose of presenting this book to the scholarly world is twofold. In the first place, I wish to provide for the English reader a translation of the earliest extant Arabic work of Hindi arithmetic. It shows this system at its earliest stages and the first steps in its development, a subject not yet well known except for readers of some Arabic publications by the present writer. This book is therefore of particular importance for students of the history of mathematical techniques. The medieval author, AI-UqHdisI, was, it seems, not noticed by bibliographers; neither was his work, which lay hardly noticed by modern scholars until 1960 when I happened to see a microfilm copy of it in the Institute of Arabic Manu scripts in Cairo. A steady labour immediately followed to make a comparative study of the text together with over twenty other texts, some of them not yet known to scholars. This pursuit resulted in (i) a doctoral degree awarded to me in 1966 by the University of Khartoum, (ii) the publication of several texts in Arabic including the text here translated, and (iii) the publication of several articles in Arabic and English on the history of arithmetic in the Middle Ages. The second purpose of this book is to make the main results of my study available to the English reader."

Many books have been written on the history of quantum mechanics. So far as I am aware, however, this is the first to incorporate the results of the large amount of detailed scholarly research completed by professional historians of physics over the past fifteen years. It is also, I believe, the first since Max Jammer's pioneering study of fifteen years ago to attempt a genuine 'history' as opposed to a mere technical report or popular or semi-popular account. My aims in making this attempt have been to satisfy the needs of historians of science and, more especially, to promote a serious interest in the history of science among phYSicists and physics students. Since the creation of quantum mechanics was inevitably a technical process conducted through the medium of technical language it has been impossible to avoid the introduction of a large amount of such language. Some acquaintance with quantum mechanics, corresponding to that obtained through an undergraduate physics course, has accordingly been assumed. I have tried to ensure, however, that such an acquaintance should be sufficient as well as necessary, and even someone with only the most basic grounding in physics should be able with judicious skip ping, to get through the book. The technical details are essential to the dialogue, but the plot proceeds and can, I hope, be understood on a non technical level."

This book examines the latest manifestations of resource competition. The energy transition and the digitalization of the global economy are both accelerating even as geopolitics driven by Sino-American hyper-competition become increasingly contentious. The volume brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars, policy makers, institutional stakeholders, and industry experts to analyze not only the transition itself, but also the implications that the need for uninterrupted access to unprecedented levels of raw materials generates. By framing the challenges ahead for global society, governance, industry, international power politics, and the environment, the book asks hard questions about the choices that need to be made to reach net zero by mid-century. Moreover, it sheds light on different facets of the growing risks to what have been global interdependent supply chains in a way that is nuanced, balanced, and practical, thus pushing back on some of the most sensational headlines that breed confusion and may lead policymakers to make more narrow and less effective decisions. The volume is an outcome of "Rich Rocks, the Climate Crisis and the Tech-imperium" a Summer Institute at Caltech and the Huntington that took place in July 2021.

This book investigates the historical construction of scholarly personae by integrating a spectrum of recent perspectives from the history and cultural studies of knowledge and institutions. Focusing on gender and embodiment, the contributors analyse the situated performance of scholarly identity and its social and intellectual contexts and consequences. Disciplinary cultures, scholarly practices, personal habits, and a range of social, economic, and political circumstances shape the people and formations of modern scholarship. Featuring a foreword by Ludmilla Jordanova, Gender, Embodiment, and the History of the Scholarly Persona: Incarnations and Contestations is of interest to historians, sociologists, media and culture scholars, and all those with a stake in the personal dimensions of scholarship. An international group of scholars present original examinations of travel, globalisation, exchange, training, evaluation, self-representation, institution-building, norm-setting, virtue-defining, myth-making, and other gendered and embodied modes and mechanisms of scholarly persona-work. These accounts nuance and challenge existing understandings of the relationship between knowledge and identity.