Acclaimed science writer Barry Parker completes his trilogy on Einstein with this new work showing the incredibly wide-ranging influence of Einstein's many discoveries. In the first volume, "Einstein's Brainchild," Parker focused on relativity, the most famous and important of the great genius's ideas. In the second volume, "Einstein's Passions," his human side and diverse interests beyond science were Parker's main topic.
Now the author turns once again to Einstein as creative scientist, concentrating on his prolific output of far-reaching contributions that complement and broaden his discovery of relativity. Moreover, Parker provides an indelible portrait of the man behind the theories. In clear and eloquent language, the author helps us appreciate the breadth and richness of Einstein's vision: from Einstein's theories supporting time travel, to his research on curved space, the cosmological constant, black holes, worm holes, gravity waves, cosmic lenses, to quantum theory, and beyond. Parker also discusses Einstein's reluctant connection with atomic weapons, his pacifist philosophy, his quest for the elusive unified field theory, and the relationship of his work to the recent "hot" area of superstrings.
Even readers already familiar with Einstein's work will discover a wealth of new material in this singular contribution to the Einstein corpus. Parker's gift for turning complex physics into lucid prose has produced the most complete and accessible volume to elucidate for everyone the magnificent contributions of this most brilliant of scientists.

In early modern Europe, fundamental geographical as well as religious certainties became unstable. At the intersection of the two stood sacred geography. This book examines the scope and content of this early modern scholarly genre, which engaged many of Europe s leading scholars. On the one hand, 'geographia sacra' is analyzed in the context of antiquarian scholarship. Equipped with newly-developed sophisticated tools, scholars compiled, measured, and meticulously documented biblical and ecclesiastical space. On the other hand, this study argues, 'geographia sacra' was never detached from present concerns, and took part in confessional debates over scriptural authority, papal legitimacy, and the authenticity of liturgy. Hence today s interest in the notions of sacred space and spatiality had a lively, controversial, and crucial precedent in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. "Scientific and Learned Cultures and Their Institutions," 2

The articles selected for this volume explore emergent issues in the contemporary relationship between Islam and science and present studies of eight major voices in the discourse. Also included is a section on the operationalization of Islamic science in the modern world and a section on studies in traditional Islamic cosmology.

50 years of DNA double helix; what was before, and afterwards

The present book, although written mainly for science students and research scientists, is also aimed at those readers who look at science, not for its own sake, but in search of a better understanding of our world in general. What were the fundamental questions asked by the early pioneers of molecular biology? What made them tick for decades, trying to elucidate the basic mechanisms of heredity and life itself? In each chapter, the development of a particular aspect of modern biology is described in a historical and logical context, not missing to take into account human aspects of the protagonists of the story. At the end of each chapter, there are some excursus with additional information, technical and otherwise, which can be read separately. The book is enriched with many illustrations, including facsimile reproductions from the original descriptions of key experiments.

Animals and Science examines the debates, from the Renaissance to the present, surrounding issues of animal rights, consciousness, and self-awareness. Animals and Science examines what science has (and has not) taught us about the nature of nonhuman animals and explores the moral, religious, social, and scientific implications of those teachings. It shows how the scientific study of animals, especially their cognitive abilities, has transformed our understanding of them. Animals and Science traces our evolving understanding of animal pain and considers its moral relevance to humans. It discusses Darwin's belief-shattering notion that species differences are not absolute, then traces its impact to the present day. Ultimately, Animals and Science is about the nature of science-the kinds of questions science can and cannot answer, and the role of theory in shaping the interpretation of evidence. 12 thought-provoking essays trace the evolution of our ideas about animals and their impact on science, medicine, and society The book includes an extensive collection of primary source documents, ranging from Thomas Aquinas' Summa contra Gentiles to Peter Singer's Animal Liberation

Compiled to celebrate the centenary of the founding of the Faraday Society in 1903, this collection presents some of the key papers published in Faraday journals over the past one hundred years. The feature articles were all written by leaders in their field, including a number of Nobel Prize winners such as Lord George Porter and John Pople, and cover a breadth of topics demonstrating the wide range of scientific fields which the Faraday Society, and now the RSC Faraday Division, seek to promote. Topics include: Intermolecular Forces; Ultrafast Processes; Astrophysical Chemistry; Polymers; and Electrochemistry. Each article is accompanied by a commentary which puts it in context, describes its influence and shows how the field has developed since its publication. 100 Years of Physical Chemistry: A Collection of Landmark Papers will be welcomed by anyone interested in the historical development of physical chemistry, and will be a valued addition to any library shelf.

"To earn a degree, every doctoral candidate should go out to Harvard Square, find an audience, and explain his or her] dissertation." Everett Mendelsohn's worldly advice to successive generations of students, whether apocryphal or real, has for over forty years spoken both to the essence of his scholarship, and to the role of the scholar. Possibly no one has done more to establish the history of the life sciences as a recognized university discipline in the United States, and to inspire a critical concern for the ways in which science and technology operate as central features of Western society. This book is both an act of homage and of commemoration to Professor Mendelsohn on his 70th birthday. As befits its subject, the work it presents is original, comparative, wide-ranging, and new. Since 1960, Everett Mendelsohn has been identified with Harvard Univer sity, and with its Department of the History of Science. Those that know him as a teacher, will also know him as a scholar. In 1968, he began- and after 30 years, has just bequeathed to others - the editorship of the Journal of the History of Biology, among the earliest and one of the most important publications in its field. At the same time, he has been a pioneer in the social history and sociology of science. He has formed particularly close working relationships with colleagues in Sweden and Germany - as witnessed by his editorial presence in the Sociology of Science Yearbook."

What does morality have to do with psychology in a value-neutral, postmodern world? According to a provocative new book, everything.

Taking exception with current ideas in the mainstream (including cultural, evolutionary, and neuropsychology) as straying from the discipline's ethical foundations, Psychology as a Moral Science argues that psychological phenomena are inherently moral, and that psychology, as prescriptive and interventive practice, reflects specific moral principles.

The book cites normative moral standards, as far back as Aristotle, that give human thoughts, feelings, and actions meaning, and posits psychology as one of the critical methods of organizing normative values in society; at the same time it carefully notes the discipline's history of being sidetracked by overemphasis on theoretical constructs and physical causes-what the author terms "the psychologizing of morality." This synthesis of ideas brings an essential unity to what can sometimes appear as a fragmented area of inquiry at odds with itself. The book's "interpretive-pragmatic approach"

Revisits core psychological concepts as supporting normative value systems.

Traces how psychology has shaped society's view of morality.

Confronts the "naturalistic fallacy" in contemporary psychology.

Explains why moral science need not be separated from social science.

Addresses challenges and critiques to the author's work from both formalist and relativist theories of morality.

With its bold call to reason, Psychology as a Moral Science contains enough controversial ideas to spark great interest among researchers and scholars in psychology and the philosophy of science."

Although "romantic science" may sound like a paradox, much of the romance surrounding modern science -- the mad scientist, the intuitive genius, the utopian transformation of nature -- originated in the Romantic period. Romantic Science traces the literary and cultural politics surrounding the formation of the modern scientific disciplines emerging from eighteenth-century natural history. Revealing how scientific concerns were literary concerns in the Romantic period, the contributors uncover the vital role that new discoveries in earth, plant, and animal sciences played in the period's literary culture. Furthermore, as they examine the social and literary ramifications of a particular branch or object of natural history, they historicize our present intellectual landscape by reimagining and redrawing the disciplinary boundaries between literature and science.

The author, a well-known astronomer himself, describes the evolution of astronomical ideas, touching only lightly on most of the instrumental developments. Richly illustrated, the book starts with the astronomical ideas of the Egyptian and Mesopotamian philosophers, moves on to the Greek period and then on to the golden age of astronomy, that of Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler and Newton. Finally, Pecker concludes with modern theories of cosmology. Written with astronomy undergraduates in mind, this is a fascinating survey of astronomical thinking.

This updated edition includes a new afterword that identifies the role the Buck story plays in the Supreme Court's review of emerging state laws that seek to limit access to abortion. "Three generations of imbeciles are enough." Few lines from U.S. Supreme Court opinions are as memorable as this declaration by Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. in the landmark 1927 case Buck v. Bell. The ruling allowed states to forcibly sterilize residents in order to prevent "feebleminded and socially inadequate" people from having children. It is the only time the Supreme Court endorsed surgery as a tool of government policy. Though Buck set the stage for more than sixty thousand involuntary sterilizations in the United States and was cited at the Nuremberg trials in defense of Nazi sterilization experiments, it has never been overturned. It has been more than a decade since Paul A. Lombardo's classic Three Generations, No Imbeciles first exposed the Buck case's fraudulent roots. During that time, several of the remaining twentieth-century eugenic sterilization statutes have finally been repealed, and reparations to sterilization survivors have been paid in two states. Discussion of the Buck case has once again engendered controversy in the courts. The Wisconsin Supreme Court invoked Buck most recently in a debate over the power of the state to enact restrictions on citizens and businesses during the COVID-19 crisis, and the US Supreme Court cited Three Generations, No Imbeciles in arguments over the newest state laws seeking to limit access to abortion. This updated edition collects and analyzes information related to events and trends discussed in the earlier volume and includes a completely new afterword, "Looking Back at Buck," that explains how the case remains a key feature of public discourse about disability, government power, and reproductive rights. It also presents restored copies of the letters of Carrie Buck and points readers to an online archive of legal documents, images, and other material relevant to the case. The book remains a key resource for law school faculties, legal and medical historians, and anyone with an interest in the history of reproduction in the United States. "Startling."-Reason "Compelling and well-researched . . . Three Generations, No Imbeciles gives Carrie Buck's long-untold story the attention it deserves."-Harvard Law Review "Three Generations provides valuable, new, and timely revelations for students and professional scholars across many disciplines."-Disability Studies Quarterly "Meticulously detailed and researched history . . . this book is enjoyable, thought provoking, and troubling in equal measure. I highly recommend it."-Psychiatric Services

Students in an introductory physics class learn a variety of different, and seemingly unconnected, concepts. Gravity, the laws of motion, forces and fields, the mathematical nature of the science - all of these are ideas that play a central role in understanding physics. And one thing that connects all of these physical concepts is the impetus the great scientists of the past had to develop them - the desire to understand the motion of the planets of the solar system. This desire led to the revolutionary work of Copernicus and Galileo, Kepler and Newton. And their work forever altered how science is practiced and understood. Planetary Motions: A Historical Perspective enables students to understand how the discoveries of the luminaries of the Scientific Revolution impact the way physics is practiced today. BLNicolas Copernicus - his revolutionary work On the Revolution of the Heavenly Spheres that placed the sun, rather than the earth, at the center of the universe forever altered how people would see our place in the cosmos BLGalileo - his work did not prove Copernicus correct, but did destroy the ancient physics of Aristotle BLJohannes Kepler - his painstaking work eventually led to his laws regarding how the planets revolve around the sun BLIsaac Newton -his work remains the center of classical physics as studied in classrooms today Jargon and mathematics is kept to a minimum, and the volume includes a timeline and an annotated bibliography of useful print and online works for further research. Planetary Motions is an ideal introduction for students studying physics and astronomy and who need to understand the history and nature of the scientific enterprise.

For sixteen centuries Christianity dominated Western culture, during which time a powerful church rigidly and sometimes ruthlessly imposed its dogma. Under these conditions progressive thinkers who departed from the Christian worldview encountered stiff opposition from ecclesiastical authorities. Persecution by both church and state as a means of stifling heretics became routine.
Using the biblical dictum, oby their fruits shall ye know themo (Mt. 7:20), humanist George Erickson surveys the historical record of the defenders of faith and the proponents of reason. His analysis challenges the commonly held belief that despite its many abuses religion on balance civilized the world. Beginning with the unfettered progress of science in pre-Christian, polytheistic societies, he notes that this progress was soon actively thwarted by the growing Christian throng. Aided by the carrot-and-stick appeal of heaven and hell, missionary passion, superstitions, and miracles, Christianity gradually overwhelmed its religious competitors while simultaneously working to destroy all interest in scientific reasoning.
Yet even amidst these suffocating, often bloody conditions, certain individuals doggedly pursued new and dangerous, frequently heretical scientific research, sometimes at the risk of their lives. Erickson briefly profiles such pioneers as Giordano Bruno, Copernicus, Galileo, Darwin, Linnaeus, and others. While condemning the Christianity that produced such abominations as the Inquisition and witch hunts, Erickson concludes on an optimistic note, emphasizing that science and secular society have broken free from centuries of religious opposition, and continue to benefit the world through mass education, modern medicine, and technological progress.

Gregor Johann Mendel continues to fascinate the general public as well as scholars, the former for his life and the latter for his achievements. "Solitude of a Humble Genius" is a two-volume biography presenting Mendel in the context of the history of biology and philosophy, and in the context of the setting in which he lived and worked. In this first volume the authors set the stage for a new interpretation of Mendel s achievements and personality. The period of Mendel s life covered by this volume is critical to understanding why he saw what other biologists, including Charles Darwin, for example, didn t. In searching for clues to Mendel s thinking, the authors discuss at length the origin of his genes; the history of the region of his birth; they also spend a day and then the four seasons of the year with his family; and finally they examine the schooling he received, as well as the cultural and political influences he was exposed to.

An indispensible part of the work is Norman Klein s artwork. In this first volume alone, it comprises nearly 80 original drawings and includes cartoons that enliven the narration, scenes from Mendel s life, portraits, and plans and drawings of the cities and buildings in which he lived, studied, and worked."

'Never since the Black Death has such a plague swept over the face of the world,' commented the Times , '[and] never, perhaps, has a plague been more stoically accepted.' When the Great Influenza pandemic finally ended, in April 1919, 228,000 people in Britian alone were dead. This book tells the story of the Great Influenza pandemic.

Catastrophes are part of Earth's real history. Its grim disasters, acting as a backdrop against which human dramas have been played out, have been recorded in many ancient writings. As Milne shows, doomsday catastrophism, once the prerogative of 18th-century geologists steeped in the Biblical memory of the Great Flood, has now regained respectability. Catastrophism applies to many disciplines such as planetary science, biology, climatology, and evolutionary theory. The universe itself, we now believe, is a product of a giant cosmic catastrophe. Indeed life itself may have arisen when the moon may have crystallized out of a crashing mini-planet that enabled organisms to emerge into tidal pools.

Floods and natural disasters seem to be on the increase everywhere and are no longer just a Third World problem. The fear of climatic disturbances are the source of regular international conferences, and it is seriously suggested that the U.S. military shoot down plummeting comets before they destroy civilization, as they once destroyed the dinosaurs. Milne provides a contemporary look at catastrophism in its scientific and in its disastrous earth-shattering sense. Within one volume a wide range of up-to-date scientific facts and concepts are examined. Milne gives readers interested in scientific controversies, contemporary affairs and environmental issues an important document that chronicles the end of a turbulent and disturbing 2,000 years.

Francis BACON, in his Novum Organum, Robert BOYLE, in his Skeptical Chemist and Rene DESCARTES, in his Discourse on Method; all of these men were witnesses to the th scientific revolution, which, in the 17 century, began to awaken the western world from a long sleep. In each of these works, the author emphasizes the role of the experimental method in exploring the laws of Nature, that is to say, the way in which an experiment is designed, implemented according to tried and tested te- niques, and used as a basis for drawing conclusions that are based only on results, with their margins of error, taking into account contemporary traditions and prejudices. Two centuries later, Claude BERNARD, in his Introduction to the Study of Experimental Medicine, made a passionate plea for the application of the experimental method when studying the functions of living beings. Twenty-first century Biology, which has been fertilized by highly sophisticated techniques inherited from Physics and Chemistry, blessed with a constantly increasing expertise in the manipulation of the genome, initiated into the mysteries of information techn- ogy, and enriched with the ever-growing fund of basic knowledge, at times appears to have forgotten its roots."

Eclipses have long been seen as important celestial phenomena, whether as omens affecting the future of kingdoms, or as useful astronomical events to help in deriving essential parameters for theories of the motion of the moon and sun. This is the first book to collect together all presently known records of timed eclipse observations and predictions from antiquity to the time of the invention of the telescope. In addition to cataloguing and assessing the accuracy of the various records, which come from regions as diverse as Ancient Mesopotamia, China, and Europe, the sources in which they are found are described in detail. Related questions such as what type of clocks were used to time the observations, how the eclipse predictions were made, and how these prediction schemes were derived from the available observations are also considered. The results of this investigation have important consequences for how we understand the relationship between observation and theory in early science and the role of astronomy in early cultures, and will be of interest to historians of science, astronomers, and ancient and medieval historians.

Mature sciences have been long been characterized in terms of the "successfulness", "reliability" or "trustworthiness" of their theoretical, experimental or technical accomplishments. Today many philosophers of science talk of "robustness", often without specifying in a precise way the meaning of this term. This lack of clarity is the cause of frequent misunderstandings, since all these notions, and that of robustness in particular, are connected to fundamental issues, which concern nothing less than the very nature of science and its specificity with respect to other human practices, the nature of rationality and of scientific progress; and science's claim to be a truth-conducive activity. This book offers for the first time a comprehensive analysis of the problem of robustness, and in general, that of the reliability of science, based on several detailed case studies and on philosophical essays inspired by the so-called practical turn in philosophy of science.