Winner of the the Susan Elizabeth Abrams Prize in History of
Science.
When Isaac Newton published the "Principia" three centuries ago,
only a few scholars were capable of understanding his conceptually
demanding work. Yet this esoteric knowledge quickly became
accessible in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries when
Britain produced many leading mathematical physicists. In this
book, Andrew Warwick shows how the education of these "masters of
theory" led them to transform our understanding of everything from
the flight of a boomerang to the structure of the universe.
Warwick focuses on Cambridge University, where many of the best
physicists trained. He begins by tracing the dramatic changes in
undergraduate education there since the eighteenth century,
especially the gradual emergence of the private tutor as the most
important teacher of mathematics. Next he explores the material
culture of mathematics instruction, showing how the humble pen and
paper so crucial to this study transformed everything from
classroom teaching to final examinations. Balancing their intense
intellectual work with strenuous physical exercise, the students
themselves--known as the "Wranglers"--helped foster the competitive
spirit that drove them in the classroom and informed the Victorian
ideal of a manly student. Finally, by investigating several
historical "cases," such as the reception of Albert Einstein's
special and general theories of relativity, Warwick shows how the
production, transmission, and reception of new knowledge was
profoundly shaped by the skills taught to Cambridge undergraduates.
Drawing on a wealth of new archival evidence and illustrations,
"Masters of Theory" examines the origins of a cultural tradition
within which the complex world of theoretical physics was made
commonplace.
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