Naturvidenskabens historie

From the New York Times-bestselling author, a new volume on the history of human ingenuity-and its attendant breakthroughs and busts.The world is never finished catching up with Vaclav Smil. In his latest and perhaps most readable book, Invention and Innovation, the prolific author-a favorite of Bill Gates-pens an insightful and fact-filled jaunt through the history of human invention. Impatient with the hype that so often accompanies innovation, Smil offers in this book a clear-eyed corrective to the overpromises that accompany everything from new cures for diseases to AI. He reminds us that even after we go quite far along the invention-development-application trajectory, we may never get anything real to deploy. Or worse, even after we have succeeded by introducing an invention, its future may be marked by underperformance, disappointment, demise, or outright harm.Drawing on his vast breadth of scientific and historical knowledge, Smil explains the difference between invention and innovation, and looks not only at inventions that failed to dominate as promised (such as the airship, nuclear fission, and supersonic flight), but also at those that turned disastrous (leaded gasoline, DDT, and chlorofluorocarbons). And finally, most importantly, he offers a "e;wish list"e; of inventions that we most urgently need to confront the staggering challenges of the twenty-first century.Filled with engaging examples and pragmatic approaches, this book is a sobering account of the folly that so often attends human ingenuity-and how we can, and must, better align our expectations with reality.

Den kristne mystik er Aksel Haanings anmelderroste og eminente indføring i middelalderens tankeverden med fyldige kapitler om bl.a. Augustin, Bernhard af Clairvaux, Frans af Assisi og Meister Eckhart. Bogen belyser som Haanings forfatterskab i øvrigt menneskets aktuelle og kriseombruste forhold til naturen. Her foreligger den i en ny, gennemrevideret og smukt indbundet udgave, der kan læses af enhver også uden forkundskaber indenfor feltet.

How Stephen Jay Gould's career illustrates that criticizing science is important for American democracy.

Many countries produced an official national atlas in the twentieth century. This book examines these national atlases as an intriguing window into the connections between science, state, territory and power.

Es geht in diesen Texten um drei große Persönlichkeiten aus der Sphäre der Wissenschaft - eine Frau und zwei Männer -, die im 20. Jahrhundert die Naturwissenschaften vorangebracht haben und zwischen denen es zu Kontakten gekommen ist. Die Geschichten handeln von dem unbändigen Verlangen, Wissen zu erwerben und die Prozesse in der Natur zu verstehen, und es geht auch um die Hindernisse, auf die man dabei trifft. Es gibt keinen logischen oder methodischen Königsweg zu der ersehnten Einsicht, aber ab und zu erfahren die Menschen auf der Suche nach der Wahrheit das Glück einer plötzlichen Klarheit. In der Kunst würde man von einem kreativen Augenblick sprechen. Die Wissenschaft erlebte ihren eindrucksvollsten im Jahre 1925. Ihn möchte ich mit diesen Erzählungen feiern.

This book provides a solution to the problem with the energy concept. This problem manifests itself in the fact that physicists clearly diverge regarding the question of what energy is. Some define it but others state that we do not know what it is. Although this is a problem for physicists who need to explain the concept, it is not a problem for physics that can be solved by laboratory means. Penetrating into the origin of the notion of energy, this book offers a clear idea of what was discovered and what was invented to interpret the findings.Following the development of the concept, it provides an explanation of the trends in contemporary textbooks. The author's repetition, in his "History and Philosophy of Physics Laboratory", of Joule¿s famous experiment ¿ the paddle wheel experiment ¿ with a calorimeter as originally used by Joule and with a calorimeter as proposed in textbooks, is presented, yielding new insight into the phenomenon. Thus, science teachers andstudents will benefit from reading the book as well as historians, philosophers, students of the history and philosophy of science, and all who are interested in knowing about what it is that we call energy.

"The Mind of Primitive Man" is a book written by Franz Boas, a prominent anthropologist. Originally published in 1911, the book is considered a foundational work in the field of anthropology. Franz Boas is often regarded as one of the founding figures of modern anthropology in North America.In "The Mind of Primitive Man," Boas challenges the prevailing ideas of the time regarding the superiority or inferiority of different cultures. He argues against racial determinism and advocates for cultural relativism, asserting that cultural practices and beliefs should be understood within their specific historical and social contexts.The book addresses topics such as language, myth, art, and social organization among various Indigenous cultures, providing insights into the diversity of human thought and expression. Boas's approach laid the groundwork for a more nuanced and respectful understanding of different cultures, emphasizing the importance of studying societies in their own terms rather than imposing external judgments.

Over time, philosophers and historians of science have introduced different notions of 'ways of thinking'. This book presents, compares, and contrasts these different notions. It focuses primarily on Ian Hacking¿s idea of 'style of reasoning' in order to assess and develop it into a more systematic theory of scientific thought, arguing that Hacking¿s theory implies epistemic relativism. Luca Sciortino also discusses the implications of Hacking¿s ideas for the study of the problem of contingency and inevitability in the development of scientific knowledge

This book explores the dissemination of knowledge around Chinese medicinal substances from the eighteenth to twentieth centuries in a global context. The author presents a microhistory of the caterpillar fungus, a natural, medicinal substance initially used by Tibetans no later than the fifteenth century and later assimilated into Chinese materia medica from the eighteenth century onwards. Tracing the transmission of the caterpillar fungus from China to France, Britain, Russia and Japan, the book investigates the tensions that existed between prevailing Chinese knowledge and new European ideas about the caterpillar fungus. Emerging in eighteenth and nineteenth-century Europe, these ideas eventually reached communities of scientists, physicians and other intellectuals in Japan and China. Seeking to examine why the caterpillar fungus engaged the attention of so many scientific communities across the globe, the author offers a transnational perspective on the making of modern Europeannatural history and Chinese materia medica.

Advancing Medical Posthumanism Through Twenty-First Century American Poetry places contemporary poetics in dialogue with posthumanism and biomedicine in order to create a framework for advancing a posthuman-affirmative ethics within the culture of medical practice. This book makes a case for a posthumanist understanding of the body¿one that sees health and illness not as properties possessed by individual bodies, but as processes that connect bodies to their social and natural environment, shaping their capacity to act, think, and feel. Tana Jean Welch demonstrates how contemporary American poetry is specifically poised to develop a pathway toward a posthuman intervention in biomedicine, the field of medical humanities, medical discourse, and the value systems that guide U.S. healthcare in general.

Previously dependent on Europe for scientific knowledge, the United States came into its own during the nineteenth century. A prime example of this is evident in the establishment of the Cincinnati Observatory, in Cincinnati, Ohio. Funded by the citizenry of that city, it was initiated, with ceremony, by the oration by former President John Quincy Adams, at the laying of the cornerstone in 1843.In this book, you will read about the Cincinnati Observatory's most notable contributions, big and small, that were made over the course of its years in existence. You will learn about the Observatory's role in primitive weather forecasting, star cataloging, and even advancements it helped to create during World War II. Now known as the Cincinnati Observatory Center, it is a functional observatory and a dedicated center of astronomy education for all ages. It continues to contribute a rich cultural and scientific history to its community and nation.

This volume contains 8 papers that have been collected by the Canadian Society for History and Philosophy of Mathematics. It showcases rigorously reviewed contemporary scholarship on an interesting variety of topics in the history and philosophy of mathematics.Some of the topics explored include:A way to rethink how logic is taught to philosophy students by using a rejuvenated version of the Aristotelian idea of an argument schemaA quantitative approach using data from Wikipedia to study collaboration between nineteenth-century British mathematiciansThe depiction and perception of Émilie Du Châtelet¿s scientific contributions as viewed through the frontispieces designed for books written by or connected to herA study of the Cambridge Women¿s Research Club, a place where British women were able to participate in scholarly scientific discourse in the middle of the twentieth centuryAn examination of the researchand writing process of mathematicians by looking at their drafts and other preparatory notesA global history of al-Khw¿r¿zm¿¿s Kit¿b al-jabr wa-l-muq¿bala as obtained by tracing its reception through numerous translations and commentariesWritten by leading scholars in the field, these papers are accessible not only to mathematicians and students of the history and philosophy of mathematics, but also to anyone with a general interest in mathematics.

"Layered historical and artistic portrait of Henrietta Leavitt, the woman who laid the foundation for modern cosmology"--

"In science, it frequently happens that researchers look for something and find something else: understanding why leads us to the heart of how scientific method works and to the root of its wonder"--

This book, drawing on fresh scholarship, investigates electrification in new places and across different time periods. While much of our understanding of electrification as a historical process is based on the seminal work done by Thomas P. Hughes in Networks of Power (1983), the scholars in this volume expand and revise Hughes¿ systems approach to suggest that electrification is a heterogeneous and contingent process. Moreover, the contributors suggest that the conquest of the world by electricity remains incomplete despite more than a century elapsing. Above all, though, this book provides context for thinking about what lies ahead as humans continue their conquest of the earth through electricity. As we become increasingly dependent on electricity to power our lights, heat and cool our homes, turn the wheels of industry, and keep our information systems humming, so we are ever more vulnerable when the grid runs into trouble.Chapter "Surveying the Landscape: The Oil Industry and Alternative Energy in the 1970s" is available open access under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License via link.springer.com.

This book is the first transcription and extensive commentary on a fascinating but almost entirely overlooked manuscript compilation of medical recipes and letters, which is held in the University of Nottingham. Collected by the Marquess and Marchioness of Newcastle, William and Margaret Cavendish, during the 1640s and 1650s, this manuscript features letters of advice, recipes, and sundry philosophical and medical reflections by some of the most formidable and influential physicians, philosophers, and courtly scholars of the early seventeenth century. These include ¿Europe¿s physician¿ Theodore de Mayerne, the adventurer and courtier Kenelm Digby, and the natural philosopher, poet, and playwright Margaret Cavendish. While the transcription and accompanying annotations will allow a diverse array of readers to appreciate the manuscript for the first time, the introduction situates the Cavendishes¿ recipe collecting habits, medical preoccupations, natural philosophical views, and politics within their social, cultural, and philosophical contexts, and draws out some of the most significant implications of this important document.

Delve into the fascinating world of birds through astonishing photography and clear explanations in this absorbing global guide.Birds are dinosaurs with a history going back millions of years. Our fascination with them runs deep in history, and our close association is reflected in creation stories, myths, legends, songs, and children's stories.This book explores:Both the natural history of birds and that deep cultural connection. From their evolution and anatomy to their behavior and diversity.Hawks, finches, swans, or birds of paradise, moving the focus away from a predictable species-by-species account and allowing for truly global coverage. The bold nature of European Robins and why they are associated with Christmas; the mythical Phoenix, which rises from the ashes; and learn about eagles, from their hunting prowess to their myriad of stories and symbolism. Packed with information, beautiful photography, and illustrations, The Bird Book is a must-have for nature enthusiasts.

"Time and Change" is a 1912 work on geology by American naturalist John Boroughs. Within it, Burroughs explores the beauty and science behind the history of the Earth in the masterful way for which he is famous. John Burroughs (1837 - 1921) was an American naturalist, essayist, and active member of the U.S. conservation movement. Burroughs' work was incredibly popular during his lifetime, and his legacy has lived on in the form of twelve U.S. Schools named after him, Burroughs Mountain, and the John Burroughs Association-which publicly recognizes well-written and illustrated natural history publications. Other notable works by this author include: "Winter Sunshine" (1875), "Birds and Poets" (1877), and "Locusts and Wild Honey" (1879). Contents include: "The Long Road", "The Divine Abyss", "The Spell Of The Yosemite", "Through The Eyes Of The Geologist", "Holidays In Hawaii", "The Old Ice-flood", "The Friendly Soil", "Primal Energies", "Scientific Faith", "The Worm Striving To Be Man".

Redi, con l'aiuto di una penna affilata, rompe gli schemi del suo tempo, sfidando le tradizione aristotelica e ponendo delle solide basi per la nascita della biologia sperimentale. In un connubio di rigore scientifico e eloquenza poetica, l'autore ci conduce attraverso un intricato labirinto di miti e leggende, illuminando la verità con la luce della ragione.

Die autobiographische Reihe "Lebenswerke in der Chemie" gibt Einblicke in das Leben und Denken herausragender Forscher im Spiegel der Zeit. Welche Rolle spielt in der chemischen Spitzenforschung die ununterbrochene Folge von Hypothese, Experiment und Interpretation, welche Rolle spielen die Impulse von Mentoren, Mitarbeitern und Studenten oder auch die von Konkurrenten? Erfolgreiche Wissenschaftler beschreiben authentisch und persönlich, wie Neues in den Naturwissenschaften entsteht.Herausgegeben vom Beirat der Fachgruppe Geschichte der Chemie in der Gesellschaft Deutscher Chemiker (GDCh). l-i-c.org