To Explain the World: The Discovery of Modern Science - Softcover

Weinberg, Steven

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0141980877 ISBN 13: 9780141980874

Publisher: Penguin, 2016

Synopsis

In To Explain the World, pre-eminent theoretical physicist Steven Weinberg offers a rich and irreverent history of science from a unique perspective - that of a scientist. Moving from ancient Miletus to medieval Baghdad to Oxford, and from the Museum of Alexandria to the Royal Society of London, he shows that the scientists of the past not only did not understand what we understand about the world - they did not understand what there is to understand. Yet eventually, through the struggle to solve such mysteries as the backward movement of the planets and the rise and fall of tides, the modern discipline of science emerged.

About this title

From the Back Cover

“Refreshing and well-written . . . tells a rich, meaningful tale about the emergence of science.”—New York Times Book Review

“A masterful journey through humankind’s scientific coming-of-age . . . a delightful celebration of our passionate drive for understanding.”—Brian Greene

In this rich, irreverent, and compelling history, Nobel Prize–winning physicist Steven Weinberg takes us across centuries, from ancient Miletus to medieval Baghdad and Oxford, from Plato’s Academy and the Museum of Alexandria to the cathedral school of Chartres and the Royal Society of London. He shows that the scientists of ancient and medieval times not only did not understand what we now know about the world but also did not understand what there is to understand, nor how to understand it.

Yet over the centuries, through the struggle to solve such mysteries as the curious backward movement of the planets or the rise and fall of the tides, the modern discipline of science eventually emerged. Along the way, Weinberg examines historic clashes and collaborations between science and the competing spheres of religion, technology, poetry, mathematics, and philosophy.

To Explain the World is an illuminating exploration of how we have come to consider and analyze the world around us.

“A thoughtful history.”—The New Yorker

About the Author

Steven Weinberg is a theoretical physicist and the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, the National Medal of Science, the Lewis Thomas Prize for the Scientist as Poet, and numerous honorary degrees and other awards. He is a member of the National Academy of Science, the Royal Society of London, the American Philosophical Society, and other academies. A longtime contributor to the New York Review of Books, he is also the author of The First Three Minutes, Dreams of a Final Theory, Facing Up, and Lake Views, as well as leading treatises on theoretical physics. He holds the Josey Regental Chair in Science at the University of Texas at Austin.

Edition details

• Publisher: Penguin
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0141980877
• ISBN 13: 9780141980874
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 432