From Clockwork to Crapshoot: A History of PhysicsScience is about 6000 years old while physics emerged as a distinct branch some 2500 years ago. As scientists discovered virtually countless facts about the world during this great span of time, the manner in which they explained the underlying structure of that world underwent a philosophical evolution. From Clockwork to Crapshoot provides the perspective needed to understand contemporary developments in physics in relation to philosophical traditions as far back as ancient Greece. |
From inside the book
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... , some physicists now go even further, believing that the laws of nature should be mathematical theorems. The course of this development will be outlined in this book. one Beginnings When and where what we now call science Prologue 3.
... course of this long historical development , as more facts were discovered , concepts changed , sometimes radically . But certain large - scale themes persisted , informing the questions scien- tists and scientifically inclined ...
... physicists now go even further , be- lieving that the laws of nature should be mathematical theorems . The course of this development will be outlined in this book . Beginnings one When and where what we now call science Prologue 3.
... course , is the surest sign of faith in the regularity of daily life . Along with such proto - scientific learning , Egyptian technology be- came increasingly sophisticated as well . The measurements of blocks used for the pyramids ...
... course , generally best known for his fa- mous theorem in geometry : the square of the hypotenuse of a right triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the other two sides . The proof he is said to have given is very simple and is ...
Contents
1 | |
4 | |
11 | |
Science in the Middle Ages | 41 |
The First Revolution | 67 |
Newtons Legacy | 100 |
New Physics | 121 |
Relativity | 154 |
The Quantum Revolution | 210 |
Fields Nuclei and Stars | 248 |
The Properties of Matter | 279 |
The Constituents of the Universe | 290 |
Epilogue | 308 |
Notes | 313 |
Sources and Further Reading | 316 |
Index | 322 |