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. |
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... , drugs , cosmetics , and perfumes , was a precursor of the science of chemistry , and the Sumerians produced all of these . Archeologists have even found a remarkable small cuneiform tablet that contains 8 From Clockwork to Crapshoot.
... produced a great up- heaval that lasted for several centuries around 1000 Bce . The advan- tages of the new iron weapons were quickly exploited by their pos- sessors , shifting the centers of power but leaving little time for the ...
... produced by strings whose lengths were in ratios of 12 : 9 : 8 : 6 were harmonious . In his cus- tomary generalizing manner he concluded that numbers were the es- sence of all things , and proportions in particular played a mystical ...
... produced a number of other significant Greek mathematicians , the greatest of whom was Hippocrates of Chios ( not to be confused with the originator of the scientific ap- proach to medicine , Hippocrates of Cos ) , regarded by some as ...
... produce a vacuum , which would enable objects to move without friction , any force would move an object with infinite speed , from which he drew the important conclusion that in the sublunar region a vacuum had to be physically ...
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 |