The Scientific Revolution in National Context

Roy Porter

Cambridge University Press, Sep 25, 1992 - History - 305 pages

The "Scientific Revolution" of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries continues to command attention in historical debate. What was its nature? How did it develop? Controversy still rages about the extent to which it was essentially a "revolution of the mind," or how far it must also be explained by wider considerations--social, economic, political and cultural. In this volume, leading scholars of early modern science argue the importance of specifically national contexts for understanding the transformation in natural philosophy between Copernicus and Newton. Distinct political, religious, cultural and linguistic formations shaped scientific interests and concerns differently in Italy, France, Britain, the Germanies, Spain, and so on, and explain different levels of scientific intensity. Questions of institutional development, and of the transmission of scientific ideas, are also addressed. The emphasis on national determinants makes this volume an entirely original contribution to the study of the scientific revolution.

Contents

• Scientific Revolution social bricolage and etiquette: 11
• The Scentific Revolution in France: 55
• The Scientific Revolution in the German Nations: 90
• The new philosophy in the Low Countries: 115
• The Scientific Revolution in Spain and Portugal: 150
• The Scientific Revolution in Spain and Portugal: 158
• The Scientific Revolution in England: 178
• The Scientific Revolution in Bohemia: 210
• Instituting science in Sweden: 240
• The Scientific Revolution in Scotland: 263
• Index: 288

About the author

Roy Sydney Porter was born December 31, 1946. He grew up in a south London working class home. He attended Wilson's Grammar School, Camberwell, and won an unheard of scholarship to Cambridge. His starred double first in history at Cambridge University (1968) led to a junior research fellowship at his college, Christ's, followed by a teaching post at Churchill College, Cambridge. His Ph.D. thesis, published as The Making Of Geology (1977), became the first of more than 100 books that he wrote or edited. Porter was a Fellow and Director of Studies in History at Churchill College, Cambridge from 1972 to 1979; Dean from 1977 to 1979; Assistant Lecturer in European History at Cambridge University from 1974 to 1977, Lecturer from 1977 to 1979. He joined the Wellcome Institute fot the History of Medicine in 1979 where he was a Senior Lecturer from 1979 to 1991, a Reader from 1991 to 1993, and finally a Professor in the Social History of Medicine from 1993 to 2001. Porter was Elected a fellow of the British Academy in 1994, and he was also made an honorary fellow by both the Royal College of Physicians and the Royal College of Psychiatrists. Roy Porter died March 4, 2002, at the age of 55.

Bibliographic information

• Title: The Scientific Revolution in National Context
• Author: Roy Porter
• Editors: Roy Porter, Mikulas Teich
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 1992
• ISBN: 0521396999, 9780521396998
• Length: 305 pages
• Subjects: History / Europe / General; History / Modern / General; Science / History