From Natural Philosophy to the Sciences: Writing the History of Nineteenth-Century Science

Front Cover
David Cahan
University of Chicago Press, Sep 15, 2003 - History - 456 pages
During the nineteenth century, much of the modern scientific enterprise took shape: scientific disciplines were formed, institutions and communities were founded, and unprecedented applications to and interactions with other aspects of society and culture occurred.

In this book, eleven leading historians of science assess what their field has taught us about this exciting time and identify issues that remain unexamined or require reconsideration. They treat both scientific disciplines—biology, physics, chemistry, the earth sciences, mathematics, and the social sciences—in their specific intellectual and sociocultural contexts as well as the broader topics of science and medicine; science and religion; scientific institutions and communities; and science, technology, and industry.

Providing a much-needed overview and analysis of a rapidly expanding field, From Natural Philosophy to the Sciences will be essential for historians of science, but also of great interest to scholars of all aspects of nineteenth-century life and culture.

Contributors:
Bernadette Bensaude-Vincent, Jed Z. Buchwald, David Cahan, Joseph Dauben, Frederick Gregory, Michael Hagner, Sungook Hong, David R. Oldroyd, Theodore M. Porter, Robert J. Richards, Ulrich Wengenroth
 

Contents

An Introduction
3
Two Biology
16
Three Scientific Medicine
49
Four The Earth Sciences
88
Five Mathematics
129
Six Physics
163
Seven Chemistry
196
Eight Science Technology and Industry
221
Nine The Social Sciences
254
Ten Institutions and Communities
291
Eleven Science and Religion
329
Bibliography
359
Index
439
Copyright

Other editions - View all

Common terms and phrases

About the author (2003)

David Cahan is the Charles Bessey Professor of History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is the author of An Institute for an Empire: The Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt 1871-1918 and coauthor of Science at the American Frontier: A Biography of DeWitt Bristol Brace. He is the editor of Hermann von Helmholtz and the Foundations of Nineteenth-Century Science and Helmholtz's Science and Culture: Popular and Philosophical Essays. David Cahan is the Charles Bessey Professor of History at the University of Nebraska. He is the author of An Institute for an Empire: The Physikalisch-Technische Reichsanstalt 1871-1918 and coauthor of Science at the American Frontier: A Biography of DeWitt Bristol Brace. He is the editor of Hermann von Helmholtz and the Foundations of Nineteenth-Century Science and Helmholtz's Science and Culture: Popular and Philosophical Essays.

Bibliographic information