Introduction to the History of Science

Author(s)

• Walter Libby

A highly accessible introductory history of the development of scientific thought, method, and application from the first practical concepts of time and space (Babylonia, Egypt) to the development of the first successful heavier-than-air flying machine (Langley) and the discovery of radioactivity (Curie). - Summary by Steven Seitel

1. 00 Preface
2. 01 Science and Practical Needs - Egypt and Babylonia
3. 02 The Influence of Abstract Thought - Greece: Aristotle
4. 03 Scientific Theory Subordinated to Application - Rome: Vitruvius
5. 04 The Continuity of Science - The Medieval Church and the Arabs
6. 05 The Classification of the Sciences - Francis Bacon
7. 06 Scientific Method - Gilbert, Galileo, Harvey, Descartes
8. 07 Science as Measurement - Tycho Brahe, Kepler, Boyle
9. 08 Cooperation in Science - The Royal Society
10. 09 Science and the Struggle for Liberty - Benjamin Franklin
11. 10 The Interaction of the Sciences - Werner, Hutton, Black, Hall, William Smith
12. 11 Science and Religion - Kant, Lambert, Laplace, Sir William Herschel
13. 12 The Reign of Law - Dalton, Joule
14. 13 The Scientist - Sir Humphry Davy
15. 14 Scientific Prediction - The Discovery of Neptune
16. 15 Science and Travel - The Voyage of the Beagle
17. 16 Science and War - Pasteur, Lister
18. 17 Science and Invention - Langley's Aeroplane
19. 18 Scientific Hypothesis - Radioactive Substances
20. 19 The Scientific Imagination
21. 20 Science and Democratic Culture