This brought about the crucial change in the concept of number that made possible modern science — in which the symbolic "form" of a mathematical statement is completely inseparable from its "content" of physical meaning. Includes a translation of Vieta's Introduction to the Analytical Art. 1968 edition. Bibliography.

    Born is one of the founders of quantum mechanics, a major intellectual accomplishment of the twentieth century, comparable to such other feats in scientific thought as the Newtonian philosophy and the Darwinian revolution. For his contributions to quantum mechanics, Born was awarded the 1954 Nobel Prize in Physics. One learns that Born did not become involved in nuclear fusion and its applications to the atomic bomb. This enables him to consider the ethical and political questions connected with the bomb from an objective viewpoint. It is to these questions that most of the essays in the volume are addressed. Born is concerned with two major questions: Can human affairs be regulated without the use of force? Can the current decline of ethics and morality be reversed? More simply stated, Is there hope for man's future? His position ranges from darkest pessimism and despair to optimism and hope. In the moving final essay he exhorts: "But we must hope!" He speaks of hope as "a moving force", for he is convinced: Only if we hope do we act in order to bring fulfillment of the hope nearer." It is Born's dedication as a teacher and his deep insight into the material universe enlightened by philosophical understanding that makes this collection of writings so profound. And it is his social conscience that makes the essays so relevant and so significant

    The author- the biographer of Sir Henry Tizard- has been given the help and co-operation of many members of the family and has been able to draw on a rich store of material. This includes the great Huxley collection in Imperial College; letters from the archives of Rice University, Texas, dealing with the early work of Sir Julian in the United States; and the reminiscences and recollections of most living Huxleys. The book, which traces a line of development stemming from T.H. Huxley's famous thesis on 'Man's Place in Nature', contains much new material dealing with T.H. Huxley's home life and builds up a vivid picture of him as a family man. There is a fresh and detailed commentary on the historic confrontation between Huxley and Bishop Wilberforce, a colourful picture of the youth and boyhood of Julian, Aldous, and their brother Trev; three chapters giving the background to Aldous Huxley's writings; and others describing the details of Sir Julian's work for the Zoological Society of London and the way in which he became, as the Director-General of Unesco, the force behind that organization in its formative years. The book also reveals the unexpected stories of many lesser-known Huxleys- the two daughters of T.H. Huxley who in succession married the Edwardian portrait-painter, the Hon. John Collier; the three Eckersley brothers, grandsons of T.H., who helped to create the foundations of British broadcasting; and the other Huxleys who have occupied influential positions in diplomacy or business. The Huxleys also contains more than thirty illustrations, including many family photographs published for the first time."

    Traces the rise of the vector concept from the discovery of complex numbers through the systems of hypercomplex numbers created by Hamilton and Grassmann to the final acceptance around 1910 of the modern system of vector analysis. Concentrates on vector addition and subtraction, the forms of vector multiplication, vector division (in those systems where it occurs), and the specification of vector types. 1985 corrected edition of 1967 original.

    

    An American Genius: The Life Of Ernest Orlando Lawrence, Father Of The Cyclotron

    Professor Ziman argues that the true goal of all scientific research is to contribute to the consensus of universally accepted knowledge. He explores the philosophical, psychological and sociological consequences of the principle, and explains how, in practice, the consensus is established and how the work of the individual scientist becomes a part of it. The intellectual form of scientific knowledge is determined by the need for the scientist to communicate his findings and to make them acceptable to others. Professor Ziman's essay, being written in plain English, and requiring only the slenderest knowledge of science, can (and should) be read by any educated person; as he says 'all genuine scientific procedures of thought and argument are essentially the same as those of everyday life'.