In this masterly synthesis, Arthur Koestler cuts through the sterile distinction between 'sciences' and 'humanities' to bring to life the whole history of cosmology from the Babylonians to Newton. He shows how the tragic split between science and religion arose and how, in particular, the modern world-view replaced the medieval world-view in the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century. He also provides vivid and judicious pen-portraits of a string of great scientists and makes clear the role that political bias and unconscious prejudice played in their creativity.

    He has selected a group of diversions which are not only entertaining but mathematically meaningful as well. The result is a work which is rewarding on almost every level of mathematical achievement."—Miriam Hecht, Iscripta Mathematica

    Some chapters have been rewritten, making topics such as conjugation and nucleophilic substitution more accessible. Problems are provided which challenge the readers' understanding. read.

    His talents are vividly revealed in this exciting and penetrating explanation of how the central laws of physical science evolved — from Pythagoras' discovery of frequency ratios in the 6th century B.C. to today's research on elementary particles.Unlike many books on physics which focus entirely on fact and theory with little or no historic detail, the present work incorporates fascinating personal and biographical data about the great physicists of past and present. Thus Dr. Gamow discusses on an equal basis the trail of Galileo and the basic laws of mechanics which he discovered, or gives his personal recollections about Niels Bohr along with detailed discussion of Bohr's atomic model. You'll also find revealing glimpses of Newton, Huygens, Heisenberg, Pauli, Einstein, and many other immortals of science.Each chapter is centered around a single great figure, or at most two, with other physicists of the era and their contributions forming a background. Major topics include the dawn of physics, the Dark Ages and the Renaissance, Newtonian physics, heat as energy, electricity, the relativistic revolution, quantum theory, and the atomic nucleus and elementary particles.As Dr. Gamow points out in the Preface, the aim of this book is to give the reader the feeling of what physics is, and what kind of people physicists are. This delightfully informal approach, combined with the book's clear, easy-to-follow explanations, will especially appeal to young readers but will stimulate and entertain science enthusiasts of all ages. 1961 edition."The whole thing is a tour de force covering all the important landmarks." — Guardian

    A Science I CAN READ Book that explains how seeds work and shows Benny's seed experiments.

    He travelled by boat up a small, torturous river in to the far interior; he met Indian tribesmen, lone ranchers and the Paraguayans who played to him with their haunting guitar and harp music; he went to the plain lands of the vast cattle-ranching estates, and he rode by horseback into the harsh, parched, inhospitable country of the Gran Chaco.

    . . . This is an enlarging and a brilliant book." ― Scientific American"Dr. Morris Kline has succeeded brilliantly in explaining the nature of much that is basic in math, and how it is used in science." ― San Francisco ChronicleSince the major branches of mathematics grew and expanded in conjunction with science, the most effective way to appreciate and understand mathematics is in terms of the study of nature. Unfortunately, the relationship of mathematics to the study of nature is neglected in dry, technique-oriented textbooks, and it has remained for Professor Morris Kline to describe the simultaneous growth of mathematics and the physical sciences in this remarkable book.In a manner that reflects both erudition and enthusiasm, the author provides a stimulating account of the development of basic mathematics from arithmetic, algebra, geometry, and trigonometry, to calculus, differential equations, and the non-Euclidean geometries. At the same time, Dr. Kline shows how mathematics is used in optics, astronomy, motion under the law of gravitation, acoustics, electromagnetism, and other phenomena. Historical and biographical materials are also included, while mathematical notation has been kept to a minimum. This is an excellent presentation of mathematical ideas from the time of the Greeks to the modern era. It will be of great interest to the mathematically inclined high school and college student, as well as to any reader who wants to understand ― perhaps for the first time ― the true greatness of mathematical achievements.

    That alcohol is the word for an ancient Arabic cosmetic? That petroleum in Latin is “olive oil from a rock”? That a nucleus is a "little nut” or that deoxyribonucleic acid simply means . . . ? Well, read the book and see.The vocabulary of Science has always been a forbidding one, bristling with many-syllabled words and odd, unfamiliar terms. Now Professor Asimov has opened up this language to the ordinary reader by conducting an informal exploration into the roots and histories of hundreds of scientific terms.The result is a really fascinating book that combines a vast quantity of scientific information with an equal amount of language history. Even the longest tongue-twisters have simple origins if you go back far enough; and Professor Asimov makes each discovery of the origins of a word a sort of detective story that can’t fail to stimulate the reader’s interest.This is a perfect book to dip into again and again. Not only is it entertaining in its own right, but it is also a wonderful introduction to what should become the popular indoor sport of word-chasing. A complete index to the more than 1500 terms covered makes it a unique reference book as well.

    Trained as a paleontologist and ordained as a Jesuit priest, Teilhard de Chardin devoted himself to establishing the intimate, interdependent connection between science—particularly the theory of evolution—and the basic tenets of the Christian faith. At the center of his philosophy was the belief that the human species is evolving spiritually, progressing from a simple faith to higher and higher forms of consciousness, including a consciousness of God, and culminating in the ultimate understanding of humankind’s place and purpose in the universe. The Church, which would not condone his philosophical writings, refused to allow their publication during his lifetime. Written over a period of thirty years and presented here in chronological order, the essays cover the wide-ranging interests and inquiries that engaged Teilhard de Chardin throughout his life: intellectual and social evolution; the coming of ultra-humanity; the integral place of faith in God in the advancement of science; and the impact of scientific discoveries on traditional religious dogma. Less formal than The Phenomenon of Man and The Divine Milieu, Teilhard de Chardin’s most renowned works, The Future of Man offers a complete, fully accessible look at the genesis of ideas that continue to reverberate in both the scientific and the religious communities.

    Mathematics, Applied & Natural Sciences

    

    

    He begins with a fundamental question: how do we decide how much money to spend on research. The more we spend the less we have to spend on other things. The decision is best left to the free market. He shows that science best advances under the free market: the claims to the contrary of the centralizers are spurious.

    Cardinal Ruffini's recognized classic, La Teoria della Evoluzione secondo la Scienza e la Fede, is famous among students of science, philosophy, history, theology and Scripture not only for the depth and breath of its wisdom and for the unusual thoroughness of its treatment, but probably more so for the unusual clarity and simplicity of its writing.In The Theory of Evolution Judged by Reason and Faith, Cardinal Ruffini addresses himself to the subjects of Darwinian evolution and, with greater emphasis, to its mitigated form of transformism--the evolution of the human body, not of the human soul.Against both positions His Eminence arrays the findings of science (paleontology, embryology, anatomy, physiology, parasitism, genetics, etc.), the teachings of the Scholastics and the Fathers of the Church, and (most significantly, since he is a Cardinal member of the Pontifical Biblical Commission) the authority of Scripture scholars.This work, more convincingly and more thoroughly than any other, makes sharply clear the mind of the Roman Catholic Church on the two subjects under analysis.This is a must-have book for any Catholic who wants to understand the Church's authentic voice on this crucial contemporary topic.

    The resulting collection is an important step in the attempt to bridge the widening chasm between the intuitive values that give an ultimate meaning to our lives and the scientific world-view that may well supplant those values.Contributers include:Abraham H. MaslowPitirim A. SorokinTheodosius DobzhanskyErich FrommPaul TillichJacob BronowskiDaisetz Teitaro SuzukiGordon W. AllportRobert S. HartmanHenry MargenauLudwig von BertalanffyGyorgy KepesWalter A. WeisskopfKurt GoldsteinDorothy LeeForeward by Pitirim A. Sorokin

    Feynman to the American Physical Society in Pasadena on December 1959, which explores the immense possibilities afforded by miniaturization.

    The TV personality brings his lessons home in this all-time favorite activity book.

    Describes different types of telescopes, explains how to set up a workshop and build an observatory, and discusses recent developments in celestial photography

    

    

    New, thoughtful readers, concerned to find out the truth about life, will find here the tolerant understanding which was his hallmark. The book -- already a classic in its field -- includes a solid core of mystical experience which Dr Johnson classifies in ascending order of depth and importance.

    Written by a distinguished cosmologist, it assumes no knowledge of physics or astronomy and illustrates its explanations with figures and compelling photos. The first part ventures back to the early Greek astronomers, who were the first to measure the Earth's size and the distance to the sun and the moon. It also examines the latter-day discoveries of distant galaxies, achieved with giant telescopes and mathematical calculations. The second part explores modern theories, including the author's own conviction that the universe is a single unit and that the behavior of nearby matter is strongly influenced by distant regions of the universe. A student of Fred Hoyle and Paul Dirac and a teacher of Stephen Hawking, D. W. Sciama is best known for his work on general relativity and black holes. Scientific American acclaimed his survey as "an engrossing book" and "an invigorating intellectual exercise that any mature reader can enjoy."