A major retelling of the history of science from 1450 to the present day that explodes the myth that science began in Europe - instead celebrating how scientists from Africa, America, Asia and the Pacific were integral to this very human story
We are told that modern science was invented in Europe, the product of great minds like Nicolaus Copernicus, Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin and Albert Einstein. But this is wrong. Science is not, and has never been, a uniquely European endeavour.
Copernicus relied on mathematical techniques borrowed from Arabic and Persian texts. When Newton set out the laws of motion, he relied on astronomical observations made in Asia and Africa. When Darwin was writing On the Origin of Species, he consulted a sixteenth-century Chinese encyclopaedia. And when Einstein was studying quantum mechanics, he was inspired by the Bengali physicist, Satyendra Nath Bose. Horizons pushes beyond Europe, exploring the ways in which scientists from Africa, America, Asia and the Pacific fit into the history of science, and arguing that it is best understood as a story of global cultural exchange.
Challenging both the existing narrative and our perceptions of revered individuals, above all this is a celebration of the work of scientists neglected by history. Among many others, we meet Graman Kwasi, the seventeenth-century African botanist who discovered a new cure for malaria, Hantaro Nagaoka, the nineteenth-century Japanese scientist who first described the structure of the atom, and Zhao Zhongyao, the twentieth-century Chinese physicist who discovered antimatter (but whose American colleague received the Nobel prize).
Scientists today are quick to recognise the international nature of their work. In this ambitious and revisionist history, James Poskett reveals that this tradition goes back much further than we think.
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'This treasure trove of a book puts the case persuasively and compellingly that modern science did not develop solely in Europe. Hugely important' Jim Al-Khalili
'Brilliant. Revolutionary and revelatory' Alice Roberts
'Remarkable. Challenges almost everything we know about science in the West' Jerry Brotton, author of A History of the World in 12 Maps
'Perspective-shattering' Caroline Sanderson, The Bookseller, 'Editor's Choice'
Rezensionen / Stimmen
Superb . . . Poskett rightly highlights the shamefully overlooked contributions of Indian, Chinese and Japanese scientists -- Stephen Bleach * Sunday Times * A fundamental retelling of the story of science . . . Poskett deftly blends the achievements of little-known figures into the wider history of science . . . brims with clarity -- Chris Allnutt * Financial Times * An honest conversation about the history of science is therefore not just of moral importance - it is part of what makes discovery possible -- Will Dunn * New Statesman * I've been really impressed by Horizons: A Global History of Science by James Poskett. The book is exactly what it says on the cover: it's a way of looking at the world of science and the development of technology from a genuinely global perspective. The narrative starts with the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan [on the site of modern-day Mexico City] and the engineering marvels that were present there, built long before the Spanish turned up during their conquest in the early modern era. Poskett also discusses Arab science, Chinese science and the story of science in the west, which is better known. So it's a truly global and really well-written and engaging account -- Rana Mitter * BBC History Magazine, Books of the Year 2022 * A lively story of global collaboration in the study of nature from 1500 to the present day . . . rich and lucid -- Dmitri Levitin * Literary Review * European scientists for centuries served the political goals of empire building, which was based on slave trading, military power, oppression and violence . . . Poskett hopes for a future where the historic truth about how scientific progress has been made is universally accepted, where all cultures are valued, and where global scientific collaboration unleashes the creativity to solve problems such as climate change -- Sean Duke * Irish Times * Horizons shows that the story of science has always been a planetary one: a non-linear process of cross-fertilisation, competition, cooperation and conflict . . . What makes the book so engrossing is that Poskett's grasp of historical contexts is as firm as his scientific knowledge -- Matthew d'Ancona * Tortoise * Generation after generation, people in western countries have been educated to believe that the history of modern science began primarily in the 17th century in western Europe. In a book of breathtaking range and high quality, Poskett dismantles that narrow version of events and produces a genuinely global history -- Best Summer Books of 2022: History' * Financial Times * This treasure trove of a book puts the case persuasively and compellingly that modern science did not develop solely in Europe. Hugely important -- Jim Al-Khalili, author of Paradox Brilliant . . . In this revolutionary and revelatory book, James Poskett not only gives us a truly worldwide history of science, but explains how international connections have stimulated scientific advances through time -- Alice Roberts, author of Ancestors Science's internationalism is well recognized. But scientists tend to regard it as a recent phenomenon that arose from the 'big science' of the twentieth century, rather than one with a history of more than 500 years going back to the Islamic science that inspired astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, and beyond, observes historian James Poskett. His revisionary "global history" boldly rebuts this -- Andrew Robinson * Nature * Poskett's book is invaluable, an important and timely reminder that the world we live in has never been small or unknown, but that sharing knowledge, as well as credit, and working together, is the key to a better future -- Matt Lewis * History Hit * From palatial Aztec botanic gardens to Qing Dynasty evolutionary theories, Horizons upends traditional accounts of the history of science, showing how curiosity and intellectual exploration was, and is, a global phenomenon -- Rebecca Wragg Sykes, author of Kindred Remarkable. Challenges almost everything we know about science in the West -- Jerry Brotton, author of A History of the World in 12 Maps This perspective-shattering book challenges our Eurocentric narrative by spotlighting the work of historically neglected scientists -- Caroline Sanderson * The Bookseller, 'Editor's Choice' * A useful corrective that brings us closer to a more accurate history of Western science - one which recognises Europe, not as exceptional, but as learning from the world -- Angela Saini, author of Superior The righting of the historical record makes Horizons a deeply satisfying read. We learn about a fascinating group of people engaged in scientific inquiry all over the world. Even more satisfyingly, Horizons demonstrates that the most famous scientists - Copernicus, Darwin and Einstein among them - couldn't have made their discoveries without the help of their global contacts -- Valerie Hansen, author of The Year 1000 A provocative examination of major contributions to science made outside Europe and the USA, from ancient to modern times, explained in relation to global historical events. I particularly enjoyed the stories of individuals whose work tends to be omitted from standard histories of science -- Ian Stewart, author of Significant Figures A wonderful, timely reminder that scientific advancement is, and has always been, a global endeavour -- Patrick Roberts, author of Jungle This is the kind of history we need: it opens our eyes to the ways in which what we know today has been uncovered thanks to a worldwide team effort -- Michael Scott, author of Ancient Worlds An important milestone * British Journal for the History of Science, on Materials of the Mind * The freshest history of the strangest science -- Alison Bashford, author of Global Population, on Materials of the Mind Ambitious, riveting, Poskett tracks the global in so many senses . . . vital reading on some of the most urgent concerns facing the world history of science -- Sujit Sivasundaram, University of Cambridge, on Materials of the Mind Terrific . . . [Makes] a substantial contribution to understanding the universalizing properties of science and technology in history -- Janet Browne, Harvard University, on Materials of the Mind Horizons forces me to think outside my Eurocentric box and puts science at the centre of world history -- David Reynolds * New Statesman, Books of the Year 2022 *
James Poskett is Associate Professor in the History of Science and Technology at the University of Warwick. He completed his PhD at the University of Cambridge where he also held the Adrian Research Fellowship at Darwin College. Poskett has written for the Guardian, Nature, and BBC History Magazine, among others, and his research has taken him across the world, from astronomical observatories in India to natural history museums in Australia. In 2013 he was shortlisted for the BBC New Generation Thinker Award and in 2012 he was awarded the Best Newcomer Prize by the Association of British Science Writers. He is the author of the academic book, Materials of the Mind, and Horizons is his first for a general readership.
