The Scientific Revolution
A Brief History with Documents
Published on 1. November 2009
Book
Paperback/Softback
176 pages
978-0-312-46393-9 (ISBN)
Description
This volume by Margaret C. Jacob explores the Scientific Revolution from its origins in the early sixteenth century to its widespread acceptance in Western societies in the late eighteenth century. Jacob's introduction outlines the trajectory of the Scientific Revolution and argues that the revival of ancient texts in the Renaissance and the upheaval of the Protestant Reformation paved the way for science. The collected documents include writings of well-known scientists and philosophers, such as Nicolaus Copernicus, Francis Bacon, Galileo Galilei, Rene Descartes, and Isaac Newton, as well as primary sources documenting innovations in medicine and engineering, advances in scientific investigations, and the popularization of the scientific revolution through academies and their journals. Document headnotes, questions for consideration, a chronology, and a selected bibliography support students' study of the Scientific Revolution.
Reviews / Votes
'In this book, Margaret Jacob provides a lucid introduction to the transformation in science that occurred in Europe between 1500 and 1750. While acknowledging the importance of political, social, and economic factors, Jacob rightly emphasizes the intellectual developments that led to the modern mechanical and quantitative world views. A carefully chosen set of documents allows the reader to grapple firsthand with these heady changes. - Brian Ogilvie, University of Massachusetts Amherst, USA 'The introduction and headnotes are excellent. The documents are very well organized and clearly trace the progression of the Scientific Revolution.' - Constantina Gaddis, Onondaga Community College, USAMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York, NY
United States
Target group
Professional and scholarly
ISBN-13
978-0-312-46393-9 (9780312463939)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
MARGARET C. JACOB (Ph.D., Cornell University) is professor of history at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA. She has published widely on science, religion, the Enlightenment, freemasonry, and the origins of the Industrial Revolution. Her first book, The Newtonians and the English Revolution (1976), won the Gottschalk Prize from the American Society for Eighteenth Century Studies. Her most recent monograph is Strangers Nowhere in the World: The Rise of Cosmopolitanism in Early Modern Europe (2006).
Content
Foreword Preface List of Illustrations PART I: INTRODUCTION: THE EVOLUTION AND IMPACT OF THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION Why Did the Scientific Revolution Happen? Aristotle Ptolemy, and their Early Modern Defenders Exploration and Technical Innovation The Emergence of the Scientific Revolution The New Science The Mechanical Philosophy Newtonian Science Reconciling, Science, Religion, and Magic Spreading the Scientific Revolution Conclusion: The Long Road to Acceptance PART II: THE DOCUMENTS Nicolaus Copernicus, On the Revolution of the Heavenly Orbs, 1543 Francis Bacon, The Advancement of Learning, 1605 Francis Bacon, The Great Instauration, 1620 Galileo Galilei, The Starry Messenger, 1610 William Harvey, On The Motion Of The Heart And Blood In Animals, 1628 Rene Descartes, Discourse on Method, 1637 Robert Boyle, New Experiments Physico-Mechanical, 1660 Robert Boyle, A Free-Enquiry into the Vulgarly Received Notion of Nature, 1686 Anthony van Leeuwenhoek, Of the Formation of the Teeth in Several Animals; the Structure of the Human Teeth Explained, 1683 Isaac Newton, Letter to Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 1672 Isaac Newton, Selections from Principia, 1687 Isaac Newton, Thirty-first Query to the Opticks, 1718 Christiaan Huygens, The Celestial Worlds Discovered, 1698 Maria Sibylla Merian, Letter of 1702 Maria Sibylla Merian, Butterfly, Hawk-moth, Caterpillar Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 1713-14 Jean Desaguliers, Physico-Mechanical Lectures, 1717 Benjamin Franklin, Experiments and Observations on Electricity Made in Philadelphia in America, 1751 Appendixes A Chronology of the Scientific Revolution (1514-1752) Questions for Consideration Selected Bibliography Index