| Electricity and Experimental Physics in Eighteenth-Century Europe Contributor(s): Home, R. W. (Author) |
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ISBN: 0860783189 ISBN-13: 9780860783183 Publisher: Routledge OUR PRICE: $207.90 Product Type: Hardcover Published: April 1992 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Science | Physics - Electromagnetism - History |
| Dewey: 537.094 |
| LCCN: 91043369 |
| Series: Variorum Collected Studies |
| Physical Information: (1.18 lbs) 320 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: At the beginning of the 18th century there was no science of physics as we recognise it today; by the early years of the nineteenth century, there was. The articles in this volume are concerned with the process by which this came about. They focus, in particular, on the rise of experimental physics and the interactions between experiment, theory and mathematics in the study of electricity and, to a lesser extent, magnetism and physical optics during this period. Along the way, they provide a significant reassessment of Isaac Newton's influence on the science of his successors. A further recurring theme is the process by which ideas were disseminated within the expanding scientific community of the day, and the manner of their reception, often in a form somewhat different from that envisaged by their first inventors, as Professor Home argues took place in the case of Franklin. The social and intellectual context of the 'scientist', indeed, is the specific subject of several essays, dealing not only with England and France, but also offering new insights into the position of science in 18th-century Russia. Au d but du 18e s., la science physique telle que nous l'entendons de nos jours, n'existait pas; d s les premi res ann es du 19e s., cela n' tait plus le cas. Les articles contenus dans ce volume s'int ressent au proc d qui a provoqu ce changement. Ils s'attachent plus particuli rement la mont e de la physique exp rimentale et l'interaction entre exp rience, th orie et math matiques en ce qui concerne l' tude de l' lectricit et, dans une moindre mesure, celle du magn tisme et de l'optique physique durant cette p riode. Ce faisant, les tudes fournissent une r - valuation significative de l'influence d'Isaac Newton sur la science de ses successeurs. Un autre th me est celui du processus par lequel les id es taient diss min es l' poque au sein d'une communaut scientifique en pleine expans |