From Certainty to Uncertainty: The Story of Science And Ideas in the Twentieth Century - Softcover

Peat, F. David

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0309096200 ISBN 13: 9780309096201

Publisher: Natl Academy Pr, 2006

Synopsis

Early Theorists believed that science promised certainty. Built on a foundation of fact and constructed with objective and trustworthy tools, science consistently produced knowledge. Then disturbing discoveries made by twentieth-century scientists revealed that this knowledge will always be fundamentally incomplete and that a true understanding of the world is ultimately beyond our grasp.
In this book, physicist F. David Peat examines the basic philosophic certainty that characterized the thinking of humankind through the nineteenth century and contrasts it with the startling fall of certainty in the twentieth. Indeed, the nineteenth century was marked by a boundless optimism and confidence in the power of progress and technology. Our ebullience was so great, our belief in science so firm, that in 1900 the President of Britain's Royal Society proclaimed that everything of importance had already been discovered by science.
But it was not long before the seeds of a scientific revolution began to take root.

About this title

About the Author

F. David Peat is one of the foremost researchers specializing in theoretical physics. He also founded the Pari Center for New Learning in Italy, where people can explore the new paradigms created by science and contemplate their meanings.

Edition details

• Publisher: Natl Academy Pr
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0309096200
• ISBN 13: 9780309096201
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 230