On Understanding Science : An Historical Approach

James Bryant Conant

ISBN 10: 0300136552 / ISBN 13: 9780300136555

Published by Yale University Press Jan 1900, 1900

About this Item

Neuware - The language, customs, and manners of scientists are frequently unintelligible to the rest of the population, and there is considerable danger that the ideas and forces that are moving mountains will be increasingly inaccessible tothose outside the laboratories. The peril of such a situation to a democracy, where understanding must be assumed to be fairly general, is probably as great in the realm of ideas as the physical danger of the instruments of destruction. Dr. Conant sets out to show how the gulf can be bridged. Instead of a series of assertions about science being ordered knowledge, or the classification of facts, he presents a historical view of a number of the great scientists, of what their generation knew of their subjects, of the problem they set out to examine, and of how they solved it. The reader is enabled to follow the scientific method at work, with all its limitations and wonders.

Seller Inventory # 9780300136555

Bibliographic Details

• Title: On Understanding Science : An Historical Approach
• Publisher: Yale University Press Jan 1900
• Publication Date: 1900
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0300136552
• ISBN 13: 9780300136555
• Binding: Buch
• Condition: Neu
• Dimensions: 216W x 140H x 13D millimeters 216 millimeters width by 140 millimeters height by 13 millimeters depth
• Weight: 318 grams

About this title

Synopsis

The language, customs, and manners of scientists are frequently unintelligible to the rest of the population, and there is considerable danger that the ideas and forces that are moving mountains will be increasingly inaccessible tothose outside the laboratories. The peril of such a situation to a democracy, where understanding must be assumed to be fairly general, is probably as great in the realm of ideas as the physical danger of the instruments of destruction. Dr. Conant sets out to show how the gulf can be bridged. Instead of a series of assertions about science being ordered knowledge, or the classification of facts, he presents a historical view of a number of the great scientists, of what their generation knew of their subjects, of the problem they set out to examine, and of how they solved it. The reader is enabled to follow the scientific method at work, with all its limitations and wonders.