R.W. Home
Ashgate Variorum
Hardback
320
1992
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.
Ashgate Variorum
Hardback
320
1992
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.