Download or read book Newton s Darkness Two Dramatic Views written by Carl Djerassi and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2003-10-28 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: ”What purpose is served by showing that England's greatest natural philosopher is flawed … like other mortals?” asks one of the characters in Newton's Darkness. “We need unsullied heroes!” But what if the hero is sullied? At stake is an issue that is as germane today as it was 300 years ago: a scientist's ethics must not be divorced from scientific accomplishments. There is probably no other scientist of whom so many biographies and other historical analyses have been published than Isaac Newton — all of them in the standard format of documentary prose because of their didactic purpose to transmit historical information. Newton's Darkness, however, illuminates the darker aspects of Newton's persona through two historically grounded plays dealing with two of the bitterest struggles in the history of science.The name of Isaac Newton appears in virtually every survey of the public's choice for the most important persons of the second millennium. Yet the term “darkness” can be applied to much of Newton's personality. Adjectives that have been used to describe facets of his personality include “remote”, “lonely”, “secretive”, “introverted”, “melancholic”, “humorless”, “puritanical”, “cruel”, “vindictive” and, perhaps worst of all, “unforgiving”. The trait most relevant to the present book is Newton's obsessively competitive nature, which was often out of proportion to the warranted facts, as demonstrated in three of Newton's best-known bitter conflicts: with the physicist Robert Hooke, the astronomer royal John Flamsteed, and a German contemporary of almost equal intellectual prowess, Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz — the last fight eventually turning into an England vs Continental Europe competition. It is two of these three relentless drawn-out battles that are illuminated in Newton's Darkness in the form of historically grounded drama.After a summary of the historical evidence, the book starts with the Newton-Hooke struggle (Chapter 2), which was conducted mano a mano, and is then followed by little-known aspects of the Newton-Leibniz confrontation (Chapter 3), which was fought largely through surrogates — notably the infamous, anonymous committee of 11 Fellows of the Royal Society./a

Download or read book Clockwork Futures written by Brandy Schillace and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2017-09-05 with total page 390 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Airships and electric submarines, automatons and mesmerists—welcome to the wild world of steampunk. It is all speculative—or is it? Meet the intrepid souls who pushed Victorian technology to its limits and paved the way for our present age. The gear turns, the whistle blows, and the billows expand with electro-mechanical whirring. The shimmering halo of Victorian technology lures us with the stuff of dreams, of nostalgia, of alternate pasts and futures that entice with the suave of James Bond and the savvy of Sherlock Holmes. Fiction, surely. But what if the unusual gadgetry so often depicted as “steampunk” actually made an appearance in history? Zeppelins and steam-trains; arc-lights and magnetic rays: these fascinating (and sometimes doomed) inventions bounded from the tireless minds of unlikely heroes. Such men and women served no secret societies and fought no super-villains, but they did build engines, craft automatons, and engineer a future they hoped would run like clockwork. Along the way, however, these same inventors ushered in a contest between desire and dread. From Newton to Tesla, from candle and clockwork to the age of electricity and manufactured power, technology teetered between the bright dials of fantastic futures and the dark alleyways of industrial catastrophe. In the mesmerizing Clockwork Futures, Brandy Schillace reveals the science behind steampunk, which is every bit as extraordinary as what we might find in the work of Jules Verne, and sometimes, just as fearful. These stories spring from the scientific framework we have inherited. They shed light on how we pursue science, and how we grapple with our destiny—yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Download or read book Historical Dictionary of Leibniz s Philosophy written by N. J. Fox and published by Scarecrow Press. This book was released on 2006-05-18 with total page 395 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (1646-1716) was one of the first Modern philosophers, and as such, one of the most significant. His contributions were often pathbreaking and his imprint still remains on fields such as logic, mathematics, science, international law, and ethics. While publishing relatively little during his life, he was in regular correspondence with important philosophers and even political leaders. The Historical Dictionary of Leibniz's Philosophy sheds light not only on his philosophical thought but also the impact it had on the thinking of his contemporaries. They, and he, are described in numerous cross-referenced dictionary entries. Also included are other entries that present his writings, explain his concepts, and trace his action in specific fields. The introduction sums much of this up and_along with the bibliography_provides a strong foundation for further study.

Download or read book Meta Math written by Gregory Chaitin and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2006-11-14 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Gregory Chaitin, one of the world’s foremost mathematicians, leads us on a spellbinding journey, illuminating the process by which he arrived at his groundbreaking theory. Chaitin’s revolutionary discovery, the Omega number, is an exquisitely complex representation of unknowability in mathematics. His investigations shed light on what we can ultimately know about the universe and the very nature of life. In an infectious and enthusiastic narrative, Chaitin delineates the specific intellectual and intuitive steps he took toward the discovery. He takes us to the very frontiers of scientific thinking, and helps us to appreciate the art—and the sheer beauty—in the science of math.

Download or read book Thinking About Godel And Turing Essays On Complexity 1970 2007 written by Gregory J Chaitin and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2007-08-06 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dr Gregory Chaitin, one of the world's leading mathematicians, is best known for his discovery of the remarkable Ω number, a concrete example of irreducible complexity in pure mathematics which shows that mathematics is infinitely complex. In this volume, Chaitin discusses the evolution of these ideas, tracing them back to Leibniz and Borel as well as Gödel and Turing.This book contains 23 non-technical papers by Chaitin, his favorite tutorial and survey papers, including Chaitin's three Scientific American articles. These essays summarize a lifetime effort to use the notion of program-size complexity or algorithmic information content in order to shed further light on the fundamental work of Gödel and Turing on the limits of mathematical methods, both in logic and in computation. Chaitin argues here that his information-theoretic approach to metamathematics suggests a quasi-empirical view of mathematics that emphasizes the similarities rather than the differences between mathematics and physics. He also develops his own brand of digital philosophy, which views the entire universe as a giant computation, and speculates that perhaps everything is discrete software, everything is 0's and 1's.Chaitin's fundamental mathematical work will be of interest to philosophers concerned with the limits of knowledge and to physicists interested in the nature of complexity.

Download or read book Thinking about G del and Turing written by Gregory J. Chaitin and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2007 with total page 368 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dr Gregory Chaitin, one of the world's leading mathematicians, is best known for his discovery of the remarkable ê number, a concrete example of irreducible complexity in pure mathematics which shows that mathematics is infinitely complex. In this volume, Chaitin discusses the evolution of these ideas, tracing them back to Leibniz and Borel as well as G”del and Turing.This book contains 23 non-technical papers by Chaitin, his favorite tutorial and survey papers, including Chaitin's three Scientific American articles. These essays summarize a lifetime effort to use the notion of program-size complexity or algorithmic information content in order to shed further light on the fundamental work of G”del and Turing on the limits of mathematical methods, both in logic and in computation. Chaitin argues here that his information-theoretic approach to metamathematics suggests a quasi-empirical view of mathematics that emphasizes the similarities rather than the differences between mathematics and physics. He also develops his own brand of digital philosophy, which views the entire universe as a giant computation, and speculates that perhaps everything is discrete software, everything is 0's and 1's.Chaitin's fundamental mathematical work will be of interest to philosophers concerned with the limits of knowledge and to physicists interested in the nature of complexity.

Download or read book Exchanges between Literature and Science from the 1800s to the 2000s written by Márcia Diana Fernandes Lemos and published by Cambridge Scholars Publishing. This book was released on 2017-03-07 with total page 227 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This collection of essays responds to the intense interest that the relations between the discourses of literature (and other cultural practices) and those of science have obtained throughout various fields of study. Spanning a period between the mid-nineteenth century and the twenty-first century, the work collected here is firmly focused on the cultural significance of scientific discoveries and practices, and especially on the manifold representations of science and scientists in literature and the arts. Its four sections develop from an initial moment of dwindling indefiniteness of borders between literature and the sciences to the historical perception of an increasing divide between “the two cultures,” to use C.P. Snow’s influential expression, as well as calls for a form of convergence or “consilience” in Edward Wilson’s words. The final section turns to the medical sciences, a porous scientific discipline in relation to the humanities, which suggests that consilience can already be found partially in specific areas. As such, this collection contributes towards critically extending that integration through the discussion of key literary representations of science, its promises, and its problems.

Download or read book 3000 Years of Analysis written by Thomas Sonar and published by Springer Nature. This book was released on 2020-12-27 with total page 706 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: What exactly is analysis? What are infinitely small or infinitely large quantities? What are indivisibles and infinitesimals? What are real numbers, continuity, the continuum, differentials, and integrals? You’ll find the answers to these and other questions in this unique book! It explains in detail the origins and evolution of this important branch of mathematics, which Euler dubbed the “analysis of the infinite.” A wealth of diagrams, tables, color images and figures serve to illustrate the fascinating history of analysis from Antiquity to the present. Further, the content is presented in connection with the historical and cultural events of the respective epochs, the lives of the scholars seeking knowledge, and insights into the subfields of analysis they created and shaped, as well as the applications in virtually every aspect of modern life that were made possible by analysis.

Download or read book Amongst Mathematicians written by Elena Nardi and published by Springer Science & Business Media. This book was released on 2008 with total page 349 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book offers a unique perspective on ways in which mathematicians: perceive their students' learning; teach; reflect on their teaching practice. Elena Nardi achieves this by employing two fictional, yet entirely data-grounded, characters to create a conversation on these important issues. The construction of these characters is based on large bodies of data including intense focused group interviews with mathematicians and extensive analyses of students' written work, collected and analyzed over a substantial period.

Download or read book Science written by Igor Novak and published by World Scientific. This book was released on 2011 with total page 337 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides the first integrated account of all factors which play a role in making Science what it is today. The book discusses historical, sociological and philosophical aspects of Science emphasizing their interconnectedness. It describes many of the latest developments in scientific practice as well old unsolved problems. The book aims to be explanatory and stimulating rather than comprehensive. The book is an overview of important issues and aims to present these issues in the context of not only Society but of Science itself. One of the important aims of the book is to clarify misconceptions about Science held by general public or by scientists themselves. Science and scientists in this book are presented in their true light, not as stereotyped by the media.

Download or read book American Book Publishing Record written by and published by . This book was released on 2003 with total page 676 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Chemical Heritage written by and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 472 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book Meta Maths written by Gregory J. Chaitin and published by . This book was released on 2006 with total page 242 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Meta Maths is the story of Chaitin's revolutionary discovery: [OMEGA] is otherwise known as the Omega number. The Omega number is Chaitin's representation of the profound enigma at the heart of maths, which sheds light on the very nature of life itself. Chaitin demonstrates that mathematics is as much art as logic and as much science as pure reasoning. His book is a thrilling journey to the frontiers of mathematics and a celebration of its sheer beauty.

Download or read book The Book Review Digest written by and published by . This book was released on 2005 with total page 1844 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt:

Download or read book The SciArtist written by Walter Grünzweig and published by LIT Verlag Münster. This book was released on 2012 with total page 275 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This title presents criticism, commentaries, and creative responses to Carl Djerassi's literary texts, taking the author's achievements far beyond 'the Pill'

Download or read book Modern Biology Visions of Humanity written by European Group on Life Sciences and published by . This book was released on 2004 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ethical questions arising from developments in modern biology, such as "If we are genetically determined, where is free will?" "Is it right for humans to create new foods?" and "Should organizations be allowed to hold the keys to the production of vast amounts of food globally in the form of a patent?" are discussed in this collection of presentations from the 2004 European Commission sponsored conference "Modern Biology and Visions of Humanity." Organized into four sections, the contributions from this event reflect on the complex relationship between science and society and touch on such subjects as what are the benefits of science, who decides its uses, and how science relates to other areas of human creativity. Leading figures in the worlds of science and the arts take sides in these essays in either promoting the products and services biology provides, challenging biology's vision of humanity, or questioning the whole approach of Western science from a political perspective.

Download or read book Nature written by Sir Norman Lockyer and published by . This book was released on 1899 with total page 988 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: