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Il Club Dei Filosofi Che Volevano Cambiare Il Mondo (2011)

by Laura J. Snyder(Favorite Author)

4 of 5 Votes: 4

ISBN

8854124222 (ISBN13: 9788854124226)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Newton & Compton

review 1: I chose to read this book because I wanted to see how an earlier era dealt with dramatic scientific developments and discoveries when they challenged the prevailing religious views. This is an excellent read, sometimes almost like a novel, describing the competition between French and English "scientists" at the very time that the word "scientist" was just being discussed -- natural philosopher had been the previous notation. Snyder gives excellent detail about each of the major discoveries, the correspondence among these 4 men and others, and both the political and religious reactions to such discoveries. The overriding impression I am left with is that the English people did not have the same religious "hang-ups" that we are dealing with today in the US. The four men... more of the PBC spoke and wrote often about their views on how our world came into existence, and the degree to which God, any god, controls events. Even the idea of "intelligent design" is discussed, and then rejected.One concept that I'd like to see more emphasis on today is that the government should be funding scientific (including mathematical and computers) research and development so as to make it all in the service of improving the lives of everyone on earth. One surprise to me was how, early on, all of these men of science had to hire "computers" (humans) who could be paid to do the tedious computations necessary to prove their scientific findings. Huge amounts of money and time were spent on trying to build a mechanistic "computer" so as to free all men and women of science to do more research in less time.
review 2: A great history of science book about how four close friends -- John Whewell, John Herschel, Charles Babbage, and Richard Jones -- influenced the path British (and world) science took in the 1800s. From their days breakfasting together as students at Cambridge to discuss the philosophy of Bacon and how science should be performed, they branched out to affect many different areas of science, including astronomy, oceanography, economics, statistics, cryptography, photography, botany, and much more. Well written and researched, yet accessible to the general reader. less

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