A central figure in Victorian science, William Whewell (1794–1866) held professorships in Mineralogy and Moral Philosophy at Trinity College, Cambridge, before becoming Master of the college in 1841. His mathematical textbooks, such as A Treatise on Dynamics (1823), were instrumental in bringing French analytical methods into British science. This three-volume history, first published in 1837, is one of Whewell's most famous works. Taking the 'acute, but fruitless, essays of Greek philosophy' as a starting point, it provides a history of the physical sciences that culminates with the mechanics, astronomy, and chemistry of 'modern times'. Volume 1 studies Greek physics and metaphysics, attributing their failure to a method that derived its principles from the common use of language. It surveys the state of the physical sciences in the middle ages, and deals with the rise of 'formal' astronomy - based on observation rather than calculation - as exemplified by Copernicus.
By:
William Whewell Imprint: Cambridge University Press Country of Publication: United Kingdom Volume: Volume 1 Dimensions:
Height: 216mm,
Width: 140mm,
Spine: 27mm
Weight: 610g ISBN:9781108019248 ISBN 10: 1108019242 Series:History of the Inductive Sciences 3 Volume Set Pages: 480 Publication Date:25 November 2010 Audience:
Professional and scholarly
,
Undergraduate
Format:Paperback Publisher's Status: Active