Title:
Seeing further : the story of science, discovery, and the genius of the Royal Society
Edition:
1st William Morrow pbk. ed.
Publication Date:
2011
Publication Information:
New York : William Morrow, 2011.
Physical Description:
506 pages : illustrations (some color) ; 23 cm
ISBN:
9780061999772
Abstract:
As editor of "Seeing Further," Bryson has rounded up an extraordinary roster of scientists who write and writers who know science in order to celebrate 350 years of the Royal Society, Britain's scientific national academy. The contributors include Margaret Atwood, Steve Jones, Richard Dawkins, James Gleick, Richard Holmes, and Neal Stephenson, among many others, on subjects ranging from metaphysics to nuclear physics, from the threatened endtimes of flu and climate change to our evolving ideas about the nature of time itself, from the hidden mathematics that rule the universe to the cosmological principle that guides "Star Trek."
General Note:
"Originally published ... in 2010 by HarperPress ... London; a hardcover edition ... was published in 2010 by William Morrow"--Title page verso.
Contents:
At the beginning : more things in heaven and earth / James Gleick -- Of the madness of mad scientists : Jonathan Swift's grand academy / Margaret Atwood -- Lost in space : the spiritual crisis of Newtonian cosmology / Margaret Wertheim -- Atoms of cognition : metaphysics in the Royal Society / Neal Stephenson -- What's in a name? : Rivalries and the birth of modern science / Rebecca Newberger Goldstein -- Charged atmospheres : promethean science and the Royal Society / Simon Schaffer -- A new age of flight : Joseph Banks goes ballooning / Richard Holmes -- Archives of life : science and collections / Richard Fortey -- Darwin's five bridges : the way to natural selection / Richard Dawkins -- Images of progress : conferences of engineers / Henry Petroski -- X-ray visions : structural biologists and social action in the twentieth century / Georgina Ferry -- Ten thousand wedges : biodiversity, natural selection and random change / Steve Jones -- Making stuff : From Bacon to bakelite / Philip Ball -- Just typical : our changing place in the universe / Paul Davies -- Behind the scenes : the hidden mathematics that rules our world / Ian Stewart -- Simple, really : from simplicity to complexity--and back again / John D. Barrow -- Globe and sphere, cycles and flows : how to see the world / Oliver Morton -- Beyond ending : looking into the void / Maggie Gee -- Confidence, consensus and the uncertainty cops : tackling risk management in climate change / Stephen H. Schneider -- Time : the winged chariot / Gregory Benford -- Conclusion: Looking fifty years ahead / Martin Rees.
Corporate Subject:
Subject Term:
Language:
English
