When Physics Became King

Regular price €38.99
Quantity:
In stock with our UK publisher. 14-28 days
Delivery/Collection within 10-20 working days
14 days return policy Shipping & Delivery
A01=Iwan Rhys Morus
astronomy
Author_Iwan Rhys Morus
authority
Category=PDX
Category=PH
discovery
england
eq_bestseller
eq_isMigrated=1
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_science
fluids
forces
france
germany
history
industrialism
innovation
instruments
knowledge
laboratories
legitimacy
measurement
natural philosophy
nature
nonfiction
physics
precision
science
scientific revolution
statistical mechanics
technology
theory
truth
war
weapons

Product details

  • ISBN 9780226542027
  • Weight: 510g
  • Dimensions: 15 x 23mm
  • Publication Date: 01 Mar 2005
  • Publisher: The University of Chicago Press
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Product Form: Paperback
Secure checkout Fast Shipping Easy returns
As recently as two hundred years ago, physics as we know it today did not exist. Born in the early nineteenth century during the second scientific revolution, physics struggled at first to achieve legitimacy in the scientific community and culture at large. In fact, the term "physicist" did not appear in English until the 1830s.

When Physics Became King traces the emergence of this revolutionary science, demonstrating how a discipline that barely existed in 1800 came to be regarded a century later as the ultimate key to unlocking nature's secrets. A cultural history designed to provide a big-picture view, the book ably ties advances in the field to the efforts of physicists who worked to win social acceptance for their research.

Beginning his tale with the rise of physics from natural philosophy, Iwan Morus chronicles the emergence of mathematical physics in France and its later export to England and Germany. He then elucidates the links between physics and industrialism, the technology of statistical mechanics, and the establishment of astronomical laboratories and precision measurement tools. His tale ends on the eve of the First World War, when physics had firmly established itself in both science and society.

Scholars of both history and physics will enjoy this fascinating and studied look at the emergence of a major scientific discipline.

More from this author