Physics And Culture

While the physical sciences are a continuously evolving source of technology and of understanding about our world, they have become so specialized and rely on so much prerequisite knowledge that for many people today the divide between the sciences and the humanities seems even greater than it was when C. P. Snow delivered his famous 1959 lecture,

The role of physics in our culture is examined from the time of Newton to the present day. It has three parts: an introduction to physics and two parts covering the roles of Newtonian and Modern/Postmodern physics. It is shown how popularization enabled physics to become part of our culture, while the topics discussed include religion, philosophy, politics, literature, the visual arts, and music. An underlying theme is that physics is an intimate part of our culture which, together with the other sciences, has had a wide general influence that cannot be ignored. The book has been written for all that are genuinely interested in culture. It is well referenced and illustrated, and suitable for the general public, students and academics who are interested in bridging the sciences and humanities in today's era of specialization. Contents: Introduction: Outline of the PhysicsNewtonian Period: ReligionPopularization of Classical Newtonian PhysicsPhilosophy and PoliticsImaginative ArtsModern and Postmodern Period: Philosophy, Politics, and ReligionPopularization of Modern and Postmodern PhysicsModernism and Postmodernism Readership: General public interested in the influence of physics in culture, students and academics of physics and the humanities. Keywords: Newton; Newtonian Methods;Culture;Physics;Literature;Politics;Modern Physics;Postmodern PhysicsReview:0

The importance of science and technology and future of education and research are just some of the subjects discussed here.

While the physical sciences are a continuously evolving source of technology and of understanding about our world, they have become so specialized and rely on so much prerequisite knowledge that for many people today the divide between the sciences and the humanities seems even greater than it was when C.P. Snow delivered his famous 1959 lecture, "The Two Cultures." In this work, the author, a Hungarian scientist and educator succeeds in bridging this chasm by describing the experimental methods and theoretical interpretations that created scientific knowledge, from ancient times to the present day, within the cultural environment in which it was formed. It explores the interplay of science and the humanities to convey the wonder and excitement of scientific development throughout the ages. This book contains excerpts from original resources, explanations, and insight, revealing the historical progress of science and inviting readers into a dialogue with the great scientific minds that shaped our current understanding of physics.

This anthology contains selected papers from the 'Science as Culture' conference held at Lake Como, and Pavia University Italy, 15-19 September 1999. The conference, attended by about 220 individuals from thirty countries, was a joint venture of the International History, Philosophy and Science Teaching Group (its fifth conference) and the History of Physics and Physics Teaching Division of the European Physical Society (its eighth conference). The magnificient Villa Olmo, on the lakeshore, provided a memorable location for the presentors of the 160 papers and the audience that discussed them. The conference was part of local celebrations of the bicentenary of Alessandro Volta's creation of the battery in 1799. Volta was born in Como in 1745, and for forty years from 1778 he was professor of experimental physics at Pavia University. The conference was fortunate to have had the generous financial support of the Italian government's Volta Bicentenary Fund, Lombardy region, Pavia University, Italian Research Council, and Kluwer Academic Publishers. The papers included here, have or will be, published in the journal Science & Education, the inaugural volume (1992) of which was a landmark in the history of science education publication, because it was the first journal in the field devoted to contributions from historical, philosophical and sociological scholarship. Clearly these 'foundational' disciplines inform numerous theoretical, curricular and pedagogical debates in science education. Contemporary Concerns The reseach promoted by the International and European Groups, and by the journal, is central to science education programmes in most areas of the world.

Although we take it for granted today, the concept of "energy" transformed nineteenth-century physics. In The Science of Energy, Crosbie Smith shows how a North British group of scientists and engineers, including James Joule, James Clerk Maxwell, William and James Thomson, Fleeming Jenkin, and P. G. Tait, developed energy physics to solve practical problems encountered by Scottish shipbuilders and marine engineers; to counter biblical revivalism and evolutionary materialism; and to rapidly enhance their own scientific credibility. Replacing the language and concepts of classical mechanics with terms such as "actual" and "potential" energy, the North British group conducted their revolution in physics so astutely and vigorously that the concept of "energy"—a valuable commodity in the early days of industrialization—became their intellectual property. Smith skillfully places this revolution in its scientific and cultural context, exploring the actual creation of scientific knowledge during one of the most significant episodes in the history of physics.

This book argues that science and the arts are not two different cultures, but rather different manifestations of the same culture. Divided into seven parts, it presents a collection of translated and revised essays, mostly at the intersection between realia and humaniora. In the first two parts, the author discusses how some myths, both ancient and modern, have become intertwined with scientific ideas. The chapters in the following four parts address poems, novels, plays, and pieces of fine art that have some scientific content, as well as scientific findings which seem to have also been discovered in art. The chapters in the final part examine a number of inspiring doubts and necessary errors in the history of science. This collection of essays, most of which were originally published in Hungarian, is intended for the general public and as such includes no mathematical, physical or chemical formulae. It offers a unique resource for all those curious about the interconnections between science, art and literature.

Engages with the impact of modern technology on experimental physicists. This study reveals how the increasing scale and complexity of apparatus has distanced physicists from the very science which drew them into experimenting, and has fragmented microphysics into different technical traditions.