Exploration and Science: Social Impact and Interaction (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781576079850)

This comprehensive volume explores the intricate, mutually dependent relationship between science and exploration--how each has repeatedly built on the discoveries of the other and, in the process, opened new frontiers.

A simple question: Which came first, advances in navigation or successful voyages of discovery? A complicated answer: Both and neither. For more than four centuries, scientists and explorers have worked together--sometimes intentionally and sometimes not--in an ongoing, symbiotic partnership. When early explorers brought back exotic flora and fauna from newly discovered lands, scientists were able to challenge ancient authorities for the first time. As a result, scientists not only invented new navigational tools to encourage exploration, but also created a new approach to studying nature, in which observations were more important than reason and authority.

The story of the relationship between science and exploration, analyzed here for the first time, is nothing less than the history of modern science and the expanding human universe.

Author: Michael S. Reidy,Gary Kroll,Erik M. Conway
ISBN-10: 1576079856
ISBN-13: 9781576079850
Publisher: ABC-CLIO
Language: English
Published: 12/27/2006
Pages: 384
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 2.00lbs
Size: 10.24h x 7.24w x 1.15d

Review Citation(s):
Rec Ref Bks for Small/Med Libr 01/01/2007 pg. 277
American Reference Bks Annual 01/01/2007 pg. 557