Science in the Enlightenment: An Encyclopedia (Hardcover) (ISBN-13: 9781576078860)

The first introductory A-Z resource on the dynamic achievements in science from the late 1600s to 1820, including the great minds behind the developments and science's new cultural role.

Though the Enlightenment was a time of amazing scientific change, science is an often-neglected facet of that time. Now, Science in the Enlightenment redresses the balance by covering all the major scientific developments in the period between Newton's discoveries in the late 1600s to the early 1800s of Michael Faraday and Georges Cuvier.

Over 200 A-Z entries explore a range of disciplines, including astronomy and medicine, scientists such as Sir Humphry Davy and Benjamin Franklin, and instruments such as the telescope and calorimeter. Emphasis is placed on the role of women, and proper attention is given to the shifts in the worldview brought about by Newtonian physics, Antoine-Laurent Lavoisier's "chemical revolution," and universal systems of botanical and zoological classification. Moreover, the social impact of science is explored, as well as the ways in which the work of scientists influenced the thinking of philosophers such as Voltaire and Denis Diderot and the writers and artists of the romantic movement.

Author: William E. Burns
ISBN-10: 1576078868
ISBN-13: 9781576078860
Publisher: ABC-CLIO
Language: English
Published: 11/17/2003
Pages: 384
Format: Hardcover
Weight: 1.84lbs
Size: 9.74h x 7.82w x 1.04d

Review Citation(s):
Booklist 04/01/2004 pg. 1397
American Reference Bks Annual 01/01/2004 pg. 585
Choice 04/01/2004 pg. 1444