Overview

Historically, the scientific method has been said to require proposing a theory, making a prediction of something not already known, testing the prediction, and giving up the theory (or substantially changing it) if it fails the test. A theory that leads to several successful predictions is more likely to be accepted than one that only explains what is already known but not understood. This process is widely treated as the conventional method of achieving scientific progress, and was used throughout the twentieth century as the standard route to discovery and experimentation.But does science really work this way? In Making 20th Century Science, Stephen G. Brush discusses this question, as it relates to the development of science throughout the last century. Answering this question requires both a philosophically and historically scientific approach, and Brush blends the two in order to take a close look at how scientific methodology has developed. Several cases from the history of modern physical and biological science are examined, including Mendeleev's Periodic Law, Kekule's structure for benzene, the light-quantum hypothesis, quantum mechanics, chromosome theory, and natural selection. In general it is found that theories are accepted for a combination of successful predictions and better explanations of old facts.Making 20th Century Science is a large-scale historical look at the implementation of the scientific method, and how scientific theories come to be accepted.

Full Product Details

Author:   Stephen G. Brush (Distinguished University Professor of the History of Science, Emeritus, Distinguished University Professor of the History of Science, Emeritus, University of Maryland)
Publisher:   Oxford University Press Inc
Imprint:   Oxford University Press Inc
Dimensions:   Width: 17.60cm , Height: 4.10cm , Length: 23.70cm
Weight:   0.916kg
ISBN:  

9780199978151

ISBN 10:   0199978158
Pages:   552
Publication Date:   07 May 2015
Audience:   College/higher education ,  Postgraduate, Research & Scholarly
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Manufactured on demand  
We will order this item for you from a manufactured on demand supplier.

Table of Contents

"Illustrations Preface PART ONE: THE RECEPTION AND EVALUATION OF THEORIES IN THE SCIENCES Chapter 1. Who Needs ""The Scientific Method""? 1.1. The Rings of Uranus 1.2. Maxwell and Popper 1.3. What is a ""Prediction""? A Mercurial Definition 1.4. Hierarchy and Demarcation 1.5. What's Wrong with Quantum Mechanics? 1.6. Was Chemistry (1865-1980) more scientific than Physics? 1.7. Scientific Chemists: Benzene and Molecular Orbitals 1.8. The Unscientific (but very successful) method of Dirac and Einstein: Can We Trust Experiments to Test Theories? 1.9. Why was Bibhas De's paper rejected by Icarus? 1.10. The Plurality of Scientific Methods Chapter 2. Reception Studies by Historians of Science 2.1. What is ""Reception""? 2.2. The Copernican Heliocentric System 2.3. Newton's Universal Gravity 2.4. Darwin's Theory of Evolution by Natural Selection 2.5. Bohr Model of the Atom 2.6. Conclusions and Generalizations Chapter 3. The Role of Prediction-Testing in the Evaluation of Theories: A Controversy in the Philosophy of Science 3.1. Introduction 3.2. Novelty in the Philosophy of Science 3.3. What is a Prediction? (Revisited) 3.4. Does Novelty Make a Difference? 3.5. Evidence from case histories 3.6. Are Theorists less trustworthy than Observers? 3.7. The Fallacy of Falsifiability: Even the Supreme Court was Fooled 3.8. Conclusions Chapter 4. The Rise and Fall of Social Constructionism 1975-2000 4.1. The Problem of defining ""Science and Technology Studies"" 4.2. The Rise of Social Constructionism 4.3. The Fall of Social Constructionism 4.4. Post Mortem 4.5. Consequences for ""Science Studies"" PART TWO: ATOMS, MOLECULES, AND PARTICLES Chapter 5. Mendeleev's Periodic Law 5.1. Mendeleev and the Periodic Law 5.2. Novel Predictions 5.3. Mendeleev's Predictions 5.4. Reception by Whom? 5.5. Tests of Mendeleev's Predictions 5.6. Before the Discovery of Gallium 5.7. The Impact of Gallium and Scandium 5.8. The Limited Value of Novel Predictions 5.9. Implications of the Law 5.10 Conclusions Chapter 6. The Benzene Problem 1865-1930 6.1. Kekulé's Theory 6.2. The first Tests of Kekulé's Theory 6.3. Alternative Hypotheses 6.4. Reception of Benzene Theories 1866-1880 6.5. New Experiments, New Theories 1881-1900 6.6. The Failure of Aromatic Empiricism 1901-1930 Chapter 7. The Light Quantum Hypothesis 7.1. Black-Body Radiation 7.2. Planck's Theory 7.3. Formulation of the Light-Quantum Hypothesis 7.4. The Wave Theory of Light 7.5. Einstein's ""Heuristic Viewpoint"" 7.6. What did Millikan Prove? 7.7. The Compton Effect 7.8. Reception of Neo-Newtonian Optics before 1923 7.9. The Impact of Compton's Discovery 7.10. Rupp's Fraudulent Experiments 7.11. Conclusions Chapter 8. Quantum Mechanics 8.1. The Bohr Model 8.2. The Wave Nature of Matter 8.3. Schrödinger's Wave Mechanics 8.4. The Exclusion Principle, Spin, and the Electronic Structure of Atoms 8.5. Bose-Einstein Statistics 8.6. Fermi-Dirac Statistics 8.7. Initial Reception of Quantum Mechanics 8.8. The Community is Converted 8.9. Novel Predictions of Quantum Mechanics 8.10. The Helium Atom 8.11. Reasons for accepting Quantum Mechanics after 1928 Chapter 9. New Particles 9.1. Dirac's Prediction and Anderson's Discovery of the Positron 9.2. The Reception of Dirac's Theory 9.3. The Transformation of Dirac's Theory 9.4. Yukawa's Theory of Nuclear Forces 9.5. Discovery of the Muon and Reception of Yukawa's Theory 9.6. The Transformation of the Yukon 9.7. Conclusions Chapter 10. Benzene and Molecular Orbitals 1931-1980 10.1. Resonance, Mesomerism, and the Mule 1931-1945 10.2. Reception of Quantum Theories of Benzene 1932-1940 10.3. Chemical Proof of Kekulé's Theory 10.4. Anti-Resonance and the Rhinoceros 10.5. The Shift to Molecular Orbitals after 1950 10.6. Aromaticity 10.7. The Revival of Predictive Chemistry 10.8. Reception of Molecular Orbital Theory by Organic Chemists 10.9. Adoption of MO in Textbooks 10.10. A 1996 Survey 10.11. Conclusions PART THREE: SPACE AND TIME Chapter 11. Relativity 11.1. The Special Theory of Relativity 11.2. General Theory of Relativity 11.3. Empirical Predictions and Explanations 11.4. Social-Psychological Factors 11.5. Aesthetic-Mathematical Factors 11.6. Early Reception of Relativity 11.7. Do Scientists Give Extra Credit for Novelty? The Case of Gravitational Light Bending 11.8. Are Theorists less Trustworthy than Observers? 11.9. Mathematical/Aesthertic Reasons for Accepting Relativity 11.10. Social-Psychological Reasons for Accepting Relativity 11.11. A Statistical Summary of Comparative Reception 11.12. Conclusions Chapter 12. Big Bang Cosmology 12.1. The Expanding Universe is Proposed 12.2. The Age of the Earth 12.3. The Context for the Debate: Four ""New Sciences"" and One Shared Memory 12.4. Cosmology Constrained by Terrestrial Time 12.5. Hubble Doubts the Expanding Universe 12.6. A Radical Solution: Steady-State Cosmology 12.7. Astronomy Blinks: Slowing the Expansion 12.8. Lemaître's Primeval Atom and Gamow's Big Bang 12.9. Arguments for Steady State Weaken 12.10. The Temperature of Space 12.11. Discovery of the Cosmic Microwave Background 12.12. Impact of the Discovery on Cosmologists 12.13. Credit for the Prediction 12.14. Conclusions PART FOUR: HEREDITY AND EVOLUTION Chapter 13. Morgan's Chromosome Theory 13.1. Introduction 13.2. Is Biology like (Hypothetico-Deductive) Physics? 13.3. Precursors 13.4. Morgan's Theory 13.5. The Problem of Universality 13.6. Morgan's Theory in Research Journals 13.7. Important Early Supporters 13.8. Bateson and the Morgan Theory in Britain 13.9. The Problem of Universality Revisited 13.10. Books and Review Articles on Genetics, Evolution and Cytology 13.11. Biology Textbooks 13.12. Age Distribution of Supporters and Opponents 13.13. Conclusions Chapter 14. The Revival of Natural Selection 1930-1970 14.1. Introduction 14.2. Fisher: A new Language for Evolutionary Research 14.3. Wright: Random Genetic Drift, A Concept Out of Control 14.4. Haldane: A Mathematical-Philosophical Biologist Weighs in 14.5. Early Reception of the Theory 14.6. Dobzhansky: The Faraday of Biology? 14.7. Evidence for Natural Selection, before 1941 14.8. Huxley: A New Synthesis is Proclaimed 14.9. Mayr: Systematics and the Founder Principle 14.10. Simpson: No Straight and Narrow Path for Paleontology 14.11. Stebbins: Plants are also Selected 14.12. Chromosome Inversions in Drosophila 14.13. Ford: Unlucky Blood Groups 14.14. Resistance to Antibiotics 14.15. Two ""Great Debates"": Snails and Tiger Moths 14.16. Selection and/or Drift? The Changing Views of Dobzhansky and Wright 14.17. The Views of other Founders and Leaders 14.18. The Peppered Moth 14.20. Results of a Survey of Biological Publications 14.19. The Triumph of Natural Selection? 14.21. Is Evolutionary Theory Scientific? 14.22. Context and Conclusions PART FIVE: CONCLUSIONS Chapter 5. Which Works Faster: Prediction or Explanation? 5.1. Comparison of Cases Presented in this Book 5.2. From Princip to Principe 5.3. Can Explanation be Better than Prediction? 5.4. Special Theory of Relativity: Explaining ""Nothing"" 5.5. The Old Quantum theory: Many Things are Predicted, but Few are Explained 5.6. Quantum Mechanics: Many Things are Explained, Predictions are Confirmed too late 5.7. Millikan's Walk Notes for Part One Notes for Part Two Notes for Part Three Notes for Part Four Notes for Part Five Selected Bibliography: Includes works cited more than once in a chapter Index"

Reviews

It is rare to find a historical work of science that encompasses the wide range of ideas this erudite volume does. ... Including useful diagrams, copius notes, a select biography, and an index of cited authors, this is an intruiging volume. Highly recommended. --Choice

Author Information

Stephen G. Brush studied chemistry and physics (at Harvard and Oxford) and did research in theoretical physics at the Lawrence Livermore Laboratory. His group at Livermore showed that a gas of electrons (ignoring quantum effects) could condense to a solid at low temperatures and high densities. Inspired by a graduate seminar with Thomas Kuhn at Harvard, he also conducted research in history of science, and switched to that field full-time in 1968. He has published historical works on the kinetic theory of gases, planetary physics, and other topics.

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