... in an altogether different vein, Bryan looks at Walter Isaacson's biography of Einstein.
One slight demurrer: "Next to the Himalayas of Newton and Einstein everyone else looks as flat as Norfolk." Eveyone except, perhaps, J. Willard Gibbs. As the Encyclopedia Britannica points out: Gibbs's "application of thermodynamics to physical processes led him to develop the science of statistical-mechanics; his treatment of it was so general that it was later found to apply as well to quantum mechanics as to the classical physics from which it had been derived."
Hmmm. It was Newton himself who made the "standing on the shoulders of giants" comment, wasn't it? Most scientists would agree, I think, that advances are possible by building on the work of others, even when intuitive leaps are involved.
ReplyDeleteMaxine, you're right. The basis of modern science originated in Ancient Greece around 400 B.C. - particularly Leucippus and Democritus and their theory of atomism which stated that everything was composed of atoms, an infinite number of atoms and different kinds of atoms with different shapes and sizes. And they explained this as a mechanical process rather than being due to the action of mind, in other words that everything happens according to natural laws.
ReplyDeleteModern chemistry uses the atomic theory to explain the facts of chemistry. In Physics, Newton and Einstein built on atomist theory, giving it a solid foundation through mathematics.
As far as I know, the main differences between the atomists and modern science is that the atomists thought the atom was indestructible, did not have weight and also that between the atoms there was empty space which modern physicists do not believe, owing to Einstein and quantum theory.
It's worth remembering, though, that Newton could have meant that "shoulders of giants" comment as a bitchy barb to his hated rival, and very short man, Hooke.
ReplyDeleteHey Frank, that's pretty funny.
ReplyDelete