Project Physics

Holton, Gerald

Harcourt School

Foundations of Modern Physical Science

1958, Addison Wesley

Gerald Holton uses the life and work of our century's greatest scientist to warn against today's gathering Romantic rebellion, one in which science is blamed for all our social ills, and in which reason is being replaced by New Age ”ways of knowing.” Through his rich exploration of Einstein's thought, the author shows how the best science depends on great intuitive leaps of imagination, and how science is indeed the creatice expression of the traditions of Western civilization. Wide-ranging and forecful, this book is must reading for anyone interested in the place of science in our world.

Einstein, History, And Other Passions: The Rebellion Against Science At The End Of The Twentieth Century

Politics & Social Sciences

Social Sciences

Basic Books

A thorough grounding in contemporary physics while placing the subject into its social and historical context. Based largely on the highly respected Project Physics Course developed by two of the authors, it also integrates the results of recent pedagogical research. The text thus teaches the basic phenomena in the physical world and the concepts developed to explain them; shows that science is a rational human endeavour with a long and continuing tradition, involving many different cultures and people; develops facility in critical thinking, reasoned argumentation, evaluation of evidence, mathematical modelling, and ethical values. The treatment emphasises not only what we know but also how we know it, why we believe it, and what effects this knowledge has.

Understanding Physics (Undergraduate Texts in Contemporary Physics)

Business & Money

Cassidy, David

Rutherford, F. James

Harvard Project Physics

Job Hunting & Careers

Springer, Verlag

Will be shipped from US. Used books may not include companion materials, may have some shelf wear, may contain highlighting/notes, may not include CDs or access codes. 100% money back guarantee.

The Scientific Imagination: Case Studies

Philosophy

Cambridge University Press

New scientific ideas are subjected to an extensive process of evaluation and validation by the scientific community. Until the early 1980s, this process of validation was thought to be governed by objective criteria, whereas the process by which individual scientists gave birth to new scientific ideas was regarded as inaccessible to rational study. In this book Gerald Holton takes an opposing view, illuminating the ways in which the imagination of the scientist functions early in the formation of a new insight or theory. In certain crucial instances, a scientist adopts an explicit or implicit presupposition, or thema, that guides his work to success or failure and helps determine whether the new idea will draw acclaim or controversy. Using firsthand accounts gleaned from notebooks, interviews, and correspondence of such twentieth-century scientists as Einstein, Fermi, and Millikan, Holton shows how the idea of the scientific imagination has practical implications for the history and philosophy of science and the larger understanding of the place of science in our culture. The new introduction, "How a Scientific Discovery Is Made: The Case of High-Temperature Superconductivity," reveals the scientific imagination at work in current science, by disclosing the role of personal motivations that are usually hidden from scientific publications, and the lessons of the case for science policy today.

Through his rich exploration of Einstein's thought, Gerald Holton shows how the best science depends on great intuitive leaps of imagination, and how science is indeed the creative expression of the traditions of Western civilization.

Einstein, History, and Other Passions: The Rebellion against Science at the End of the Twentieth Century

Harvard University Press

How did Albert Einstein's ideas shape the imaginations of twentieth-century artists and writers? Are there national differences between styles of scientific research? By what mechanisms is progress in science achieved despite the enormous diversity of individual, often conflicting, efforts?
These are just a few of the questions posed in The Advancement of Science, and Its Burdens. Gerald Holton, one of the century's leading historians of science, continues his analysis of how modern science works and how it influences our world, with particular emphasis on the role of the thematic elements--those often unconscious presuppositions that guide scientific work to success or failure. Many of the conclusions emerge from the author's extensive study of the contributions of Albert Einstein. Indeed, Holton's new introduction for this edition, "Einstein and the Cultural Roots of Modern Science," demonstrates that Einstein's daring main pursuit, the discovery of unity among seemingly disparate aspects of physics, was psychologically supported by a surprising ally: the high literary works in which he immersed himself, above all Goethe's. This case study alone may well be a classic example for studying the interaction of science and culture.

The Advancement of Science, and Its Burdens: With a New Introduction

Sociology

Never has the power of scientific research to solve existing problems and uncover new ones been more evident than it is today. Yet there exists widespread ignorance about the larger contexts within which scientific research is carried out. For example, the point of view some scientists adopt in their work or in their social commitments may become clearer if considered in light of the opposing views held by other scientists.
This is a theme Gerald Holton addresses in his new collection. Whether considering conflicts between Heisenberg and Einstein, Bohr and Einstein, or P. W. Bridgman and B. F. Skinner; tracing I. I. Rabi's shift of attention from superb science to education and scientific statesmanship; or examining the emergence, in the last few decades, of the need to connect scientific research to societal needs--in each case, Holton demonstrates a masterly understanding of modern science and how it influences our world.
The author shows why, at any given time--even in the mature phase of science--there exists no single "paradigm," but rather a spectrum of competing perspectives; and why so much good science has been based, from antiquity to today, on a relatively small number of presuppositions.

Victory and Vexation in Science: Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg, and Others

History

What is good science? What goal--if any--is the proper end of scientific activity? Is there a legitimating authority that scientists mayclaim? Howserious athreat are the anti-science movements? These questions have long been debated but, as Gerald Holton points out, every era must offer its own responses. This book examines these questions not in the abstract but shows their historic roots and the answers emerging from the scientific and political controversies of this century. 
 Employing the case-study method and the concept of scientific thematathat he has pioneered, Holton displays the broad scope of his insight into the workings of science: from the influence of Ernst Mach on twentiethcentury physicists, biologists, psychologists, and other thinkers to the rhetorical strategies used in the work of Albert Einstein, Niels Bohr, and others; from the bickering between Thomas Jefferson and the U.S. Congress over the proper form of federal sponsorship of scientific research to philosophical debates since Oswald Spengier over whether our scientific knowledge will ever be "complete." In a masterful final chapter, Holton scrutinizes the "anti-science phenomenon," the increasingly common opposition to science as practiced today. He approaches this contentious issue by examining the world views and political ambitions of the proponents of science as well as those of its opponents-the critics of "establishment science" (including even those who fear that science threatens to overwhelm the individual in the postmodern world) and the adherents of "alternative science" (Creationists, New Age "healers," astrologers). Through it all runs the thread of the author's deep historical knowledge and his humanistic understanding of science in modern culture. 
 Science and Anti-Science will be of great interest not only to scientists and scholars in the field of science studies but also to educators, policymalcers, and all those who wish to gain a fuller understanding of challenges to and doubts about the role of science in our lives today.

Science and Anti-Science

Science & Math

History & Philosophy

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Holton, Gerald. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Books by Holton, Gerald

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Holton, Gerald. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Project Physics

Foundations of Modern Physical Science

Einstein, History, And Other Passions: The Rebellion Against Science At The End Of The Twentieth Century

Understanding Physics (Undergraduate Texts in Contemporary Physics)

The Scientific Imagination: Case Studies

The Scientific Imagination: Case Studies

Einstein, History, and Other Passions: The Rebellion against Science at the End of the Twentieth Century

The Advancement of Science, and Its Burdens: With a New Introduction

Victory and Vexation in Science: Einstein, Bohr, Heisenberg, and Others

Science and Anti-Science