Publisher's Synopsis
In this rich, irreverent, and compelling history, across centuries from ancient Miletus to medieval Baghdad and Oxford, from Plato's Academy and the Museum of Alexandria to the cathedral school of Chartres and the Royal Society of London. He shows that the scientists of ancient and medieval times not only did not understand what we understand about the world-they did not understand what there is to understand, or how to understand it. Yet over the centuries, through the struggle to solve such mysteries as the curious backward movement of the planets and the rise and fall of the tides, the modern discipline of science eventually emerged. Along the way, Weinberg examines historic clashes and collaborations between science and the competing spheres of religion, technology, poetry, mathematics, and philosophy.
The birth of science in ancient Greece had a historical impact that is still being felt today.
Looking at the vast sweep of human history, the author delves into the factors that led to the birth of science- urbanization, the role of religion, and in Greece a progressive intellectual curiosity that was unafraid to question tradition.
