The Scientific Renaissance 1450-1630

by Marie Boas Hall

Between 1450 & 1630 science experienced a transformation. Here readers will find not only a clear, succinct & authoritative account of the work of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, Harvey & a host of they will find ideas & persons related to the history of their times. The author tells how scientists lived & how they kept in touch with each other. Above all, she makes us realise how they looked at the world & what they thought about their own fields of study. Like those of whom she writes, the author recoginises no division between science & humanism. The result is a book that be as deeply interesting to the general reader as it will be valuable to historians of science."The endeavour to understand events in nature is as old as civilisation. In each of its three great seminal areas--the Chinese, the Indian & the W. Asian-European--men tried to find a logic in the mysterious & an order in the chaotic. They made many attempts, sometimes revealing strange similarities in these totally different societies, to express general truths from which particular events would follow as rational, comprehensible consequences. They tried to describe & analyse in order to understand, for men could not live in the world without seeking to assign causes to the things that happen in it."--General IntroductionGeneral IntroductionThe triumph of Our New AgeThe pleasure & delight of natureThe Copernican RevolutionThe great debateThe frame of man & its illsRavished by magicThe uses of mathematicsThe organisation & reorganisation of scienceCircles appear in physiologyCircles vanish from astronomyDebate among the starsEpilogueBibliography & NotesIndex

Genres: Science, History, History Of Science

Paperback

First published January 1, 1962

Reviews

[Erik Graff · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid, academic survey of the development of modern experimental science written for the educated layperson or the philosopher of science.

[Joab Jackson · Rating 4 out of 5]

"The Scientific Renaissance 1450-1630" is fascinating story of a people groping their way towards the scientific thinking. Of course, the Greeks and the Romans had excelled in this practice, with Plato, Archimedes and others, centuries before. But their work was all but lost in the Middle Ages, except, perhaps, for a slavish adoration to all the work of Aristotle. In the early 15th century, however, Europeans entered in a new era. With the newly invented compass, they could sail the seas into new parts of the world, and with the printing press, they could spread the works of Greek scholars, thanks to the transcriptive work of the Humanists.

Soon the brightest of the humanists went beyond merely transcription and started verifying how much of what of the Greek scholars wrote was actually true. Thus we came by the great advancements of in medicine, physics and, especially, astronomy in this time. And as people grew aware of the power of the scientific method, many also found an interest in quasi- or pseudo-scientific practices of alchemy and astrology (read full review here).

[Syed Ali Hussain Bukhari · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Scientific Renaissance
1450-1630
By: Marie Hall Boas

This is an interesting summary of the history of scientific evolution (in Europe). The author touched all the subjects from astronomy to anatomy including chemistry, botany, zoology, mathematics, mechanics and philosophy etc. It records the efforts of great scientist like Harvey, Gilbert, Henry Briggs, Copernicus, Vesalius, Kepler, Galileo and many others in their related subjects. It also has a chapter on the scientific philosopher Francis Bacon that presents us with a short account of his life and works.

Though, this sort of book usually feels dry but in the end, you are not dismayed. An interesting account that I happened to read regarding the Scientific Renaissance.