The scientific method, first widely used in the seventeenth century, created a worldview based less upon observation and belief and more upon experimentation and proof. This established a link between science and technological advancement, forming a foundation for our modern world. This source, the first in the new Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions and Discoveries through the Ages series, describes key inventions and discoveries at the beginning of the scientific revolution. The author is a biologist from Appalachian State University. In the preface, series editor Robert E. Krebs states that the audience is middle-school and senior-high-school students, college-level nonscience majors, and adult readers interested in scientific history, but the more appropriate audience is advanced high-school students, college-level nonscience majors, and adult readers. College science majors would find the entries useful but may want more detailed information.
Entries cover concepts in astronomy, biology, geology, chemistry, mathematics, and physical sciences and inventions of tools--such as the telescope or barometer--that helped scientists measure and test their hypotheses. Developments in the seventeenth century are discussed in context, including their origins, usually from ancient Greek science, and in light of modern theories. Cross-references are represented within entries by all capital letters. There is a glossary at the end of the work, and glossary terms are highlighted the first time they are used in an entry. Bibliographies are included, and a complete list of bibliographic references is found at the end of the book.
The history of science is a hot area for publishers of reference books. The Encyclopedia of the Scientific Revolution: From Copernicus to Newton (Garland, 2000) and The Scientific Revolution: An Encyclopedia (ABC-CLIO, 2001) are two recent titles that come to mind. Comparing the coverage of Galileo illustrates how these encyclopedias complement one another. Because the new Greenwood title is conceptually arranged, there is no entry for Galileo, but there are about five pages on heliocentrism, with bibliographical references, including a translation of Galileo's most significant work. The Encyclopedia of the Scientific Revolution has about seven pages on Galileo and nine citations in the bibliography, including a translation of his seminal work. For a less-scholarly audience, The Scientific Revolution has three pages on Galileo, with three references in the bibliography.
Newton said, "If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries of the 17th Century documents the work of those giants. Recommended for academic and public libraries. RBB
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