Customer Reviews

When Physics Became King

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The book is not restricted to England or to the years of Victoria's rule, but Victorian England is the focus of the book. Other science is included as needed.

It starts in France, where Laplace's connection with Napoleon enabled him to dominate much of French science, promoting both his own ideas and the careers of others who followed his ideas. After the fall of Napoleon, anti-Laplacian science became dominant. This sort of political struggle to promote ideas is one of the themes of the book.

The scene then moves to English universities, especially Cambridge, where science is seen as a pastime for the sons of the leisure class. But there are people who want universities to support scientific research. The transformation of university science is another major theme.

There is also a large section about science as show business. Giant sparks, electromagnets that could lift large weights, and corpses whose muscles moved when stimulated by electricity are among the demonstrations that attracted large crowds. This interest contributed to the acceptance of science as a worthwhile endeavor.

And, of course, there is much discussion of the scientific ideas themselves. We see scientists struggling to decide whether force or energy is the more significant property, whether heat is a fluid or the motion of molecules, whether molecules actually exist, and more. We also see the resolution of many of these problems as the science matures.

Unfortunately, the science is described in a very sketchy way. For example, there isn't enough about Maxwell's theory of light for anyone to appreciate the significance of the ether. A reader who doesn't already know basic classical physics will miss out on part of the story, but there is still plenty for him to appreciate. And books that describe the science better usually skimp on the social context.

There is a lot more I could say about the book, but it would be much too long for an Amazon review. To sum up: this is an excellent picture of how people saw physics during an important era of its history. I recommend it highly.

Let me just say that people need to realize what book they're getting into. This is not a Philosophy of Physics, but a history of its evolution during the 19th Century (because as this author feels that is when physics became "king"). This approach, then, can make reading it a bit difficult, especially chapters 4-6. The author largely takes for granted that the reader understand the philosophy of basic physics. If you don't, then this book, particularly in chapters 4-6, will seem like a dry uncorrelated mesh of historical successions, which is exactly what the author doesn't want to happen. However, I read the book before learning the philosophy of physics and still greatly enjoyed the book.

Morus's approach to the History and Philosophy of Science is agreeable. He shows you that there is no absolute truth, only ingrown habits that have been commonly accepted throughout the scientific community that become truth. Therefore, history shouldn't be seen as a build up to modern knowledge, as if our models of the universe are absolutely true and won't ever be updated, amended, or even discarded; but rather, the history of science should concern itself with the study of certain controversies and how and why certain theories won out or became consolidated.

There is a lot of overlap between chapters because the author doesn't cover material chronologically, but thematically (this can also make it difficult for the reader to bring together ideas from each chapter to see them contextualize). Chapter 2 covers the rise of mathematical physics. Chapter 3 provides a brief over-view of the movements of the 19th century that incorporated physics, like the Romantic movement. Chapter 4 focuses on electricity. Chapter 5 focuses on heat. Chapter 6 focuses on the idea of "forces, energy, and the ether." Chapter 7 looks at astronomy. Chapter 8 looks at the rise of research institutions and Chapter 9 looks at Physics on the eve of WWI.