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The Fabric of the Heavens: The Development of Astronomy and Dynamics Paperback – November 1, 1999

by Stephen Toulmin (Author), June Goodfield (Author)

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Conceived as three companion volumes that form an introduction to the central ideas of the modern natural sciences, these books—intelligent, informative, and accessible—are an excellent source for those who have no technical knowledge of the subject.

Praise for The Fabric of the Heavens:

"I cannot remember when I last went through a book, any book, with such all-devouring zest. What is more, even the most complex technicalities are reduced to a positively crystalline clarity: If I can understand them, anyone can. The Fabric of the Heavens is, in every sense of the word, an eye-opener."—Peter Green, The Yorkshire Post

"Not until the last chapter of the book is [the reader] allowed to think again wholly as a modern man has become accustomed, by common sense, to think. The discipline is admirably suited to the authors' task, and cunningly devised for the reader's edification—and, indeed, for his delight."—Physics Today

Praise for The Architecture of Matter:

"The Architecture of Matter is to be warmly recommended. It is that rare achievement, a lively book which at the same time takes the fullest possible advantage of scholarly knowledge."—Charles C. Gillespie, New York Times Book Review

"One is impressed by the felicity of the examples and by the lively clarity with which significant experiments and ideas are explained. . . . No other history of science is so consistently challenging."—Scientific American

Praise for The Discovery of Time:

"A subject of absorbing interest . . . is presented not as a history of science, but as a chapter in the history of ideas from the ancient Greeks to our own time."—Times Literary Supplement

Print length

294 pages
Language

English
Publisher

University of Chicago Press
Publication date

November 1, 1999
Dimensions

9.02 x 6.04 x 0.63 inches
ISBN-10

0226808483
ISBN-13

978-0226808482
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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

The story of our relationship with the stars and their celestial cousins is long, involving, and full of surprises. The Fabric of the Heavens, by science historians Stephen Toulmin and June Goodfield, outlines thinking about astronomy and dynamics from "pretheoretical" Babylonian times to the Newtonian revolution that seeded our modern conceptions of space. Fully integrating the two cultures of science and the humanities, the authors find evidence of new thinking in Milton's writing and medieval tapestries, as well as in classic scientific and prescientific works. Using language that is beautiful, compelling, and precise, they trace the threads of history that are woven into today's science (which, they predict, will find itself woven into something even more startlingly unrecognizable in years hence).

Why were the ancients so fascinated by the sky and stars? Interestingly, it seems that their concerns were mostly practical; theological significance took longer to attach itself to the patterns up above. Agricultural and navigational concerns, once resolved, gave way to deeper philosophical, mythological, and religious curiosity--which used the mathematical tools of its predecessors to great effect. The lives and works of Aristotle, Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton are all thoroughly explored, and it is easier to see the continuity between them and their contemporaries in the breadth of this writing. Published in 1962, The Fabric of the Heavens was one of the first postmodern studies of the development of physical science; even were it not such a pleasure to read, it would still merit careful study. --Rob Lightner

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ University of Chicago Press; New edition (November 1, 1999)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 294 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0226808483
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0226808482
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 13.9 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 9.02 x 6.04 x 0.63 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,051,505 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #1,921 in Cosmology (Books)
- #3,784 in Astronomy (Books)
- #7,131 in History & Philosophy of Science (Books)

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History of Cosmological Thought

Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2024

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The authors, philosophers and historians of science, discuss the history of the science of astronomy and dynamics.

Initially, there were two threads of astronomical thought: a practical side, centered in Mesopotamia and based around mapping and predicting the stars and other astronomical aspects, and a theoretical side, centered in Greece and based around explaining why the universe was the way it was. To some extent, these two threads came together in Hellenistic Alexandria, but rational, scientific thought was quickly displaced by religious, mystical, and esoteric thought.

Luckily, rational thought survived to some extent in the Islamic world, where the works of Aristotle were preserved. The Mongol sack of Baghdad and increasing religious fundamentalism had eliminated rational thought in the Islamic world by the thirteenth century, but by that point Europe had begun to reopen and medieval intellectuals began to reengage with Classical thinkers and make developments in physics and astronomy.

In the sixteenth century, Copernicus put forward the heliocentric theory of the solar system. Although this gained a few adherents, it couldn't overcome serious objections. One of the major objections to heliocentrism was the lack of stellar parallax -- that is, the stars' position vis-a-vis one another does not appear to shift, even though they should shift if it is the Earth that is moving, not the stars. It was not until the mid-1800s that scientists showed that stellar parallax does occur (although it appears small from humanity's perspective, given the massive distances to the stars).

At the end of the sixteenth century, Kepler began to articulate something akin to the modern theory of gravitation, with objects pulling on one another and the Sun, as the most massive object, exerting the most pull.

Galileo's telescope showed that the number of stars was much larger than previously thought. Further, differences in the stars' brightness suggested that the sky was not fixed, but rather the stars were different distances.

Finally, by the end of the 1600s Newton put forward modern theories of gravitation and planetary orbits, similar to Kepler's thought but using more advanced mathematical techniques.

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