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Science Since Babylon: Enlarged Edition Paperback – September 10, 1975

by Derek J. deSolla Price (Author)

4.8 25 ratings

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An eye-opening work for anyone concerned with the humanistic understanding of science

"Enlightening reading for the scientist and non-scientist alike."—Times Educational Supplement

"Provides the opportunity to read, or re-read, some of Price's most noteworthy essays and to once more reflect on the urgencies of a reasoned science policy for the U.S."—Intellect

This timely classic investigates the circumstances and consequences of certain vital decisions relating to scientific crises that have brought the world to its present state of scientific and technological development. It calls for a completely new range of studies to take its place in the territory between the humanities and the sciences.

Derek deSolla Price documents his study with accounts of his own researches in his specific fields of interest, relating them to the “crises” which he believes to be of paramount importance. This enlarged edition offers a broad range of material, from ancient automata, talismans and symbols, to the differences of modern science and technology.

Print length

232 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Yale University Press
Publication date

September 10, 1975
Dimensions

8 x 5 x 0.54 inches
ISBN-10

0274731231
ISBN-13

978-0300017984
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Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ 0300017987
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Yale University Press; Enl ed. edition (September 10, 1975)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 232 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0274731231
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0300017984
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 8 x 5 x 0.54 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #334,409 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #953 in History & Philosophy of Science (Books)

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4.8 25 ratings

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Jeff Price

This brilliant book is one of the most enlightening and readable ...

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on November 21, 2015

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This brilliant book is one of the most enlightening and readable books chronicling the history of science and humanity's understanding of the world around them, and it is still highly relevant decades after its publication.

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Michael Wischmeyer

Wide Ranging Essays on the History of Science

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on October 25, 2003

The chapters comprising Science Since Babylon are largely independent essays, some derived from five lectures that Professor Derek de Solla Price presented at Yale University in 1959. In my 1975 edition Price has updated some chapters.

Price begins by speculating that the emergence of science in the West is peculiar, and not the norm for other advanced civilizations. He argues that the blending of Babylonian genius for tedious arithmetic calculations (but dullards at geometry) with the Hellenistic skill with axiomatic geometry was unique and laid the basis for a future Kepler, Newton, and Maxwell, and Einstein. Does more recent study support this thesis?

Next is a story of serendipity. In the oldest library at Cambridge University Professor Price unexpectedly discovered a long forgotten document, a beautifully handwritten description in Middle English of a planetary equatorium, a companion device to the astrolabe. Even more surprising, that writer is now thought to have been Chaucer.

In another seemingly improbable account Derek de Solla Price argues that a poorly preserved Greek clockwork device recovered in 1900 from a sunken ship dating from about 65 B.C. was actually a bronze gear-based computing machine that exhibited the motions of the sun and the moon, and possibly the visible planets. (Update: A team of British, Greek and American researchers in 2006 deciphered inscriptions and reconstructed the gear functions, revealing "an unexpected degree of technical sophistication for the period". The researchers were led by the mathematician and filmmaker Tony Freeth and the astronomer Mike G. Edmunds, both of the University of Cardiff, Wales.)

The following two essays are detailed histories of narrow topics and required more effort. The first was the development of automata (devices that move by themselves) from Hellenistic times to the European Medieval period and into the Renaissance. The second topic was the significance of scientific talismans and symbolisms (especially pentagons, hexagons, and octagons) in expressing complex ideas by means other than literate (written) or quantitative (mathematical) methods.

The fifth essay argues that the roots of that remarkable inventive period in America (exemplified by Yankee ingenuity) can be traced back to the Renaissance. I was initially skeptical, but Price does show that similar explosive periods of invention by artisans and tradesmen occurred in the medieval and Renaissance periods.

The last four essays address more general topics that now appear dated, but were interesting nonetheless:

The Difference Between Science and Technology - Scientists leave detailed tracks as they publish their work to gain credit, while technologists keep their work secret from competitors. Consequently, the historian must use different investigative techniques for examining past scientific discoveries as opposed to researching inventions.

The Mutations of Science - In the late 1800s there appeared to be no remaining major problems in physics, only some minor loose ends to resolve. Beginning with the startling discovery of x-rays, Price outlines how physics suddenly awoke from its doldrums. He also offers a fascinating account of the discovery of N-rays, a major debacle in French science.

The Diseases of Science - The remarkable exponential growth (doubling every twelve years) in science publications in the last two centuries cannot continue. Price speculates that electronic publishing might help in the short term. (This article was written before the advent of the Internet.)

The Humanities of Science - The last essay argues for greater blending of science and humanities curricula and encourages more students to enter the new field of history of science.

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Antoni Roca-Rosell

Un clásico de la historiografia de la ciencia y de la técnica al alcance

Reviewed in Spain 🇪🇸 on December 27, 2019

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El libro de Price tuvo un gran impacto en su época y sigue siendo una referencia casi ineludible de la historiografía de la ciencia y de la técnica.

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Paolo M. Gensini

Science since Babylon

Reviewed in Italy 🇮🇹 on December 29, 2012

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Ottima riproduzione anastatica dell'opera miscellanea di Price. Testo fondamentale per qualsiasi studioso di storia della scienza e di scientometria, o anche soltanto per i fan di Derek de Solla Price, uno degli ultimi "polymaths" dell'era contemporanea.

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