杏吧原创

The Ascent of Science by Brian Silver, Oxford University Press,
拢25/$35, ISBN 0195116992

IN my time, I鈥檝e read far too many popular introductions to science, so I
didn鈥檛 relish having to plod through yet another. Now, having finished Brian
Silver鈥檚 The Ascent of Science, I have to say that it鈥檚 by far the most
eccentric, opinionated and bizarre I鈥檝e come across. It is also one of the
best.

Silver set himself the ambitious aim of giving a comprehensive report of 鈥渢he
scientific campaign up to now鈥� for curious people who are suspicious of jargon,
and who remember little or nothing of the science they learnt at school. He
fails, but succeeds handsomely in presenting most of the big ideas in science,
together with a stimulating overview of its history and some well-informed
commentary on science in the 1990s.

Silver is too fast and loose with scientific terminology. His occasional (and
sometimes incorrect) use of mathematical notation will make some parts of his
book impenetrable to general readers. But his most fundamental error was to
attempt to cover the whole of science.

Although he is admirably well read, he is plainly much more at home with
physics and chemistry than with other parts of the scientific enterprise. He
treats biology skimpily, almost completely ignores medicine and brain science,
and passes over most of geology. The idea of covering the whole of science is
noble enough, but who has the breadth of knowledge to make a success of it in
these days of ever-intensifying specialisation?

Silver spends most of the book tracing the ascent of physical science, from
Aristotle to superstrings. He covers all the usual topics鈥攎echanics,
electromagnetism, relativity and the rest鈥攁nd writes exceptionally
clearly. But what makes the account special is his interweaving of well-informed
historical and philosophical background. Material like this in scientific
potboilers is more often than not superficial and ill-informed, laying the
scientific community wide open to accusations that it cultivates a fanciful and
self-serving view of its heritage. The problem is that when scientists write
about the history of science, they usually copy from one another instead of
taking the time to consult professional historians.

Silver, however, has done his homework. So it鈥檚 a pity that one of the first
historical points he makes is the familiar, simplistic myth that the consensus
among physicists in the late 19th century was that nothing remained to be done
in their field. For the most part, Silver鈥檚 history is accurate: he does science
a service by illuminating its role in cultural history.

In one telling passage, he stresses the fundamental role that Newtonian
science played in the 18th-century Enlightenment, which Silver characterises as
a time when it became fashionable to shout 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not reasonable鈥� rather to
whisper 鈥淭hat鈥檚 heretical鈥�. He also notes that this period was followed early in
the next century by a backlash led by the German writer Goethe, as thought
became less revered than feeling. As Silver usefully remarks, science鈥檚 role in
culture has always been in dispute and the present wave of antiscientific
thinking is hardly unprecedented.

What impact has philosophical thinking had on science? As Silver says, if you
ask a scientist whether his or her work has been affected by philosophy, you
should prepare yourself for a blank stare. But there are important exceptions.
Only last year, during the electron鈥檚 centenary celebrations, few seemed to
appreciate that J. J. Thomson in Cambridge could take the credit for this even
though his experiment was not as good as one being done at the same time by
Walter Kaufmann in Berlin. Kaufmann lost out because, unlike Thomson, he did not
believe he had discovered a particle because that did not fit into his logical
positivist way of thinking.

Hardliners may well complain that material like this is merely a distraction
from serious science. Yet I believe this is mistaken: if you want nonspecialists
to understand the importance of science, you must make clear the place of
science in culture. He also knows how to get across basic scientific ideas.
The Ascent of Science contains a first-rate introduction to chaos, a clear
account of the molecular basis of thermodynamics, and readable expositions of a
wide range of topics, from genetics to cosmology. Relativity is dealt with well,
too, but Silver is defeated by the problem of making the general theory
accessible to the mathematically challenged. I suspect that they will be only
too happy to accept his despairing invitation to 鈥渃lose the book and play golf
instead鈥�. Only when he comes to interpret quantum mechanics does he go
astray.

Although Silver is generally a reliable guide, he does come up with some
howlers when he is on unfamiliar territory. But the factual errors that he makes
are mostly minor. The Ascent of Science is an intriguingly original
introduction to science and will be a boon to those of us who make a living out
of making science accessible to nonspecialists. Although the book is too
wayward and idiosyncratic to be a set text, many teachers of Science for
Poets courses, so popular in the US, will find plenty of rewarding ideas here,
not least Silver鈥檚 outspoken views on current science policy.

He is resolutely pro-science and contemptuously damns know-nothing 鈥渟cience
trashers鈥�, although he is sensitive to the importance of scientists taking
seriously public concerns about current research, especially in the new
genetics. Nor is he afraid to tweak the tails of the particle physicists who, in
his view, overstate the potential importance of their subject to everyday life.
The key challenge, Silver believes, is to persuade the public to value science
for what it is and not to confuse it with the science-based technology on which
we consumers thrive.

Most enjoyable of all is Silver鈥檚 spicy, accessible style. Not many
introductions to science encourage us to take seriously the thoughts of rock
stars, romantic poets and contemporary humorists; but within these pages
Madonna, Milton and Dave Barry are all responsible for fitting quotations. Only
occasionally does the author go over the top, as when he describes the sublime
prose style of the great 18th-century historian Edward Gibbon as 鈥渇inger-lickin鈥�
驳辞辞诲鈥�.

Silver was professor of physical chemistry at the Technicon Institute of
Technology until he died recently, soon after he completed this curious and
rewarding book. By demonstrating that science can be introduced in ways that do
justice to its historical and cultural roots, he has bequeathed us a potentially
influential legacy.