The Science Book edited by Peter Tallack, Cassell, 拢30, ISBN 0304359181
IS science best served by pretty pictures? Because our age is so dominated by
images, perhaps it is better to exploit their power than reject them out of
hand. Academic purists who wince at this notion, will be converted by The
Science Book. It gives the history of science a splendid coffee-table
treatment.
The book records the main achievements that have influenced the path of the
traditional natural sciences and mathematics, as well as the newer sciences of
medicine, psychology, archaeology and geology. The wonderful images played a
significant role in this success. Many are reproductions of contemporary sources
and give a poignant taste of their time鈥擠escartes鈥� map of a comet
travelling from one vortex in the Universe to the next or the page from
Mendeleyev鈥檚 first paper on his periodic table of elements. Add to this
spectacular images from telescopes and microscopes, then mix in the paintings,
caricatures and photograph of scientists. All combine to challenge our inborn
tendency to judge by appearances.
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Editor Peter Tallack confesses that his task seemed impossible, to reduce
history to 250 topics but he has managed it without straying over the borders
into inventions, technology and engineering. He鈥檚 concentrated on recent
history, with more than half the topics coming from the 20th century. This
leaves little space for the rest of history, but this is not surprising since
the large array of authors are scientists not historians鈥攖heir perception
is, of course, coloured by today鈥檚 idea of science.
Refreshingly, the book recognises the many avenues of scientific endeavour
later generations discarded, not because they were wrong, but rather because
they had discovered others that were more useful, accurate, powerful or elegant
in their capacity to explain the world about us.
Part of the fun will be the enjoyable game of challenging Tallack鈥檚
selection. My contribution is to lament the slight treatment of optics鈥攏o
diffraction, birefringence, or stimulated emission of radiation (lasers)
鈥攁nd nothing about how the mechanical properties of materials derive from
bonds and lattices. There鈥檚 no Euler on bending, crystal dislocations or
Griffiths on brittle crack propagation. As often in science history, Robert
Hooke is under-recognised. But then, as the editor admits, 鈥渆ven science can be
a matter of taste鈥�.
Be reassured, though, everyone will find something in The Science
Book that they didn鈥檛 know and much that is fascinating, probably quite a
lot of both. In the end they鈥檒l have a better grasp of science and how we got to
where we are now.