To Explain the World: The Discovery of Modern Science

by Steven Weinberg

Overview

The Nobel Prize–winner shares "a masterful journey through humankind's scientific coming-of-age" from the Greeks to modern times (Brian Greene).
In this rich, irreverent, and compelling history, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg takes us across centuries of human striving to unravel the mysteries of the world. This sweeping saga ranges from ancient Miletus to medieval Baghdad and Oxford, from Plato's Academy and the Museum of Alexandria to the cathedral school of Chartres and the Royal Society of London.
Weinberg shows that, while the scientists of ancient and medieval times lack our understanding of the world, they also lacked the knowledge, tools, and intellectual framework necessary to go about understand it. Yet over the centuries, through the struggle to solve such mysteries as the curious backward movement of the planets and the rise and fall of the tides, the modern discipline of science eventually emerged.
An illuminating exploration of the way we consider and analyze the world around us, To Explain the World is a sweeping, ambitious account of how difficult it was to discover the goals and methods of modern science, and the impact of this discovery on human knowledge and development.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780062346674
Publisher:	Harper
Publication date:	03/19/2024
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	437
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Steven Weinberg is a theoretical physicist and the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics, the National Medal of Science, the Lewis Thomas Prize for the Scientist as Poet, and numerous honorary degrees and other awards. He is a member of the National Academy of Science, the Royal Society of London, the American Philosophical Society, and other academies. A longtime contributor to the New York Review of Books, he is also the author of The First Three Minutes, Dreams of a Final Theory, Facing Up, and Lake Views, as well as leading treatises on theoretical physics. He holds the Josey Regental Chair in Science at the University of Texas at Austin.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Part I Greek Physics

1 Matter and Poetry 3

2 Music and Mathematics 15

3 Motion and Philosophy 22

4 Hellenistic Physics and Technology 31

5 Ancient Science and Religion 44

Part II Greek Astronomy

6 The Uses of Astronomy 55

7 Measuring the Sun, Moon, and Earth 63

8 The Problem of the Planets 77

Part III The Middle Ages

9 The Arabs 103

10 Medieval Europe 124

Part IV The Scientific Revolution

11 The Solar System Solved 147

12 Experiments Begun 189

13 Method Reconsidered 201

14 The Newtonian Synthesis 215

15 Epilogue: The Grand Reduction 256

Acknowledgments 269

Technical Notes 271

Endnotes 367

Bibliography 385

Index 395

Editorial Reviews

Weinberg has set out to write a broad historical overview that can explain how humanity invented science. But he finds that historians disdain nearly everything that excites him. They mistrust overarching narratives and notions of progress. Some dispute the very idea of a scientific revolution. Above all, they argue that we can't cherry-pick winners and losers based on what later scientists believed to be true. They insist on judging people in the context of their own times. Weinberg rejects all that. He's perfectly happy judging the past by today's standards. After all, scientists can't well overlook the fact that some theories work and some don't. And it's this willingness to ignore pieties that makes To Explain the World so refreshing…It tells a rich, meaningful tale about the emergence of science, and evokes a sense of "how difficult was the discovery of modern science, how far from obvious are its practices and standards."

The New York Times Book Review - Sam Kean

A thoughtful history.” — The New Yorker

“The long march toward the modern scientific method is well-trodden territory for historians of science, but in tackling this familiar topic, Steven Weinberg offers a thoughtful, supplementary viewpoint.” — The Washington Post

“Steven Weinberg, the world’s preeminent physicist, provides a masterful journey through humankind’s scientific coming of age. With its refreshing candor and lyrical prose, To Explain the World is a delightful celebration of our passionate drive for understanding.” — Brian Greene

“This book transmutes the base metal of a mere history of science into pure gold — into a magisterial celebration of a long and heroic struggle, still incomplete, to understand nature. Only a committed scientist of Steven Weinberg’s brilliance, experience and breadth of insight could have accomplished this.” — Ian McEwan

“Refreshing and well-written. . . . To Explain the World tells a rich, meaningful tale about the emergence of science.” — The New York Times Book Review

“Fascinating. . . . A sweeping narrative of the progression of ideas. . . . Weinberg masterfully explains how the emergence of the modern scientific method, the mechanism by which we interrogate the world and devise well-supported explanations we can be confident in, is itself a discovery.” — Lewis Dartnell, The Telegraph

“Weinberg exemplifies a growing tendency in popular science writing to offer the matter of science and not just a superficial reading. It gives the book a bracing intellectuality. . . . This is a great book, a necessary book for our time.” — The Independent

“A refreshing contrast to other tomes on the topic. . . . With To Explain the World, Weinberg reminds us to be humble not only about what we know, but how we know it. It’s a nuance, but an important one.” — The Guardian

“I am amazed by what Steven Weinberg has done in this book. It is a unique and highly civilizing guide, obviously the result of years of wide-ranging scholarship, even with strategic humor.” — Gerald Holton

“Weinberg is a fine writer and communicator about ideas beyond his own field. . . . He has clearly carried out extensive scholarly investigation for the book, and it works as history. But what makes it stand out is his perspective as a top scientist working today.” — Financial Times

“Weinberg has combined his credentials with his knowledge of the history of science to examine a fascinating issue: how attempts to explain the world have changed over time. . . . He writes simply and clearly, and includes many telling insights.” — BBC Focus

“Weinberg writes with clarity and wit. . . . His reasoning can be fascinating — and eye-opening. . . . Weinberg is one of our greatest defeners of scientific thought, and his wit is a welcome salve in this authoritative history.” — The Austin American-Statesman

“An ingenious account. . . . The author has a keen understanding of the precise details of his subject. . . . Readers will come away with a stimulating view of how humans learn from nature.” — Kirkus

“Weinberg advances keen insights. . . into the intellectual structure of science. . . . A compelling reminder of how science works — and why it matters.” — Booklist (starred review)

“With his usual scholarly aplomb, Weinberg leads readers on a tour of early scientific theory, from the ancient Greeks to the Scientific Revolution of the 17th century. . . . Accessible and smoothly written, Weinberg’s book offers new insights on what has become familiar territory for pop-science readers. — Publishers Weekly

“Entertaining. . . . The book should make any history of science buff’s reading list. . . . Weinberg gets it right.” — Forbes

“A bravura performance. Writing with grace and verve, Weinberg explains complex conceptual nuances with admirable clarity.” — Physics Today

“The book is a magnificent contribution to the history and philosophy of science. It tells an exciting story. Why on earth did good science take so long to arrive?. . . . Weinberg writes with great verve and clarity.” — The Times Literary Supplement

From the Publisher

The long march toward the modern scientific method is well-trodden territory for historians of science, but in tackling this familiar topic, Steven Weinberg offers a thoughtful, supplementary viewpoint.

The Washington Post

A refreshing contrast to other tomes on the topic. . . . With To Explain the World, Weinberg reminds us to be humble not only about what we know, but how we know it. It’s a nuance, but an important one.

The Guardian

Weinberg exemplifies a growing tendency in popular science writing to offer the matter of science and not just a superficial reading. It gives the book a bracing intellectuality. . . . This is a great book, a necessary book for our time.

The Independent

A thoughtful history.

The New Yorker

I am amazed by what Steven Weinberg has done in this book. It is a unique and highly civilizing guide, obviously the result of years of wide-ranging scholarship, even with strategic humor.

Gerald Holton

Weinberg is a fine writer and communicator about ideas beyond his own field. . . . He has clearly carried out extensive scholarly investigation for the book, and it works as history. But what makes it stand out is his perspective as a top scientist working today.

Financial Times

Fascinating. . . . A sweeping narrative of the progression of ideas. . . . Weinberg masterfully explains how the emergence of the modern scientific method, the mechanism by which we interrogate the world and devise well-supported explanations we can be confident in, is itself a discovery.

Lewis Dartnell

Refreshing and well-written. . . . To Explain the World tells a rich, meaningful tale about the emergence of science.

The New York Times Book Review

Steven Weinberg, the world’s preeminent physicist, provides a masterful journey through humankind’s scientific coming of age. With its refreshing candor and lyrical prose, To Explain the World is a delightful celebration of our passionate drive for understanding.

Brian Greene

This book transmutes the base metal of a mere history of science into pure gold — into a magisterial celebration of a long and heroic struggle, still incomplete, to understand nature. Only a committed scientist of Steven Weinberg’s brilliance, experience and breadth of insight could have accomplished this.

Ian McEwan

A thoughtful history.

The New Yorker

Weinberg is a fine writer and communicator about ideas beyond his own field. . . . He has clearly carried out extensive scholarly investigation for the book, and it works as history. But what makes it stand out is his perspective as a top scientist working today.

Financial Times

Weinberg advances keen insights. . . into the intellectual structure of science. . . . A compelling reminder of how science works — and why it matters.

Booklist (starred review)

A bravura performance. Writing with grace and verve, Weinberg explains complex conceptual nuances with admirable clarity.

Physics Today

Weinberg has combined his credentials with his knowledge of the history of science to examine a fascinating issue: how attempts to explain the world have changed over time. . . . He writes simply and clearly, and includes many telling insights.

BBC Focus

Entertaining. . . . The book should make any history of science buff’s reading list. . . . Weinberg gets it right.

Forbes

The book is a magnificent contribution to the history and philosophy of science. It tells an exciting story. Why on earth did good science take so long to arrive?. . . . Weinberg writes with great verve and clarity.

The Times Literary Supplement

Weinberg writes with clarity and wit. . . . His reasoning can be fascinating — and eye-opening. . . . Weinberg is one of our greatest defeners of scientific thought, and his wit is a welcome salve in this authoritative history.

The Austin American-Statesman

2014-12-29
Histories of science celebrate great thinkers of the past. In this ingenious account, theoretical physicist and Nobel laureate Weinberg (Chair in Science/Univ. of Texas; Lectures on Quantum Mechanics, 2012, etc.) celebrates generously but gives equal emphasis to why they often missed the mark.Many people assume that pre-Enlightenment societies were ignorant, but they didn't think so. In ancient China, Greece, Rome and the medieval world, wise men observed, thought deeply, and pronounced on a wide variety of subjects, sometimes correctly, usually not. They not only didn't know what they didn't know; they also didn't know how to learn it. They often mixed metaphysics and reality. The work of Aristotle, the quintessential ancient scientist, was suffused with teleology, the belief that everything has a purpose. Thus, objects fall because their natural place is the center of the universe. Much early science was actually philosophy, but since nothing in the laws of nature "corresponds to ideas of goodness, justice, love, or strife…we cannot rely on philosophy as a reliable guide to scientific understanding." Despite today's scientific orthodoxy, we also should not rely solely on observation and experiments. Copernicus and Kepler argued for a heliocentric solar system based on mathematical simplicity, not accuracy, and prediction of planetary movements was no better than Ptolemy's. Unlike some academics, the author has a keen understanding of the precise details of his subject, and he makes good use of them throughout the book. "Some historians of science make a shibboleth of not referring to present scientific knowledge in studying the science of the past," he writes. "I will instead make a point of using present knowledge to clarify past science." While Weinberg confines most mathematics to a 95-page appendix, readers will strain to comprehend some of the lengthy nuts-and-bolts explanations, but those who persist will come away with a stimulating view of how humans learn from nature.

Kirkus Reviews