From Newton to Hawking: A History of Cambridge University's Lucasian Professors of Mathematics

by Kevin C. Knox, Richard Noakes, Stephen Hawking

Overview

This social history of mathematics and physics tells the story of Cambridge University's mathematical physicists. The University's Lucasian Professorship of Mathematics is one of the world's most celebrated academic positions. Since its foundation in 1663, the chair has been held by seventeen men who represent some of the most influential minds in science and technology. This informative work offers new perspectives on such world-famous scientists as Isaac Newton, Charles Babbage, Paul Dirac, and Stephen Hawking.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521663106
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	11/06/2003
Pages:	516
Product dimensions:	6.42(w) x 9.49(h) x 1.22(d)

About the Author

Kevin Knox is Historian at the Institute Archives, Caltech. He has held positions as Visiting Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, and Ahmanson Postdoctoral Instructor in the Humanities at Caltech.

Richard Noakes is a British Academy-Royal Society Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the History of Science, in the Department of History and Philosophy of Science, Cambridge University. He previously held a Leverhulme Postdoctoral Fellowship at the Universities of Leeds and Sheffield.

Table of Contents

List of illustrations; List of contributors; Foreword Stephen Hawking; Preface; Timeline of the Lucasian professorship; Introduction: 'Mind almost divine' Kevin C. Knox and Richard Noakes; 1. Isaac Barrow and the foundation of the Lucasian professorship Mordechai Feingold; 2. 'Very accomplished mathematician, philosopher, chemist': Newton as Lucasian professor Rob Iliffe; 3. Making Newton easy: William Whiston in Cambridge and London Stephen D. Snobelen and Larry Stewart; 4. Sensible Newtonians: Nicholas Saunderson and John Colson John Gascoigne; 5. The negative side of nothing: Edward Waring, Isaac Milner and Newtonian values Kevin C. Knox; 6. Paper and brass: the Lucasian professorship 1820–39 Simon Schaffer; 7. Arbiters of Victorian science: George Gabriel Stokes and Joshua King David B. Wilson; 8. 'That universal æthereal plenum': Joseph Larmor's natural history of physics Andrew Warwick; 9. Paul Dirac: the purest soul in an atomic age Helge Kragh; 10. Is the end in sight for the Lucasian chair? Stephen Hawking as Millennium Professor Hélène Mialet; Appendix. The statutes of the Lucasian professorship: a translation Ian Stewart; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"The editors of this excellent book have culled contributions from 13 historians of science and put together a fascinating tale of the deeds, inventions, and ideas of the brilliant individuals who occupied the Lucasian Chair. Highly recommended." Choice

"... solid and engaging ... It is a story to comfort any number of vice-chancellors, provosts, deans and department heads." Nature

"...once I started reading this book I couldn't put it down...a book worth owning, and you'll find things in it that you're glad to know." -Mathematical Association of America Reviews, Gerlad B. Folland, University of Washington

From the Publisher