The Man Who Flattened the Earth

The Man Who Flattened the Earth PDF Author: Mary Terrall
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226793621
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 420

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Book Description
Self-styled adventurer, literary wit, philosopher, and statesman of science, Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698-1759) stood at the center of Enlightenment science and culture. Offering an elegant and accessible portrait of this remarkable man, Mary Terrall uses the story of Maupertuis's life, self-fashioning, and scientific works to explore what it meant to do science and to be a man of science in eighteenth-century Europe. Beginning his scientific career as a mathematician in Paris, Maupertuis entered the public eye with a much-discussed expedition to Lapland, which confirmed Newton's calculation that the earth was flattened at the poles. He also made significant, and often intentionally controversial, contributions to physics, life science, navigation, astronomy, and metaphysics. Called to Berlin by Frederick the Great, Maupertuis moved to Prussia to preside over the Academy of Sciences there. Equally at home in salons, cafés, scientific academies, and royal courts, Maupertuis used his social connections and his printed works to enhance a carefully constructed reputation as both a man of letters and a man of science. His social and institutional affiliations, in turn, affected how Maupertuis formulated his ideas, how he presented them to his contemporaries, and the reactions they provoked. Terrall not only illuminates the life and work of a colorful and important Enlightenment figure, but also uses his story to delve into many wider issues, including the development of scientific institutions, the impact of print culture on science, and the interactions of science and government. Smart and highly readable, Maupertuis will appeal to anyone interested in eighteenth-century science and culture. “Terrall’s work is scholarship in the best sense. Her explanations of arcane 18th-century French physics, mathematics, astronomy, and biology are among the most lucid available in any language.”—Virginia Dawson, American Historical Review Winner of the 2003 Pfizer Award from the History of Science Society

The Man Who Flattened the Earth

The Man Who Flattened the Earth PDF Author: Mary Terrall
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
ISBN: 0226793621
Category : Science
Languages : en
Pages : 420

Get Book Here

Book Description
Self-styled adventurer, literary wit, philosopher, and statesman of science, Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698-1759) stood at the center of Enlightenment science and culture. Offering an elegant and accessible portrait of this remarkable man, Mary Terrall uses the story of Maupertuis's life, self-fashioning, and scientific works to explore what it meant to do science and to be a man of science in eighteenth-century Europe. Beginning his scientific career as a mathematician in Paris, Maupertuis entered the public eye with a much-discussed expedition to Lapland, which confirmed Newton's calculation that the earth was flattened at the poles. He also made significant, and often intentionally controversial, contributions to physics, life science, navigation, astronomy, and metaphysics. Called to Berlin by Frederick the Great, Maupertuis moved to Prussia to preside over the Academy of Sciences there. Equally at home in salons, cafés, scientific academies, and royal courts, Maupertuis used his social connections and his printed works to enhance a carefully constructed reputation as both a man of letters and a man of science. His social and institutional affiliations, in turn, affected how Maupertuis formulated his ideas, how he presented them to his contemporaries, and the reactions they provoked. Terrall not only illuminates the life and work of a colorful and important Enlightenment figure, but also uses his story to delve into many wider issues, including the development of scientific institutions, the impact of print culture on science, and the interactions of science and government. Smart and highly readable, Maupertuis will appeal to anyone interested in eighteenth-century science and culture. “Terrall’s work is scholarship in the best sense. Her explanations of arcane 18th-century French physics, mathematics, astronomy, and biology are among the most lucid available in any language.”—Virginia Dawson, American Historical Review Winner of the 2003 Pfizer Award from the History of Science Society

Man on Earth

Man on Earth PDF Author: John Reader
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Culture
Languages : en
Pages : 360

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Book Description


The Earth and Man

The Earth and Man PDF Author: Arnold Guyot
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Human geography
Languages : en
Pages : 358

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Jerome Bixby's The Man from Earth

Jerome Bixby's The Man from Earth PDF Author: Richard Schenkman
Publisher: Samuel French, Inc.
ISBN: 0573663343
Category : College teachers
Languages : en
Pages : 71

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Book Description
Richard Schenkman / 6m, 3f / Drama / Unit Set After history professor John Oldman unexpectedly resigns from the University, his startled colleagues impulsively invite themselves to his home, pressing him for an explanation. But they're shocked to hear his reason for premature retirement: John claims he must move on because he is immortal, and cannot stay in one place for more than ten years without his secret being discovered. Tempers rise and emotions flow as John's fellow professors attem

Man and the Earth

Man and the Earth PDF Author: Nathaniel Southgate Shaler
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Earth
Languages : en
Pages : 264

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Heaven, Earth, and Man in The Book of Changes

Heaven, Earth, and Man in The Book of Changes PDF Author: Hellmut Wilhelm
Publisher: UBS Publishers' Distributors
ISBN: 9780295956923
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 252

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Book Description
The Book of Changes [I Ching or Chou I] was the first of the Five Confucian Classics and served as the wellspring of both Confucian and Taoist thought. Following in the tradition of his father, Richard Wilhelm, who made the best known and most respected translation of the I Ching, Hellmut Wilhelm came to be regarded as a preeminent authority on the Book of Changes. In these seven lectures, he carried forward his inquiry into its significance, both as a manual of divination and as a work of philosophy.

The Man Who Fell to Earth

The Man Who Fell to Earth PDF Author: Walter Tevis
Publisher: Vintage
ISBN: 0593467477
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
From the bestselling author of The Queen's Gambit, the landmark science fiction novel that inspired the classic 1976 film starring David Bowie and is the basis for the Showtime series A man wanders into town one day seemingly out of nowhere. He starts by peddling valuables just to get by. But he possesses uncanny scientific knowledge, which he uses to develop technologies of a marvelous nature. In time he builds a corporate empire that propels him to unimaginable wealth—but to what end? His rapid ascent to the highest levels of success is remarkable, but the vision of his enterprise begins to falter as he succumbs to afflictions that feel all-too-human, and the true purpose of his presence here on earth is in grave danger of being abandoned.

Sun, Earth, Man

Sun, Earth, Man PDF Author: Theodor Landscheidt
Publisher:
ISBN: 9781871989007
Category : Astrology
Languages : en
Pages : 112

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Book Description


The Man Who Rocked the Earth

The Man Who Rocked the Earth PDF Author: Arthur Cheney Train
Publisher: 1st World Publishing
ISBN: 1421824655
Category : Literary Collections
Languages : en
Pages : 158

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Book Description
It was three minutes past three postmeridian in the operating room of the new Wireless Station recently installed at the United States Naval Observatory at Georgetown. Bill Hood, the afternoon operator, was sitting in his shirt sleeves with his receivers

The Origin and History of the English Language and of the Early Literature it Embodies

The Origin and History of the English Language and of the Early Literature it Embodies PDF Author: George Perkins Marsh
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : English language
Languages : en
Pages : 620

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Book Description