History 254 treats the history of scientific thought since Newton. It discusses chemistry from the phlogiston doctrine, through Lavoisier, the atomic theory, conservation of energy and entropy; physics from classical mechanics and the emergence of electricity and magnetism through Maxwell and on to the early quantum theory and relativity; and biology from Linnean taxonomy, the cell theory, Darwinian evolution, to the beginning of molecular biology. Some attention is given also to the history of geology and geophysics including space physics and plate tectonics, and to the quantitative and sociometric study of science growth in "Big Science." |