Helmholtz: A Life in Science

David Cahan

Buch

Helmholtz

A Life in Science

David Cahan

Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlicht/Copyright: 2018

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Hermann von Helmholtz was a towering figure of nineteenth-century scientific and intellectual life. Best known for his achievements in physiology and physics, he also contributed to other disciplines such as ophthalmology, psychology, mathematics, chemical thermodynamics, and meteorology. With Helmholtz: A Life in Science, David Cahan has written a definitive biography, one that brings to light the dynamic relationship between Helmholtz’s private life, his professional pursuits, and the larger world in which he lived.

Utilizing all of Helmholtz’s scientific and philosophical writings, as well as previously unknown letters, this book reveals the forces that drove his life—a passion to unite the sciences, vigilant attention to the sources and methods of knowledge, and a deep appreciation of the ways in which the arts and sciences could benefit each other. By placing the overall structure and development of his scientific work and philosophy within the greater context of nineteenth-century Germany, Helmholtz also serves as cultural biography of the construction of the scientific community: its laboratories, institutes, journals, disciplinary organizations, and national and international meetings. Helmholtz’s life is a shining example of what can happen when the sciences and the humanities become interwoven in the life of one highly motivated, energetic, and gifted person.

Information zu Autoren / Herausgebern

David Cahan is the Charles Bessey Professor of History at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. He is the editor of both Hermann von Helmholtz’s Science and Culture: Popular and Philosophical Essays and From Natural Philosophy to the Sciences: Writing the History of Nineteenth-Century Science, both published by the University of Chicago Press.

Rezensionen

“By far the most in-depth, culturally situated, and well written analysis of Helmholtz to date—no one knows Helmholtz as well or as thoroughly as David Cahan.”

— Frederick Gregory, University of Florida

“David Cahan has written a masterful biography whose implicit argument is to present Hermann von Helmholtz as a grand unifier. He does this by following the thread of culture that bound together the life, work, and context of his subject. Given the centrifugal tendencies in each of these realms—the ultimate dissolution of a shared German identity, the increasing specialization of scientific research, and the modern fracture of the self, Cahan’s achievement is impressive. By bringing so many disparate sources and topics into coherence, Helmholtz mirrors the very figure it portrays.”

— Gabriel Finkelstein, History, University of Colorado Denver

"The new standard for all Helmholtz scholars, a comprehensive guide and crucial resource for historians, philosophers or sociologists interested in this scientific luminary."

— Henning Schmidgen, Nature

"A magisterial biography of one of the last of the great polymaths."

— Barbara Kiser, Nature

"To produce a definitive biography of a protean figure like Helmholtz is a major scholarly achievement, and that is what [Cahan] has accomplished. . . . The treatment is richly detailed, judicious, quietly conservative, and eminently readable. . . . Good biographies paint pictures of individual lives, and Cahan does that vividly . . . . To read David Cahan's biography is to be drawn into meditation about the ironies of scientific fame and the varieties of scientific creativity."

— R. Steven Turner, H-Net Reviews

"Encyclopedic. . . . Cahan's presentation is lucid, patient, and detailed, with frequent backtracks to view material from multiple perspectives. . . . Helmholtz is an excellent, in-depth examination of one of 19th-century Europe’s most influential scientists. . . . Recommended."

— CHOICE

“An admirably detailed and engaging book. . . . Cahan deserves great praise for having given us a comprehensive biography that will be of enduring value and the greatest interest for anyone concerned with science and human history.”

— Wall Street Journal

"David Cahan has just delivered a book that, based on thirty years of work and on archives only recently made available and dispersed throughout the entire world, should long remain the best and most complete biography of the savant [Hermann von Helmholtz]."

— Michel André, Books

"A magnum opus."

— Deborah R. Coen, Times Literary Supplement

"It is without a doubt a masterpiece."

— Helge Kragh, Metascience

"Doesn't leave much out."

— New York Review of Books

"Cahan has prepared the work of a career, collecting what must be nearly every known detail about the life of the German scientist and intellectual . . . . He seemingly effortlessly weaves together Helmholtz’s family life, education, academic positions, organizational and political involvements, roles in establishing and administrating institutions, and efforts to popularize recent developments in science. . . . Cahan’s use of evidence—which is drawn from a dazzling array of published and manuscript primary sources—is appropriate, sufficient, representative, and faithful. . . . Well worth the time required to read it."

— Mathematical Association of America

"A monumental study that draws together a vast archive of primary sources and scholarship to show the many threads—intellectual, ethical, historical and personal—that cohered in this remarkable nineteenth-century life in science. . . . Cahan’s volume magisterially restores Helmholtz’s rich historical legacy."

— German History

"Cahan not only avoids the pitfall of hero worship, but he makes his biography relevant to anyone interested in nineteenth-century science. What impressed me most is how Cahan gives us an insight into the nineteenth-century scientific community through the eyes of Helmholtz and his contemporaries. Time and again we see the importance of maintaining local, national and international networks."

— Stadium

"The first full-length biography of Helmholtz in more than a hundred years. . . . a major contribution to both the history of science and nineteenth-century European history. . ."

— Isis

"This book shows the potential impact of biographical representations on modern scientific-historical research. Based on the analysis of extensive and complex scientific work... Cahan presents Helmholtz's scientific achievements in the cultural, social and political contexts of his time. Science and life are thus... presented as part of a reciprocal network of relationships that shows the social and political relevance of modern science."

— Physik Journal

Fachgebiete

Allgemein

Frontmatter Öffentlich zugänglich PDF downloaden	i
Contents Öffentlich zugänglich PDF downloaden	vii
Introduction Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	1
PART I The Making of a Scientist
1 The Boy from Potsdam Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	13
2 At the Gymnasium: Father and Son Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	25
3 Becoming a Medical Doctor Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	39
4 Undiscovered Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	55
PART II Gaining Scientific Renown
5 Scientific Networking Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	85
6 In the Private and the Public Eye Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	117
7 The New Dispensation Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	149
8 Unhappy Intermezzo in Bonn Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	171
9 The Turning Point Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	209
10 The New Angel Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	225
11 The Relations of Science Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	243
12 The Relations of Music Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	261
13 Popularizing Science in Britain and Germany Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	291
14 Learning to See the World Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	315
15 Almost a Professor of Physics Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	347
16 The Road to Berlin Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	381
PART III Scientific Grandee
17 In the Capital of Geist Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	411
18 The Burdens of Building Physics Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	429
19 Among the Elite Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	467
20 Kulturkampf in Science, I Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	491
21 Kulturkampf in Science, II Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	513
22 Anti-Helmholtz, Again Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	549
23 In the Scientific Capitals of Europe Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	567
24 Institutional Brilliance Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	599
25 Celebrations Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	631
26 Doyen Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	645
27 Science, Art, and Standards Business Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	675
28 Charismatic Leader Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	687
29 Atlantic Crossings Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	703
Epilogue: Helmholtz in Modern German Memory Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	735
Acknowledgments Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	765
Abbreviations Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	769
Notes Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	773
References Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	853
Index Erfordert eine Authentifizierung Nicht lizenziert Lizenziert	917

Informationen zur Veröffentlichung

Seiten und Bilder/Illustrationen im Buch

eBook veröffentlicht am:

11. September 2018

eBook ISBN:

9780226549163

Seiten und Bilder/Illustrationen im Buch

Inhalt:

944

Weitere:

40 halftones

https://doi.org/10.7208/9780226549163

eBook ISBN: 9780226549163

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Professional and scholarly;

Helmholtz

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