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But this sunny confidence did not last long. One annoying problem was that the radiation emitted by atoms proved increasingly difficult to reduce to known mechanical principles. More importantly, physics found itself relying more and more upon the hypothetical properties of a substance, the ether, that stubbornly eluded detection. Within a span of 10 short years, roughly 1895–1905, these and related problems came to a head and wrecked the mechanistic system the 19th century had so laboriously built. The discovery of X rays and radioactivity revealed an unexpected new complexity in the structure of atoms. Max Planck’s solution to the problem of thermal radiation introduced a discontinuity into the concept of energy that was inexplicable in terms of classical thermodynamics. Most disturbing of all, the enunciation of the special theory of relativity by Albert Einstein in 1905 not only destroyed the ether and all the physics that depended on it but also redefined physics as the study of relations between observers and events, rather than of the events themselves. What was observed, and therefore what happened, was now said to be a function of the observer’s location and motion relative to other events. Absolute space was a fiction. The very foundations of physics threatened to crumble.

This modern revolution in physics has not yet been fully assimilated by historians of science. Suffice it to say that scientists managed to come to terms with all of the upsetting results of early 20th-century physics but in ways that made the new physics utterly different from the old. Mechanical models were no longer acceptable, because there were processes (like light) for which no consistent model could be constructed. No longer could physicists speak with confidence of physical reality, but only of the probability of making certain measurements.

All this being said, there is still no doubt that science in the 20th century worked wonders. The new physics—relativity, quantum mechanics, particle physics—may have outraged common sense, but it enabled physicists to probe to the very limits of physical reality. Their instruments and mathematics permitted modern scientists to manipulate subatomic particles with relative ease, to reconstruct the first moment of creation, and to dimly glimpse the grand structure and ultimate fate of the universe. The 21st century

In the 21st century the revolution in physics spilled over into chemistry and biology and led to hitherto undreamed-of capabilities for the manipulation of atoms and molecules and of cells and their genetic structures. Chemists perform molecular tailoring today as a matter of course, cutting and shaping molecules at will. Genetic engineering and the subsequent development of gene editing, a highly accurate and efficient means of altering DNA, made possible active human intervention in the evolutionary process and held out the possibility of tailoring living organisms, including the human organism, to specific tasks. This second scientific revolution may prove to be, for good or ill, one of the most important events in the history of humankind. L. Pearce Williams

Citation Information

Article Title: History of science

Website Name: Encyclopaedia Britannica

Publisher: Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.

Date Published: 30 November 2018

URL: https://www.britannica.com/science/history-of-science

Access Date: August 26, 2019

Additional Reading General works

George Sarton, A History of Science, 2 vol. (1952–59, reissued 1993), and Introduction to the History of Science, 3 vol. in 5 (1927–48, reprinted 1975), embody the legacy of this founder of the discipline of the history of science. Though more philosophical in tone, the immensely influential work by Thomas Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, 3rd ed. (1996), is essential reading for the student of the history of science. Of several surveys of the entire field, J.D. Bernal, Science in History, new ed., 4 vol. (1969, reissued 1979), although Marxist-inflected, is the most easily accessible and useful—vol. 1 and 2 are the strongest. David C. Lindberg, The Beginnings of Western Science (1992), is the best recent overview of Western science to 1400, with a thorough bibliography. Joseph Needham et al., Science and Civilisation in China (1954– ), is the indispensable history of Chinese science and technology; Colin Ronan, The Shorter Science and Civilisation in China (1980– ), is an abridgment.

General studies of specific fields include Dirk J. Struik, A Concise History of Mathematics, 4th rev. ed. (1987); Dirk J. Struik (ed.), A Source Book in Mathematics, 1200–1800 (1969, reprinted 1986); on astronomy, Timothy Ferris, Coming of Age in the Milky Way (1988); and John North, The Fontana History of Astronomy and Cosmology (also published as The Norton History of Astronomy and Cosmology, 1994); Peter J. Bowler, The Fontana History of the Environmental Sciences (1992; also published as The Norton History of the Environmental Sciences, 1993), a history of biological and ecological thought; and William H. Brock, The Fontana History of Chemistry (1992; also published as The Norton History of Chemistry, 1993). The relationship between science and religion is surveyed in John Hedley Brooke, Science and Religion: Some Historical Perspectives (1991); and David C. Lindberg and Ronald L. Numbers (eds.), God and Nature (1986), a valuable collection of historical essays.

Charles Coulton Gillispie (ed.), Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 16 vol. (1970–80), is the definitive biographical reference source for the field. Roy Porter (ed.), The Biographical Dictionary of Scientists, 2nd ed. (1994), offers briefer biographies. A series of annotated bibliographies of literature on the history of science and technology includes, for example, Gavin Bridson, The History of Natural History (1994); Bernard S. Finn, The History of Electrical Technology (1991); and David F. Channell, The History of Engineering Science (1989). Isis Current Bibliography of the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (annual) surveys the most recent literature.

Ongoing research is reported in a number of journals. Isis (quarterly) is the leading U.S. journal; and Osiris (annual) is also published in the United States; while History of Science (quarterly) and The British Journal for the History of Science (quarterly) are good British journals with wide coverage, bibliographies, and essay reviews. More specialized journals include Historical Studies in the Physical and Biological Sciences (semiannual); Journal of the History of Biology (3/yr.); Journal for the History of Astronomy (quarterly); Ambix (3/yr.), on the history of chemistry and alchemy; Studies in History and Philosophy of Science (quarterly); and Social Studies of Science (quarterly). Ancient and medieval science