From Galileo to Gell-Mann

by Bersanelli, Marco

• ISBN13: 9781599473406
• ISBN10: 1599473402
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2009-09-15
• Publisher: Templeton Foundation Pr

Summary

Scientists are very often astonished by what the study of nature can reveal and many of the worlds greatest scientists have expressed this astonishment in their books or papers, but very often these reflections are hidden inside thousands of pages. In this handome volume, Bersanelli and Gargantini have collected these expressions of wonder from the most acclaimed scientists of the present and of the past. They also provide commentary and offer context.

Author Biography

Marco Bersanelli is professor of astrophysics at the University of Milan. He has worked as a visiting scholar at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, University of California and is a member of the science team of the Planck Surveyor Space Mission, the European Space Agency project to study the early universe. He is also president of EURESIS, a scientific and cultural association promoting interdisciplinary dialogue on frontier topics in science.

Mario Gargantini is an electronic engineer, a scientific journalist, and the director of Emmeciquadro, a journal on science teaching. He was also a high school physics teacher for twenty years. He has authored several books and essays on science and religion, history of science, and education; he has also been curator of a dozen of scientific exhibitions. In 1987 he won the Glaxo Award and in 1990 he won the Federchimica Award, both for science communication.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. ix
Introduction	p. xiii
Wonder	p. 3
Wonder and Reality	p. 5
Wonder and Beauty	p. 9
Wonder and Contemplation	p. 16
Wonder and Curiosity	p. 21
Wonder and Knowledge	p. 26
Wonder and Joy	p. 31
Wonder and Observation	p. 32
Observation	p. 33
Observation and Affection	p. 36
Observation and Preconception	p. 42
Observation and Realism	p. 49
Observation and Question	p. 53
Observation and Experiment	p. 57
Experiment	p. 61
Experiment and Nature	p. 63
Experiment and Method	p. 70
Experiment and Attention	p. 78
Experiment and Discovery	p. 85
Discovery	p. 89
Discovery and Event	p. 92
Discovery and Innovation	p. 99
Discovery and Imagination	p. 104
Discovery and Intuition	p. 109
Discovery and Company	p. 114
Discovery and the Unforeseen	p. 119
Discovery and Gratitude	p. 127
Discovery and Certainty	p. 130
Certainty	p. 135
Certainty and Reality	p. 138
Certainty and Patience	p. 145
Certainty and Limits	p. 146
Certainty and Impossibility	p. 151
Certainty and Knowability	p. 154
Certainty and Person	p. 158
Certainty and Sign	p. 162
Sign	p. 167
Sign and Knowledge	p. 171
Sign and Chance	p. 181
Sign and Origin	p. 188
Sign and Mystery	p. 195
Sign and Design	p. 199
Sign and Purpose	p. 209
Purpose	p. 211
Purpose and Responsibility	p. 214
Purpose and Harmony	p. 227
Purpose and Religion	p. 234
Purpose and Morality	p. 239
Purpose and Faith	p. 243
Purpose and Praise	p. 248
Acknowledgments	p. 251
Biographical Notes	p. 255
Glossary	p. 289
Notes	p. 303
Index	p. 313
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.

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