Science and Human Destiny by Norman F. Dessel, Richard B. Nehrich, Jr., G. I. Voran (review)

Books 257 Science and Human Destiny. Norman F. Dessel, Richard B. Nehrich, Jr. and G. I. Voran. McGraw-Hill, New York, 1973. 318 pp., illus. Reviewed by James A. Goldman* Despite its title, rather than a philosophical treatise, this is a textbook presenting a realistic approach to the study of science. Emphasis throughout is on the portrayal of science as fundamentally a human activity that takes place in a cultural-historical framework. The 16chapters comprise essentially two major sections, the first of which deals with the historical development of models and paradigms of physical science, that is, classical physics from Aristotle through the emergence of the germinal concepts of quantum mechanics at the end of the 19th century. Some pages are devoted to brief but interesting accounts of ancient technology, Stonehenge and the Mayan calendar. Particularly from the time of ancient Greece, science is seen as a methodology that constructs models that are rational attempts to explain aspects of nature. Included within this methodology is the development of experimental means to test the accuracy of the models. Science is not always the source of technology. In fact, scientific progress is often dependent upon new technological developments, for example, the use of lasers in investigating the fundamental molecular processes in gas-phase reactions. Increasingly, however, technological innovation derives from new results of scientific research. Much of the origin of science as well as its development has heen related to the tension between its perspectives and those of prevailing religious attitudes in a society. That the paradigm of duality, a major theme of modern quantum mechanics, is not a new one is noted by reference to Aristotelian and Lucretian models of nature. Aristotelian concepts of nature were partially incorporated into Christian theology in the 13th century by Thomas Aquinas and persisted until the time of Copernicus. Over the millennia scientific inquiry was not the mode of intellectual thought and the apparent certainties of religion or even of superstition were relied upon. Somewhat ironically, however, a totality of order in nature was perceived. The growth of science since the 17th century has resulted in a divergence of the so-called humanities from the sciences. Now, particularly under the influence of the increasing emphasis in biology on holistic concepts, there is an attempt to reunite them. With respect to the relationship between religion and science, recently (in Science, Scientists, and Society, William Beranek, Jr., ed. (New York: Bogden & Quigley, 1972)) the chemist George Hammond speculated that the development of science in the Western world may be related to the fact that Western culture has been characterized largely by the acceptance of fairly rigid and comparatively definitive paradigms, for example, the concept of a single deity. The first section of Science and Human Destiny provides a judicious summary of the history of modern science, with accounts of the ideas of major figures such as Copernicus , Kepler, Galileo, Newton, Huygens, Maxwell, Hertz and Millikan. Introduced are the fundamentals (including simple equations) of mechanics, magnetism, optics and electricity. At the end of each of these chapters are simple numerical problems. Comparatively recent subjects of inquiry are also discussed, for example, holograms, quarks, quasars and tectonic plate theory in geology. A fundamental theme of the second section is the development of quantum mechanics, which derived in large part from a fuller understanding of electromagnetic radiation. Although the wave-particle duality theme is extensively discussed, unfortunately no mention is made of Bohr, Heisenberg and de Broglie. This is particularly disturbing in a book that is so strongly concerned with themes in science (cf. T. S. Kuhn, Structure of Scientific *Division of Continuing Education, New York City Community College of the City University of New York, Brooklyn, New York, U.S.A. Revolutions (Chicago: Univ. Chicago Press, 1970), G. Holton, Thematic Origins of Scientific Thought: Kepler to Einstein (Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard Univ. Press, 1974) and L. Feuer, Einstein and the Generations of Science (New York: Basic Books, 1974)). Further chapters deal with astronomy and cosmology, energy, electronics and ecology. I find that a well-balanced perspective of modern science is presented in the book that will be of value to those readers of Leonard0 with little scientific background. Visual and...