Review of
From
Euclid to Eddington: A Study of Conceptions of the External World,
by Sir Edmund Whittaker, Cambridge University Press, 1949. 212 pp. (hardbound).
Out of print and no ISBN.
This book is a
lesson in the history of physics, from the origin of Euclidean geometry and the
sum of the angles of a triangle being 180 degrees to the state of quantum
mechanics and general relativity in the late 1940s. This journey includes an
alteration of the perceived structure of space, matter and how they interact.
There have been
many changes in many areas of human understanding of the natural world since Euclid
codified the state of geometry, none more so than that of physics. The books of
Euclid can still be used as textbooks in basic geometry, yet the explanations
of the physical laws that govern the universe that existed in the time of
Euclid are useless in the modern practice of explaining the world.
If you are
interested in the development of physics and how the human understanding of the
universe has evolved over time, then this is a book that you will find
interesting and informative. It is an amazing intellectual journey.
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