# kb

id: big-science-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_science-1.md
category: reference
title: Big science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:38.290489+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: big-science-20260505-0
summary:
When history looks at the 20th century, she will see science and technology as its theme; she will find in the monuments of Big Science—the huge rockets, the high-energy accelerators, the high-flux research reactors—symbols of our time just as surely as she finds in Notre Dame a symbol of the Middle Ages. ... We build our monuments in the name of scientific truth, they built theirs in the name of religious truth; we use our Big Science to add to our country's prestige, they used their churches for their cities' prestige; we build to placate what ex-President Eisenhower suggested could become a dominant scientific caste, they built to please the priests of Isis and Osiris. Weinberg's article addressed criticisms of the way in which the era of Big Science could negatively affect science — such as astronomer Fred Hoyle's contention that excessive money for science would only make science fat and lazy — and encouraged, in the end, limiting Big Science only to the national laboratory system and preventing its incursion into the university system. Since Weinberg's article there have been many historical and sociological studies on the effects of Big Science both in and out of the laboratory. Soon


id: book-of-nature-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Nature-0.md
category: reference
title: Book of Nature
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Nature
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:39.495700+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: book-of-nature-20260505-0
summary:
The Book of Nature (Lat. liber naturae/liber mundi, Ar. kitāb takwīnī) is a religious and philosophical cosmological metaphor known from Antiquity in various cultures, and prominent in the Latin and Romance literature of the European Middle Ages. The idea of a cosmos formed by letters is already found in the fragments of Heraclitus, where it relates to the Greek concept of logos, in Plato’s Timaeus, and in Lucretius’ De rerum natura. The metaphor of the Book of Nature straddles the divide between religion and science, viewing nature as a readable text open to knowledge and understanding. Early theologians, such as St. Paul, believed the Book of Nature was a source of God's revelation to humankind. He believed that when read alongside sacred scripture, the "book" and the study of God's creations would lead to a knowledge of God himself. This type of revelation is often referred to as a general revelation. The concept corresponds to the early Greek philosophical concept of logos, which implies that humans, as part of a coherent universe, are capable of understanding the design of the natural world through reason. The phrase liber naturae was famously used by Galileo when writing about how "the book of


id: book-of-nature-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Nature-1.md
category: reference
title: Book of Nature
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Nature
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:39.495700+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: book-of-nature-20260505-0
summary:
== Christianity and Greek culture == The Greeks constructed a view of the natural world in which all references to mythological origins and causes were removed. Greek philosophers inadvertently left the upper world vacant by abandoning ancient ties to free-acting, conspiring gods of nature. The new philosophy of nature made unseen mythological forces irrelevant. While some philosophers drifted toward atheism, others worked within the new philosophy to reconstitute the concept of a divine being. Consequently, the new outlook toward the natural world inspired the belief in one supreme force compatible with the new philosophy—in other words, monotheistic. However, the path from nature to rediscovering a divine being was uncertain. The belief in causality in nature implied an endless, interconnected chain of causation acting upon the natural world. It is presumed, however, that Greek thought denied the existence of a natural world where causality was infinite, which gave rise to the notion of "first cause", upon which the order of other causes must rely. The first contact between Christianity and Greek culture occurred in Athens in the first century CE. The Christian Scriptures note that within a few years of Christ’s crucifixion, Paul and Silas were debating with Epicureans and Stoics


id: book-of-nature-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Nature-2.md
category: reference
title: Book of Nature
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Book_of_Nature
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:39.495700+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: book-of-nature-20260505-0
summary:
From a single print shop in Mainz, Germany around 1440, the movable type printing-press had spread to no less than around 270 cities in Central, Western and Eastern Europe and had already produced more than 20 million volumes by the end of the 15th century. At the same time, the number of universities had grown to more than 60. By revealing a "New World" unknown to the ancients, the European encounter with the Americas specifically undermined the authority of Claudius Ptolemy, the 2nd-century scholar whose geographic and astronomical models had long been considered infallible. Tycho Brahe's unprecedentedly accurate astronomical observations in the late 16th century and Galileo Galilei’s early 17th-century telescopic observations combined to turn astronomy into the first modern science. Galileo's observations ended a millenium of pre-modern astronomical orthodoxy. Johannes Kepler used Brahe's data to discover that planets have elliptical, not circular, orbits and develop the laws of planetary motion. Because of Kepler, astronomical phenomena came to be seen as being governed by physical laws, a kind of clockwork. Ancient texts and doctrines were disputed, knowledge of the natural world was incomplete, interpretation of Christian Scripture was challenged, and Greek philosophy—which helped draft the Book of Nature—and Christian Scripture


id: bridgewater-treatises-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgewater_Treatises-0.md
category: reference
title: Bridgewater Treatises
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgewater_Treatises
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:40.779771+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bridgewater-treatises-20260505-0
summary:
The Bridgewater Treatises (1833–36) are a series of eight works that were written by leading scientific figures appointed by the President of the Royal Society in fulfilment of a bequest of £8000, made by Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater, for work on "the Power, Wisdom, and Goodness of God, as manifested in the Creation." Despite being voluminous and costly, the series was very widely read and discussed, becoming one of the most important contributions to Victorian literature on the relationship between religion and science. They made such an impact that Charles Darwin began On the Origin of Species with a quotation from the Bridgewater Treatise of William Whewell. == The Bridgewater Bequest == Before unexpectedly becoming the 8th Earl of Bridgewater in 1823, Francis Henry Egerton spent most of his life as an absentee parson. He published works of classical scholarship and issued others praising the historical achievements of his family, including those of his father's cousin, Francis Egerton, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, the "father of British inland navigation." In 1781, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society; after 1802 he lived mostly in Paris, where he amassed a collection of manuscripts later donated to the


id: bridgewater-treatises-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgewater_Treatises-1.md
category: reference
title: Bridgewater Treatises
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgewater_Treatises
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:40.779771+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bridgewater-treatises-20260505-0
summary:
=== Medical practitioners: Kidd and Bell, Roget and Prout === The two medical professors John Kidd and Charles Bell wrote shorter and theologically lightweight contributions. Kidd's work, on the "physical constitution of man," was claimed to be "but a moderate thousand pounds worth," Like Bell, whose limited subject was "the hand," Kidd set out to show that modern developments in anatomy did not support either materialism or the transmutation of species, instead confirming belief in the reality of divine design. The two other medical authors, Peter Mark Roget and William Prout, wrote lengthier contributions considering how the emergence of physiological laws enhanced the belief in divine design, rather than diminishing it. In his treatise on "animal and vegetable physiology," Roget argued that the laws of "philosophical anatomy" provided a grander vision of divine action. Prout's rag-bag treatise on "chemistry, meteorology, and the function of digestion" was more ambivalent, arguing that God's action was strikingly evident in the laws of chemical action, but also that many phenomena seemed to subvert the general laws. === The Bible and science: Kirby and Buckland === The final two treatises, those of William Kirby and William Buckland, both addressed the relationship of the Bible to


id: bridgewater-treatises-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgewater_Treatises-2.md
category: reference
title: Bridgewater Treatises
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bridgewater_Treatises
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:40.779771+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: bridgewater-treatises-20260505-0
summary:
== Further reading == Addinall, Peter (1991). Philosophy and Biblical Interpretation: A Study in Nineteenth-Century Conflict. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Alexander, Denis R.; Numbers, Ronald L. (2010). Biology and Ideology from Descartes to Dawkins. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-60842-6. "Authors of the Bridgewater Treatises (act. c. 1833–1836)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/96360. Retrieved 2022-09-12. Brock, W. H. (1966). "The Selection of the Authors of the Bridgewater Treatises". Notes and Records of the Royal Society of London. 21 (2): 162–179. ISSN 0035-9149. Clark, John F. M. (2009). Bugs and the Victorians. Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-15091-9. Desmond, Adrian. The Politics of Evolution: Morphology, Medicine, and Reform in Radical London. University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-14453-5. Gillispie, Charles Coulston (1996). Genesis and Geology: A Study in the Relations of Scientific Thought, Natural Theology, and Social Opinion in Great Britain, 1790-1850. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-34481-5. Hilton, Boyd (1988). The Age of Atonement: The Influence of Evangelicalism on Social and Economic Thought, 1795-1865. Clarendon Press. ISBN 978-0-19-820107-6. Rehbock, Philip F. (1983). The Philosophical Naturalists: Themes in Early Nineteenth-century British Biology. University of Wisconsin Press. ISBN 978-0-299-09430-0. Robson, John M. "The Fiat and Finger of God: The Bridgewater Treatises". In Helmstadter, Richard


id: charles-babbage-s-saturday-night-soir-es-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage's_Saturday_night_soirées-0.md
category: reference
title: Charles Babbage's Saturday night soirées
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Babbage's_Saturday_night_soirées
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:41.921935+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: charles-babbage-s-saturday-night-soir-es-20260505-0
summary:
Charles Babbage's Saturday night soirées were gatherings held by the mathematician and inventor Charles Babbage at his home in Dorset Street, Marylebone, London from 1828 and into the 1840s. The soirées were attended by the cultural elite of the time. == Scientific soirées == Babbage left England when his wife and father died in 1827. On his return in 1828, now in possession of a considerable inheritance, he began to host Saturday evening parties. The science historian James A. Secord describes the parties as "scientific soirées". Secord writes that Babbage imported the idea from France, and once established, such soirées "became one of the chief ways in which scientific discussion could take place on a more sustained basis within polite society." In her autobiography, the English writer and sociologist Harriet Martineau wrote: "All were eager to go to his glorious soirées and I always thought he appeared to great advantage as a host. His patience in explaining his machine in those days was really exemplary." According to biographers Bruce Collier and James H. MacLachlan, "Babbage was a bon vivant with a love of dining out and socialising. He sparkled as a host and raconteur. His Saturday soirées were glittering events


id: list-of-chemical-elements-named-after-people-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chemical_elements_named_after_people-0.md
category: reference
title: List of chemical elements named after people
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_chemical_elements_named_after_people
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:43.127674+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: list-of-chemical-elements-named-after-people-20260505-0
summary:
This list of chemical elements named after people includes elements named for people both directly and indirectly. Of the 118 elements, 19 are connected with the names of 20 people. 15 elements were named to honor 16 scientists (as curium honours both Marie and Pierre Curie). Four others have indirect connection to the names of non-scientists. Only gadolinium and samarium occur in nature; the rest are man-made. == List == These 19 elements are connected to the names of people. Seaborg and Oganessian were the only living persons honored by having elements named after them; Oganessian is the only one still alive. Names were proposed to honor Einstein and Fermi while they were still alive, but they had both died by the time those names became official. The four elements associated with non-scientists were not named in their honor but named for something else bearing their name: samarium for the mineral samarskite from which it was isolated; and americium, berkelium and livermorium after places named for them. The cities of Berkeley, California and Livermore, California are the locations of the University of California Radiation Laboratory and Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, respectively. Six elements have only an indirect namesake: samarium, gadolinium,


id: history-of-chemistry-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry-0.md
category: reference
title: History of chemistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:44.469272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-chemistry-20260505-0
summary:
The history of chemistry represents a time span from ancient history to the present. By 1000 BC, civilizations used technologies that would eventually form the basis of the various branches of chemistry. Examples include the discovery of fire, extracting metals from ores, making pottery and glazes, fermenting beer and wine, extracting chemicals from plants for medicine and perfume, rendering fat into soap, making glass, and making alloys like bronze. The protoscience of chemistry, alchemy, was unsuccessful in explaining the nature of matter and its transformations. However, by performing experiments and recording the results, alchemists set the stage for modern chemistry. The history of chemistry is intertwined with the history of thermodynamics, especially through the work of Willard Gibbs. == Ancient history == === Early humans === ==== Fire ==== Arguably the first chemical reaction used in a controlled manner was fire. However, for millennia fire was seen simply as a mystical force that could transform one substance into another (burning wood, or boiling water) while producing heat and light. Fire affected many aspects of early societies. These ranged from the simplest facets of everyday life, such as cooking and habitat heating and lighting, to more advanced uses, such as making


id: history-of-chemistry-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry-1.md
category: reference
title: History of chemistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:44.469272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-chemistry-20260505-0
summary:
==== Ferrous metallurgy ==== The extraction of iron from its ore into a workable metal is much more difficult than copper or tin. While iron is not better suited for tools than bronze (until steel was discovered), iron ore is much more abundant and common than either copper or tin, and therefore more often available locally, with no need to trade for it. Iron working appears to have been invented by the Hittites in about 1200 BC, beginning the Iron Age. The secret of extracting and working iron was a key factor in the success of the Philistines. Cast iron smithing as well as the innovation of the Blast Furnace and Cupola furnace was invented in ancient China, during the Warring States period when armies sought to develop better weaponry and armor in state-armories. Many other applications, practices, and devices associated with or involved in metallurgy were also established in ancient China, with the innovations of hydraulic-powered trip hammers, and double-acting piston bellows. The Iron Age is named after the advent of iron working (ferrous metallurgy). Historical developments in ferrous metallurgy can be found in a wide variety of past cultures and civilizations. These include the ancient and medieval kingdoms


id: history-of-chemistry-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry-2.md
category: reference
title: History of chemistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:44.469272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-chemistry-20260505-0
summary:
Alchemy is defined by the Hermetic quest for the philosopher's stone, the study of which is steeped in symbolic mysticism, and differs greatly from modern science. Alchemists toiled to make transformations on an esoteric (spiritual) and/or exoteric (practical) level. It was the protoscientific, exoteric aspects of alchemy that contributed heavily to the evolution of chemistry in Greco-Roman Egypt, in the Islamic Golden Age, and then in Europe. Alchemy and chemistry share an interest in the composition and properties of matter, and until the 18th century they were not separate disciplines. The term chymistry has been used to describe the blend of alchemy and chemistry that existed before that time. During the Renaissance, exoteric alchemy remained popular in the form of Paracelsian iatrochemistry, while spiritual alchemy flourished, realigned to its Platonic, Hermetic, and Gnostic roots. Consequently, the symbolic quest for the philosopher's stone was not superseded by scientific advances, and was still the domain of respected scientists and doctors until the early 18th century. Early modern alchemists who are renowned for their scientific contributions include Jan Baptist van Helmont, Robert Boyle, and Isaac Newton. === Alchemy in the Islamic world === In the Islamic World, the Muslims were translating the works


id: history-of-chemistry-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry-3.md
category: reference
title: History of chemistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:44.469272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-chemistry-20260505-0
summary:
Practical attempts to improve the refining of ores and their extraction to smelt metals was an important source of information for early chemists in the 16th century, among them Georg Agricola (1494–1555), who published his great work De re metallica in 1556. His work describes the highly developed and complex processes of mining metal ores, metal extraction and metallurgy of the time. His approach removed the mysticism associated with the subject, creating the practical base upon which others could build. The work describes the many kinds of furnace used to smelt ore, and stimulated interest in minerals and their composition. It is no coincidence that he gives numerous references to the earlier author, Pliny the Elder and his Naturalis Historia. Agricola has been described as the "father of metallurgy" and the founder of geology as a scientific discipline. In 1605, Sir Francis Bacon published The Proficience and Advancement of Learning, which contains a description of what would later be known as the scientific method. In 1605, Michal Sedziwój publishes the alchemical treatise A New Light of Alchemy which proposed the existence of the "food of life" within air, much later recognized as oxygen. In 1615 Jean Beguin published the Tyrocinium


id: history-of-chemistry-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry-4.md
category: reference
title: History of chemistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:44.469272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-chemistry-20260505-0
summary:
In 1702, German chemist Georg Stahl coined the name "phlogiston" for the substance believed to be released in the process of burning. Around 1735, Swedish chemist Georg Brandt analyzed a dark blue pigment found in copper ore. Brandt demonstrated that the pigment contained a new element, later named cobalt. In 1751, a Swedish chemist and pupil of Stahl's named Axel Fredrik Cronstedt, identified an impurity in copper ore as a separate metallic element, which he named nickel. Cronstedt is one of the founders of modern mineralogy. Cronstedt also discovered the mineral scheelite in 1751, which he named tungsten, meaning "heavy stone" in Swedish. In 1754, Scottish chemist Joseph Black isolated carbon dioxide, which he called "fixed air". In 1757, Louis Claude Cadet de Gassicourt, while investigating arsenic compounds, creates Cadet's fuming liquid, later discovered to be cacodyl oxide, considered to be the first synthetic organometallic compound. In 1758, Joseph Black formulated the concept of latent heat to explain the thermochemistry of phase changes. In 1766, English chemist Henry Cavendish isolated hydrogen, which he called "inflammable air". Cavendish discovered hydrogen as a colorless, odourless gas that burns and can form an explosive mixture with air, and published a paper on the


id: history-of-chemistry-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry-5.md
category: reference
title: History of chemistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:44.469272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-chemistry-20260505-0
summary:
Repeating the experiments of Priestley, he demonstrated that air is composed of two parts, one of which combines with metals to form calxes. In Considérations Générales sur la Nature des Acides (1778), he demonstrated that the "air" responsible for combustion was also the source of acidity. The next year, he named this portion oxygen (Greek for acid-former), and the other azote (Greek for no life). Because of his more thorough characterization of it as an element, Lavoisier thus has a claim to the discovery of oxygen along with Priestley and Scheele. He also discovered that the "inflammable air" discovered by Cavendish – which he termed hydrogen (Greek for water-former) – combined with oxygen to produce a dew, as Priestley had reported, which appeared to be water. In Reflexions sur le Phlogistique (1783), Lavoisier showed the phlogiston theory of combustion to be inconsistent. Mikhail Lomonosov independently established a tradition of chemistry in Russia in the 18th century; he also rejected the phlogiston theory, and anticipated the kinetic theory of gases. Lomonosov regarded heat as a form of motion, and stated the idea of conservation of matter. Lavoisier worked with Claude Louis Berthollet and others to devise a system of chemical nomenclature,


id: history-of-chemistry-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry-6.md
category: reference
title: History of chemistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:44.469272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-chemistry-20260505-0
summary:
== 19th century == Throughout the 19th century, chemistry was divided between those who followed the atomic theory of John Dalton and the energeticists, such as Wilhelm Ostwald and Ernst Mach. Although such proponents of the atomic theory as Amedeo Avogadro and Ludwig Boltzmann made great advances in explaining the behavior of gases, this dispute was not finally settled until Jean Perrin's experimental investigation of Einstein's atomic explanation of Brownian motion in the first decade of the 20th century. Well before the dispute had been settled, many had already applied the concept of atomism to chemistry. A major example was the ion theory of Svante Arrhenius which anticipated ideas about atomic substructure that did not fully develop until the 20th century. Michael Faraday was another early worker, whose major contribution to chemistry was electrochemistry, in which (among other things) a certain quantity of electricity during electrolysis or electrodeposition of metals was shown to be associated with certain quantities of chemical elements, and fixed quantities of the elements therefore with each other, in specific ratios. These findings, like those of Dalton's combining ratios, were early clues to the atomic nature of matter. === John Dalton === In 1803, English meteorologist and


id: history-of-chemistry-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry-7.md
category: reference
title: History of chemistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:44.469272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-chemistry-20260505-0
summary:
=== New elements and gas laws === English chemist Humphry Davy was a pioneer in the field of electrolysis, using Alessandro Volta's voltaic pile to split up common compounds and thus isolate a series of new elements. He went on to electrolyse molten salts and discovered several new metals, especially sodium and potassium, highly reactive elements known as the alkali metals. Potassium, the first metal that was isolated by electrolysis, was discovered in 1807 by Davy, who derived it from caustic potash (KOH). Before the 19th century, no distinction was made between potassium and sodium. Sodium was first isolated by Davy in the same year by passing an electric current through molten sodium hydroxide (NaOH). When Davy heard that Berzelius and Pontin prepared calcium amalgam by electrolyzing lime in mercury, he tried it himself. Davy was successful, and discovered calcium in 1808 by electrolyzing a mixture of lime and mercuric oxide. He worked with electrolysis throughout his life and, in 1808, he isolated magnesium, strontium and barium. Davy also experimented with gases by inhaling them. This experimental procedure nearly proved fatal on several occasions, but led to the discovery of the unusual effects of nitrous oxide, which came to be


id: history-of-chemistry-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry-8.md
category: reference
title: History of chemistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:44.469272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-chemistry-20260505-0
summary:
After Dalton published his atomic theory in 1808, certain of his central ideas were soon adopted by most chemists. However, uncertainty persisted for half a century about how atomic theory was to be configured and applied to concrete situations; chemists in different countries developed several different incompatible atomistic systems. A paper that suggested a way out of this difficult situation was published as early as 1811 by the Italian physicist Amedeo Avogadro (1776–1856), who hypothesized that equal volumes of gases at the same temperature and pressure contain equal numbers of molecules, from which it followed that relative molecular weights of any two gases are the same as the ratio of the densities of the two gases under the same conditions of temperature and pressure. Avogadro also reasoned that simple gases were not formed of solitary atoms but were instead compound molecules of two or more atoms. Thus Avogadro was able to overcome the difficulty that Dalton and others had encountered when Gay-Lussac reported that above 100 °C the volume of water vapor was twice the volume of the oxygen used to form it. According to Avogadro, the molecule of oxygen had split into two atoms in the course of forming


id: history-of-chemistry-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry-9.md
category: reference
title: History of chemistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:44.469272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-chemistry-20260505-0
summary:
=== Mid-1800s === In 1840, Germain Hess proposed Hess's law, an early statement of the law of conservation of energy, which establishes that energy changes in a chemical process depend only on the states of the starting and product materials and not on the specific pathway taken between the two states. In 1847, Hermann Kolbe obtained acetic acid from completely inorganic sources, further disproving vitalism. In 1848, William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin (commonly known as Lord Kelvin) established the concept of absolute zero, the temperature at which all molecular motion ceases. In 1849, Louis Pasteur discovered that the racemic form of tartaric acid is a mixture of the levorotatory and dextrotatory forms, thus clarifying the nature of optical rotation and advancing the field of stereochemistry. In 1852, August Beer proposed Beer's law, which explains the relationship between the composition of a mixture and the amount of light it will absorb. Based partly on earlier work by Pierre Bouguer and Johann Heinrich Lambert, it established the analytical technique known as spectrophotometry. In 1855, Benjamin Silliman, Jr. pioneered methods of petroleum cracking, which made the entire modern petrochemical industry possible. Avogadro's hypothesis began to gain broad appeal among chemists only after his


id: history-of-chemistry-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry-10.md
category: reference
title: History of chemistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:44.469272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-chemistry-20260505-0
summary:
British chemist and physicist William Crookes is noted for his cathode ray studies, fundamental in the development of atomic physics. His researches on electrical discharges through a rarefied gas led him to observe the dark space around the cathode, now called the Crookes dark space. He demonstrated that cathode rays travel in straight lines and produce phosphorescence and heat when they strike certain materials. A pioneer of vacuum tubes, Crookes invented the Crookes tube – an early experimental discharge tube, with partial vacuum with which he studied the behavior of cathode rays. With the introduction of spectrum analysis by Robert Bunsen and Gustav Kirchhoff (1859–1860), Crookes applied the new technique to the study of selenium compounds. Bunsen and Kirchhoff had previously used spectroscopy as a means of chemical analysis to discover caesium and rubidium. In 1861, Crookes used this process to discover thallium in some seleniferous deposits. He continued work on that new element, isolated it, studied its properties, and in 1873 determined its atomic weight. During his studies of thallium, Crookes discovered the principle of the Crookes radiometer, a device that converts light radiation into rotary motion. The principle of this radiometer has found numerous applications in the development


id: history-of-chemistry-20260505-11
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry-11.md
category: reference
title: History of chemistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:44.469272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-chemistry-20260505-0
summary:
An important breakthrough in making sense of the list of known chemical elements (as well as in understanding the internal structure of atoms) was Dmitri Mendeleev's development of the first modern periodic table, or the periodic classification of the elements. Mendeleev, a Russian chemist, felt that there was some type of order to the elements and he spent more than thirteen years of his life collecting data and assembling the concept, initially with the idea of resolving some of the disorder in the field for his students. Mendeleev found that, when all the known chemical elements were arranged in order of increasing atomic weight, the resulting table displayed a recurring pattern, or periodicity, of properties within groups of elements. Mendeleev's law allowed him to build up a systematic periodic table of all the 66 elements then known based on atomic mass, which he published in Principles of Chemistry in 1869. His first Periodic Table was compiled on the basis of arranging the elements in ascending order of atomic weight and grouping them by similarity of properties. Mendeleev had such faith in the validity of the periodic law that he proposed changes to the generally accepted values for the atomic weight


id: history-of-chemistry-20260505-12
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry-12.md
category: reference
title: History of chemistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:44.469272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-chemistry-20260505-0
summary:
American mathematical physicist J. Willard Gibbs's work on the applications of thermodynamics was instrumental in transforming physical chemistry into a rigorous deductive science. During the years from 1876 to 1878, Gibbs worked on the principles of thermodynamics, applying them to the complex processes involved in chemical reactions. He discovered the concept of chemical potential, or the "fuel" that makes chemical reactions work. In 1876 he published his most famous contribution, "On the Equilibrium of Heterogeneous Substances", a compilation of his work on thermodynamics and physical chemistry which laid out the concept of free energy to explain the physical basis of chemical equilibria. In these essays were the beginnings of Gibbs' theories of phases of matter: he considered each state of matter a phase, and each substance a component. Gibbs took all of the variables involved in a chemical reaction – temperature, pressure, energy, volume, and entropy – and included them in one simple equation known as Gibbs' phase rule. Within this paper was perhaps his most outstanding contribution, the introduction of the concept of free energy, now universally called Gibbs free energy in his honor. The Gibbs free energy relates the tendency of a physical or chemical system to simultaneously


id: history-of-chemistry-20260505-13
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry-13.md
category: reference
title: History of chemistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:44.469272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-chemistry-20260505-0
summary:
German engineer Carl von Linde's invention of a continuous process of liquefying gases in large quantities formed a basis for the modern technology of refrigeration and provided both impetus and means for conducting scientific research at low temperatures and very high vacuums. He developed a dimethyl ether refrigerator (1874) and an ammonia refrigerator (1876). Though other refrigeration units had been developed earlier, Linde's were the first to be designed with the aim of precise calculations of efficiency. In 1895 he set up a large-scale plant for the production of liquid air. Six years later he developed a method for separating pure liquid oxygen from liquid air that resulted in widespread industrial conversion to processes utilizing oxygen (e.g., in steel manufacture). He founded the Linde plc, the world's largest industrial gas company by market share and revenue. In 1883, Svante Arrhenius developed an ion theory to explain conductivity in electrolytes. In 1884, Jacobus Henricus van 't Hoff published Études de Dynamique chimique (Studies in Dynamic Chemistry), a seminal study on chemical kinetics. In this work, van 't Hoff entered for the first time the field of physical chemistry. Of great importance was his development of the general thermodynamic relationship between the


id: history-of-chemistry-20260505-14
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry-14.md
category: reference
title: History of chemistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:44.469272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-chemistry-20260505-0
summary:
Marie Skłodowska-Curie was a Polish-born French physicist and chemist who is famous for her pioneering research on radioactivity. She and her husband are considered to have laid the cornerstone of the nuclear age with their research on radioactivity. Marie was fascinated with the work of Henri Becquerel, a French physicist who discovered in 1896 that uranium casts off rays similar to the X-rays discovered by Wilhelm Röntgen. Marie Curie began studying uranium in late 1897 and theorized, according to a 1904 article she wrote for Century magazine, "that the emission of rays by the compounds of uranium is a property of the metal itself—that it is an atomic property of the element uranium independent of its chemical or physical state." Curie took Becquerel's work a few steps further, conducting her own experiments on uranium rays. She discovered that the rays remained constant, no matter the condition or form of the uranium. The rays, she theorized, came from the element's atomic structure. This revolutionary idea created the field of atomic physics and the Curies coined the word radioactivity to describe the phenomenon. Pierre and Marie further explored radioactivity by working to separate the substances in uranium ores and then using the


id: history-of-chemistry-20260505-15
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry-15.md
category: reference
title: History of chemistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:44.469272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-chemistry-20260505-0
summary:
He also observed that the intensity of radioactivity of a radioactive element decreases over a unique and regular amount of time until a point of stability, and he named the halving time the "half-life". In 1901 and 1902 he worked with Frederick Soddy to prove that atoms of one radioactive element would spontaneously turn into another, by expelling a piece of the atom at high velocity. In 1906 at the University of Manchester, Rutherford oversaw an experiment conducted by his students Hans Geiger (known for the Geiger counter) and Ernest Marsden. In the Geiger–Marsden experiment, a beam of alpha particles, generated by the radioactive decay of radon, was directed normally onto a sheet of very thin gold foil in an evacuated chamber. Under the prevailing plum pudding model, the alpha particles should all have passed through the foil and hit the detector screen, or have been deflected by, at most, a few degrees. However, the actual results surprised Rutherford. Although many of the alpha particles did pass through as expected, many others were deflected at small angles while others were reflected back to the alpha source. They observed that a very small percentage of particles were deflected through angles much


id: history-of-chemistry-20260505-16
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry-16.md
category: reference
title: History of chemistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:44.469272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-chemistry-20260505-0
summary:
In 1913, Niels Bohr, a Danish physicist, introduced the concepts of quantum mechanics to atomic structure by proposing what is now known as the Bohr model of the atom, where electrons exist only in strictly defined circular orbits around the nucleus similar to rungs on a ladder. The Bohr Model is a planetary model in which the negatively charged electrons orbit a small, positively charged nucleus similar to the planets orbiting the Sun (except that the orbits are not planar) – the gravitational force of the solar system is mathematically akin to the attractive Coulomb (electrical) force between the positively charged nucleus and the negatively charged electrons. In the Bohr model, however, electrons orbit the nucleus in orbits that have a set size and energy – the energy levels are said to be quantized, which means that only certain orbits with certain radii are allowed; orbits in between simply do not exist. The energy of the orbit is related to its size – that is, the lowest energy is found in the smallest orbit. Bohr also postulated that electromagnetic radiation is absorbed or emitted when an electron moves from one orbit to another. Because only certain electron orbits are permitted,


id: history-of-chemistry-20260505-17
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry-17.md
category: reference
title: History of chemistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:44.469272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-chemistry-20260505-0
summary:
In 1924, French quantum physicist Louis de Broglie published his thesis, in which he introduced a revolutionary theory of electron waves based on wave–particle duality. In his time, the wave and particle interpretations of light and matter were seen as being at odds with one another, but de Broglie suggested that these seemingly different characteristics were instead the same behavior observed from different perspectives—that particles can behave like waves, and waves (radiation) can behave like particles. Broglie's proposal offered an explanation of the restricted motion of electrons within the atom. The first publications of Broglie's idea of "matter waves" had drawn little attention from other physicists, but a copy of his doctoral thesis chanced to reach Einstein, whose response was enthusiastic. Einstein stressed the importance of Broglie's work both explicitly and by building further on it. In 1925, Austrian-born physicist Wolfgang Pauli developed the Pauli exclusion principle, which states that no two electrons around a single nucleus in an atom can occupy the same quantum state simultaneously, as described by four quantum numbers. Pauli made major contributions to quantum mechanics and quantum field theory – he was awarded the 1945 Nobel Prize for Physics for his discovery of the Pauli


id: history-of-chemistry-20260505-18
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry-18.md
category: reference
title: History of chemistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:44.469272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-chemistry-20260505-0
summary:
Hence the quantum mechanical methods developed in the 1930s and 1940s are often referred to as theoretical molecular or atomic physics to underline the fact that they were more the application of quantum mechanics to chemistry and spectroscopy than answers to chemically relevant questions. In 1951, a milestone article in quantum chemistry is the seminal paper of Clemens C. J. Roothaan on Roothaan equations. It opened the avenue to the solution of the self-consistent field equations for small molecules like hydrogen or nitrogen. Those computations were performed with the help of tables of integrals which were computed on the most advanced computers of the time. In the 1940s many physicists turned from molecular or atomic physics to nuclear physics (like J. Robert Oppenheimer or Edward Teller). Glenn T. Seaborg was an American nuclear chemist best known for his work on isolating and identifying transuranium elements (those heavier than uranium). He shared the 1951 Nobel Prize for Chemistry with Edwin Mattison McMillan for their independent discoveries of transuranium elements. Seaborgium was named in his honour, making him the only person, along with Albert Einstein and Yuri Oganessian, for whom a chemical element was named during his lifetime. === Molecular biology and


id: history-of-chemistry-20260505-19
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry-19.md
category: reference
title: History of chemistry
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_chemistry
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:44.469272+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-chemistry-20260505-0
summary:
The later part of the nineteenth century saw a huge increase in the exploitation of petroleum extracted from the earth for the production of a host of chemicals and largely replaced the use of whale oil, coal tar and naval stores used previously. Large-scale production and refinement of petroleum provided feedstocks for liquid fuels such as gasoline and diesel, solvents, lubricants, asphalt, waxes, and for the production of many of the common materials of the modern world, such as synthetic fibers, plastics, paints, detergents, pharmaceuticals, adhesives and ammonia as fertilizer and for other uses. Many of these required new catalysts and the utilization of chemical engineering for their cost-effective production. In the mid-twentieth century, control of the electronic structure of semiconductor materials was made precise by the creation of large ingots of extremely pure single crystals of silicon and germanium. Accurate control of their chemical composition by doping with other elements made the production of the solid state transistor in 1951 and made possible the production of tiny integrated circuits for use in electronic devices, especially computers. == See also == === Histories and timelines === === Notable chemists === listed chronologically: == Notes == == References == Selected classic


id: christianity-and-science-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_science-0.md
category: reference
title: Christianity and science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:49.364601+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: christianity-and-science-20260505-0
summary:
Most scientific and technical innovations prior to the Scientific Revolution were achieved by societies organized by religious traditions. Ancient Christian scholars pioneered individual elements of the scientific method. Historically, Christianity has been and still is a patron of sciences. It has been prolific in the foundation of schools, universities and hospitals, and many Christian clergy have been active in the sciences and have made significant contributions to the development of science. Historians of science such as Pierre Duhem credit medieval Catholic mathematicians and philosophers such as John Buridan, Nicole Oresme and Roger Bacon as the founders of modern science. Duhem concluded that "the mechanics and physics of which modern times are justifiably proud to proceed, by an uninterrupted series of scarcely perceptible improvements, from doctrines professed in the heart of the medieval schools". Many of the most distinguished classical scholars in the Byzantine Empire held high office in the Eastern Orthodox Church. Protestantism has had an important influence on science, according to the Merton Thesis, there was a positive correlation between the rise of English Puritanism and German Pietism on the one hand, and early experimental science on the other. Christian scholars and scientists have made noted contributions to science


id: christianity-and-science-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_science-1.md
category: reference
title: Christianity and science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:49.364601+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: christianity-and-science-20260505-0
summary:
Christian philosophers Augustine of Hippo (354–430) and Thomas Aquinas held that scriptures can have multiple interpretations on certain areas where the matters were far beyond their reach, therefore one should leave room for future findings to shed light on the meanings. Augustine argued:Usually, even a non-Christian knows something about the earth, the heavens, and the other elements of this world, about the motion and orbit of the stars ... Now, it is a disgraceful and dangerous thing for an infidel to hear a Christian, presumably giving the meaning of Holy Scripture, talking non-sense on these topics; and we should take all means to prevent such an embarrassing situation, in which people show up vast ignorance in a Christian and laugh it to scorn. The shame is not so much that an ignorant individual is derided, but that people outside the household of the faith think our sacred writers held such opinions, and, to the great loss of those for whose salvation we toil, the writers of our Scripture are criticized and rejected as unlearned men.The "Handmaiden" tradition, which saw secular studies of the universe as a very important and helpful part of arriving at a better understanding of scripture, was


id: christianity-and-science-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_science-2.md
category: reference
title: Christianity and science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:49.364601+00:00
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parent: christianity-and-science-20260505-0
summary:
Physics teacher David Hutchings and intellectual historian James C. Ungureanu credit the central tenets of traditional Christianity for having been the greatest benefit to scientific thinking, while at the same time noting the irony of the conflict thesis:And yet, as impossible as it might seem, both Conflict and Warfare are plagued by an even greater irony than that. It turns out that when they went after Christian doctrine for being the ultimate enemy of science, they were engaging in friendly fire. For, in actual fact, no other body of thought has ever been of greater benefit to scientific thinking than the central tenets of traditional Christianity have—in the whole of human history.David C. Lindberg states that the widespread popular belief that the Middle Ages was a time of ignorance and superstition due to the Christian church is a "caricature". According to Lindberg, while there are some portions of the classical tradition which suggest this view, these were exceptional cases. It was common to tolerate and encourage critical thinking about the nature of the world. The relation between Christianity and science is complex and cannot be simplified to either harmony or conflict, according to Lindberg. Lindberg reports that "the late medieval


id: christianity-and-science-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_science-3.md
category: reference
title: Christianity and science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:49.364601+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: christianity-and-science-20260505-0
summary:
=== Influence of biblical worldviews on early modern science === At first, according to Andrew Dickson White's 1896 book A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom, a biblical worldview affected negatively the progress of science through time. Dickinson also argues that immediately following the Reformation matters were even worse. The interpretations of Scripture by Luther and Calvin became as sacred to their followers as the Scripture itself. For instance, when Georg Calixtus ventured, in interpreting the Psalms, to question the accepted belief that "the waters above the heavens" were contained in a vast receptacle upheld by a solid vault, he was bitterly denounced as heretical. Today, much of the scholarship in which the conflict thesis was originally based is considered to be inaccurate. For instance, the claim that early Christians rejected scientific findings by the Greco-Romans is false, since the "handmaiden" view of secular studies was seen to shed light on theology. This view was widely adapted throughout the early medieval period and afterwards by theologians (such as Augustine) and ultimately resulted in fostering interest in knowledge about nature through time. Also, the claim that people of the Middle Ages widely believed that the Earth was


id: christianity-and-science-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_science-4.md
category: reference
title: Christianity and science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:49.364601+00:00
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parent: christianity-and-science-20260505-0
summary:
=== Catholicism === While refined and clarified over the centuries, the Catholic position on the relationship between science and religion is one of harmony and has maintained the teaching of natural law as set forth by Thomas Aquinas. For example, regarding scientific study such as that of evolution, the church's unofficial position is an example of theistic evolution, stating that faith and scientific findings regarding human evolution are not in conflict, though humans are regarded as a special creation, and that the existence of God is required to explain both monogenism and the spiritual component of human origins. Catholic schools have included all manners of scientific study in their curriculum for many centuries. Historian John Heilbron says that "The Roman Catholic Church gave more financial and social support to the study of astronomy for over six centuries, from the recovery of ancient learning during the late Middle Ages into the Enlightenment, then any other, and probably all, other Institutions." The first universities in Europe were established by Catholic Church monks. The first Western European institutions generally considered to be universities were established in present-day Italy (including the Kingdom of Sicily, the Kingdom of Naples, and the Kingdom of Italy), the


id: christianity-and-science-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_science-5.md
category: reference
title: Christianity and science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:49.364601+00:00
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parent: christianity-and-science-20260505-0
summary:
The Catholic Cistercian order used its own numbering system, which could express numbers from 0 to 9999 in a single sign. According to one modern Cistercian, "enterprise and entrepreneurial spirit" have always been a part of the order's identity, and the Cistercians "were catalysts for development of a market economy" in twelfth-century Europe. Until the Industrial Revolution, most of the technological advances in Europe were made in the monasteries. According to the medievalist Jean Gimpel, their high level of industrial technology facilitated the diffusion of new techniques: "Every monastery had a model factory, often as large as the church and only several feet away, and waterpower drove the machinery of the various industries located on its floor." Waterpower was used for crushing wheat, sieving flour, fulling cloth and tanning – a "level of technological achievement [that] could have been observed in practically all" of the Cistercian monasteries. The English science historian James Burke examines the impact of Cistercian waterpower, derived from Roman watermill technology such as that of Barbegal aqueduct and mill near Arles in the fourth of his ten-part Connections TV series, called "Faith in Numbers". The Cistercians made major contributions to culture and technology in medieval Europe: Cistercian


id: christianity-and-science-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_science-6.md
category: reference
title: Christianity and science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:49.364601+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: christianity-and-science-20260505-0
summary:
The Religious Society of Friends, commonly known as Quakers, encouraged some values which may have been conducive to encouraging scientific talents. A theory suggested by David Hackett Fischer in his book Albion's Seed indicated early Quakers in the US preferred "practical study" to the more traditional studies of Greek or Latin popular with the elite. Another theory suggests their avoidance of dogma or clergy gave them a greater flexibility in response to science. Despite those arguments a major factor is agreed to be that the Quakers were initially discouraged or forbidden to go to the major law or humanities schools in Britain due to the Test Act. They also at times faced similar discriminations in the United States, as many of the colonial universities had a Puritan or Anglican orientation. This led them to attend "Godless" institutions or forced them to rely on hands-on scientific experimentation rather than academia. Because of these issues it has been stated Quakers are better represented in science than most religions. There are sources, Pendlehill (Thomas 2000) and Encyclopædia Britannica, that indicate that for over two centuries they were overrepresented in the Royal Society. Mention is made of this possibility in studies referenced in religiosity


id: christianity-and-science-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_science-7.md
category: reference
title: Christianity and science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:49.364601+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: christianity-and-science-20260505-0
summary:
In the field of Optics, Nestorian Christian Hunayn ibn-Ishaq's textbook on ophthalmology called the Ten Treatises on the Eye, which was written in 950 A.D., remained the authoritative source on the subject in the western world until the 1800s. It was a Christian scholar and Bishop from Nisibis named Severus Sebokht who was the first to describe and incorporate Indian mathematical symbols in the mid 7th century, which were then adopted into Islamic culture and are now known as the Arabic numerals. During the fourth through the seventh centuries, scholarly work in the Syriac and Greek languages was either newly initiated, or carried on from the Hellenistic period. Centers of learning and of transmission of classical wisdom included colleges such as the School of Nisibis, and later the School of Edessa, and the renowned hospital and medical academy of Jundishapur; libraries included the Library of Alexandria and the Imperial Library of Constantinople; other centers of translation and learning functioned at Merv, Salonika, Nishapur and Ctesiphon, situated just south of what later became Baghdad. The House of Wisdom was a library, translation institute, and academy established in Abbasid-era Baghdad, Iraq. Nestorians played a prominent role in the formation of Arab culture,


id: christianity-and-science-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_science-8.md
category: reference
title: Christianity and science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:49.364601+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: christianity-and-science-20260505-0
summary:
== Perspectives on evolution == In recent history, the theory of evolution has been at the centre of controversy between Christianity and science, largely in America. Christians who accept a literal interpretation of the biblical account of creation find incompatibility between Darwinian evolution and their interpretation of the Christian faith. Creation science or scientific creationism is a branch of creationism that attempts to provide scientific support for the Genesis creation narrative in the Book of Genesis and attempts to disprove generally accepted scientific facts, theories and scientific paradigms about the geological history of Earth, formation of the Solar System, Big Bang cosmology, the chemical origins of life and evolution. It began in the 1960s as a fundamentalist Christian effort in the United States to prove Biblical inerrancy and falsify the scientific evidence for evolution. It has since developed a sizable religious following in the United States, with creation science ministries branching worldwide. In 1925, The State of Tennessee passed the Butler Act, which prohibited the teaching of the theory of evolution in all schools in the state. Later that year, a similar law was passed in Mississippi, and likewise, Arkansas in 1927. In 1968, these "anti-monkey" laws were struck down


id: christianity-and-science-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_science-9.md
category: reference
title: Christianity and science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:49.364601+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: christianity-and-science-20260505-0
summary:
According to 100 Years of Nobel Prizes a review of Nobel prizes award between 1901 and 2000 reveals that (65.4%) of Nobel Prizes Laureates, have identified Christianity in its various forms as their religious preference (427 prizes). Overall, Christians are considered a total of 72.5% in Chemistry between 1901 and 2000, 65.3% in Physics, 62% in Medicine, 54% in Economics. Between 1901 and 2000 it was revealed that among 654 Laureates 31.9% have identified as Protestant in its various forms (208 prize), 20.3% were Christians (no information about their denominations; 133 prize), 11.6% have identified as Catholic and 1.6% have identified as Eastern Orthodox. Although Christians make up over 33.2% of the world's population, they have won a total of 65.4% of all Nobel prizes between 1901 and 2000. In an estimate by scholar Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, between 1901 and 2001, about 57.1% of Nobel Prize winners were either Christians or with a Christian background. Between 1901 and 2001, about 56.5% of laureates in scientific fields were Christians. According to scholar Benjamin Beit-Hallahmi, Protestants were overrepresented in scientific categories and Catholics were well-represented in the Literature and Peace categories. In an estimate made by Weijia Zhang from Arizona State University and


id: christianity-and-science-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_science-10.md
category: reference
title: Christianity and science
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianity_and_science
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:49.364601+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: christianity-and-science-20260505-0
summary:
=== Works cited === Numbers, Ronald L. (2006). The Creationists: From Scientific Creationism to Intelligent Design. Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-02339-0. Shalev, Baruch A. (2003). 100 Years of Nobel Prizes. Atlantic Publishers & Dist. ISBN 978-81-269-0278-1. Thomas, Anne (24 April 2000), This I Know Experimentally, Spring 2000 Monday Night Lecture Series: Science and Religion, Pendle Hill (published 6 October 2003), archived from the original on 1 May 2006, retrieved 29 June 2009 == Further reading == Buxhoeveden, Daniel; Woloschak, Gayle, eds. (2011). Science and the Eastern Orthodox Church (1. ed.). Farnham: Ashgate. ISBN 9781409481614. Spierer, Eugen. God-of-the-Gaps Arguments in Light of Luther's Theology of the Cross. Archived 19 August 2019 at the Wayback Machine Matthews, Roy T.; Platt, F. DeWitt (1991). The Western Humanities. Mayfield Publishing Co. ISBN 0874847850. == External links == Christianity And The Scientist by Ian G. Barbour Archived 4 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine Cambridge Christians in Science (CiS) group Archived 3 July 2019 at the Wayback Machine Christians in Science website Ian Ramsey Centre, Oxford The Society of Ordained Scientists-Mostly Church of England "Science in Christian Perspective" The (ASA) Canadian Scientific and Christian Affiliation (CSCA) The International Society for Science & Religion's founding members.(Of


id: science-in-classical-antiquity-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_in_classical_antiquity-0.md
category: reference
title: Science in classical antiquity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_in_classical_antiquity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:50.555898+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: science-in-classical-antiquity-20260505-0
summary:
Science in classical antiquity encompasses inquiries into the workings of the world or universe aimed at both practical goals (e.g., establishing a reliable calendar or determining how to cure a variety of illnesses) as well as more abstract investigations belonging to natural philosophy. Classical antiquity is traditionally defined as the period between the 8th century BC (beginning of Archaic Greece) and the 6th century AD (after which there was medieval science). It is typically limited geographically to the Greco-Roman West, Mediterranean basin, and Ancient Near East, thus excluding traditions of science in the ancient world in regions such as China and the Indian subcontinent. Ideas regarding nature that were theorized during classical antiquity were not limited to science but included myths as well as religion. Those who are now considered as the first scientists may have thought of themselves as natural philosophers, as practitioners of a skilled profession (e.g., physicians), or as followers of a religious tradition (e.g., temple healers). Some of the more widely known figures active in this period include Hippocrates, Aristotle, Euclid, Archimedes, Hipparchus, Galen, and Ptolemy. Their contributions and commentaries spread throughout the Eastern, Islamic, and Latin worlds and contributed to the birth of modern science.


id: science-in-classical-antiquity-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_in_classical_antiquity-1.md
category: reference
title: Science in classical antiquity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_in_classical_antiquity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:50.555898+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: science-in-classical-antiquity-20260505-0
summary:
The earliest Greek philosophers, known as the pre-Socratics, were materialists who provided alternative answers to the same question found in the myths of their neighbors: "How did the ordered cosmos in which we live come to be?" Although the question is much the same, their answers and their attitude towards the answers is markedly different. As reported by such later writers as Aristotle, their explanations tended to center on the material source of things. Thales of Miletus (624–546 BC) considered that all things came to be from and find their sustenance in water. Anaximander (610–546 BC) then suggested that things could not come from a specific substance like water, but rather from something he called the "boundless". Exactly what he meant is uncertain but it has been suggested that it was boundless in its quantity, so that creation would not fail; in its qualities, so that it would not be overpowered by its contrary; in time, as it has no beginning or end; and in space, as it encompasses all things. Anaximenes (585–525 BC) returned to a concrete material substance, air, which could be altered by rarefaction and condensation. He adduced common observations (the wine stealer) to demonstrate that air


id: science-in-classical-antiquity-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_in_classical_antiquity-2.md
category: reference
title: Science in classical antiquity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_in_classical_antiquity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:50.555898+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: science-in-classical-antiquity-20260505-0
summary:
The first institution of higher learning in Ancient Greece was founded by Plato (c. 427 – c. 347 BC), an Athenian who—perhaps under Pythagorean influence—appears to have identified the ordering principle of the universe as one based on number and geometry. A later account has it that Plato had inscribed at the entrance to the academy the words "Let no man ignorant of geometry enter." Although the story is most likely a myth, it nonetheless testifies to Plato's interest in mathematics, which is alluded to in several of his dialogues. Plato's philosophy maintained that all material things are imperfect reflections of eternal unchanging ideas, just as all mathematical diagrams are reflections of eternal unchanging mathematical truths. Since Plato believed that material things had an inferior kind of reality, he considered that demonstrative knowledge cannot be achieved by looking at the imperfect material world. Truth is to be found through rational argumentation, analogous to the demonstrations of mathematicians. For instance, Plato recommended that astronomy be studied in terms of abstract geometrical models rather than empirical observations, and proposed that leaders be trained in mathematics in preparation for philosophy. Aristotle (384–322 BC) studied at the academy and nonetheless disagreed with Plato in


id: science-in-classical-antiquity-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_in_classical_antiquity-3.md
category: reference
title: Science in classical antiquity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_in_classical_antiquity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:50.555898+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: science-in-classical-antiquity-20260505-0
summary:
The military campaigns of Alexander the Great spread Greek thought to Egypt, Asia Minor, Persia, up to the Indus River. The resulting migration of many Greek speaking populations across these territories provided the impetus for the foundation of several seats of learning, such as those in Alexandria, Antioch, and Pergamum. Hellenistic science differed from Greek science in at least two respects: first, it benefited from the cross-fertilization of Greek ideas with those that had developed in other non-Hellenic civilizations; secondly, to some extent, it was supported by royal patrons in the kingdoms founded by Alexander's successors. The city of Alexandria, in particular, became a major center of scientific research in the 3rd century BC. Two institutions established there during the reigns of Ptolemy I Soter (367–282 BC) and Ptolemy II Philadelphus (309–246 BC) were the Library and the Museum. Unlike Plato's Academy and Aristotle's Lyceum, these institutions were officially supported by the Ptolemies, although the extent of patronage could be precarious depending on the policies of the current ruler. Hellenistic scholars often employed the principles developed in earlier Greek thought in their scientific investigations, such as the application of mathematics to phenomena or the deliberate collection of empirical data. The


id: science-in-classical-antiquity-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_in_classical_antiquity-4.md
category: reference
title: Science in classical antiquity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_in_classical_antiquity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:50.555898+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: science-in-classical-antiquity-20260505-0
summary:
Advances in mathematical astronomy also took place during the Hellenistic age. Aristarchus of Samos (310–230 BC) was an ancient Greek astronomer and mathematician who presented the first known heliocentric model that placed the Sun at the center of the known universe, with the Earth revolving around the Sun once a year and rotating about its axis once a day. Aristarchus also estimated the sizes of the Sun and Moon as compared to Earth's size, and the distances to the Sun and Moon. His heliocentric model did not find many adherents in antiquity but did influence some early modern astronomers, such as Nicolaus Copernicus, who was aware of the heliocentric theory of Aristarchus. In the 2nd century BC, Hipparchus discovered precession, calculated the size and distance of the Moon and invented the earliest known astronomical devices such as the astrolabe. Hipparchus also created a comprehensive catalog of 1020 stars, and most of the constellations of the northern hemisphere derive from Greek astronomy. It has recently been claimed that a celestial globe based on Hipparchus's star catalog sits atop the broad shoulders of a large 2nd-century Roman statue known as the Farnese Atlas. == Roman era == Science during the Roman Empire


id: science-in-classical-antiquity-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_in_classical_antiquity-5.md
category: reference
title: Science in classical antiquity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Science_in_classical_antiquity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:50.555898+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: science-in-classical-antiquity-20260505-0
summary:
Claudius Ptolemy (c. 100–170 AD), living in or around Alexandria, carried out a scientific program centered on the writing of about a dozen books on astronomy, astrology, cartography, harmonics, and optics. Despite their severe style and high technicality, a great deal of them have survived, in some cases the sole remnants of their kind of writing from antiquity. Two major themes that run through Ptolemy's works are mathematical modelling of physical phenomena and methods of visual representation of physical reality. Ptolemy's research program involved a combination of theoretical analysis with empirical considerations seen, for instance, in his systematized study of astronomy. Ptolemy's Mathēmatikē Syntaxis (Ancient Greek: Μαθηματικὴ Σύνταξις), better known as the Almagest, sought to improve on the work of his predecessors by building astronomy not only upon a secure mathematical basis but also by demonstrating the relationship between astronomical observations and the resulting astronomical theory. In his Planetary Hypotheses, Ptolemy describes in detail physical representations of his mathematical models found in the Almagest, presumably for didactic purposes. Likewise, the Geography was concerned with the drawing of accurate maps using astronomical information, at least in principle. Apart from astronomy, both the Harmonics and the Optics contain (in addition to mathematical


id: conversazione-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversazione-0.md
category: reference
title: Conversazione
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversazione
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:51.782607+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: conversazione-20260505-0
summary:
A conversazione is a "social gathering [predominantly] held by [a] learned or art society" for conversation and discussion, especially about the arts, literature, medicine, and science. It would not be easy to devise a happier way [than the conversazione] of bringing novelties at once under practical criticism—of making the outliers of science acquainted with the centre, of enabling investigators to compare operations and discuss facts and speculations, and of giving occasion for renewal of intercourse and removal of misunderstandings. …[The] tangible gain to science [from the conversazione is that] inventors and experimentalists … hear [directly] what contemporaries say of their schemes and experiments, and much can be said and done with advantage amid the free talk of a general gathering which could not be permitted in the formal meeting of a scientific society. (Nature, 5 May 1870.) == Origin == The writer Horace Walpole is credited with the first recorded English use of conversazione in a letter written (from Italy) on 11 November 1739 to Richard West (1716–1742) in which he writes, "After the play we were introduced to the assembly, which they [viz., the Italians] call the conversazione". == Historical usage in Britain == In Italy, the term generally


id: darwin-s-ghosts-the-secret-history-of-evolution-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin's_Ghosts:_The_Secret_History_of_Evolution-0.md
category: reference
title: Darwin's Ghosts: The Secret History of Evolution
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darwin's_Ghosts:_The_Secret_History_of_Evolution
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:52.950721+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: darwin-s-ghosts-the-secret-history-of-evolution-20260505-0
summary:
Darwin's Ghosts: The Secret History of Evolution is a nonfiction history of science book by British author Rebecca Stott. It was published in the United States in 2012 by Spiegel & Grau, the international version is subtitled differently: Darwin's Ghosts: In Search of the First Evolutionists. It is written in 12 distinct chapters that highlight persons that contributed to the pre-history of evolution by natural selection, published by Charles Darwin in On the Origin of Species in 1859. The book contains biographical sketches of 12 persons spanning from 344 BC to 19th century contemporaries of Darwin. The book has received reviews from notable reviewers and was included on the New York Times Book Review 100 Notable Books 2012 list. == Synopsis == Tho focus of each chapter is summarized in the table below. == References ==


id: department-of-history-and-philosophy-of-science-university-of-cambridge-20260505-0
category: reference
title: Department of History and Philosophy of Science, University of Cambridge
tags: science, encyclopedia
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:54.049300+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: department-of-history-and-philosophy-of-science-university-of-cambridge-20260505-0
file:
data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_History_and_Philosophy_of_Science,_University_of_Cambridge-0.md

summary:
The Department of History and Philosophy of Science (HPS), of the University of Cambridge is the largest department of history and philosophy of science in the United Kingdom. A majority of its submissions received maximum ratings of 4* and 3* in the 2014 REF (Research Excellence Framework). Located in the historic buildings of the Old Physical Chemistry Laboratories on Free School Lane, Cambridge, the department teaches undergraduate courses towards the Cambridge Tripos and graduate courses including a taught Masters and PhD supervision in the field of HPS. The department shares its premises with the Whipple Museum and Whipple Library which provide important resources for its teaching and research. == Academic staff == The Department of HPS at Cambridge employs fifteen full-time teaching staff, approximately thirty research staff, numerous supervisors and research associates from departments and colleges across the University of Cambridge, in addition to external supervisors and examiners. A long-standing head of department was the noted Professor Peter Lipton, who served until his unexpected death in 2007. He was followed as head of department by the late Professor John Forrester, an international authority in the History of Mind, and a leading figure on Sigmund Freud and the history of psychoanalysis.

source_url:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Department_of_History_and_Philosophy_of_Science,_University_of_Cambridge


id: dibner-institute-for-the-history-of-science-and-technology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dibner_Institute_for_the_History_of_Science_and_Technology-0.md
category: reference
title: Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dibner_Institute_for_the_History_of_Science_and_Technology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:55.314813+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dibner-institute-for-the-history-of-science-and-technology-20260505-0
summary:
The Dibner Institute for the History of Science and Technology (1992–2006) was a research institute established at MIT, and housed in a renovated building (E56) on campus at 38 Memorial Drive, overlooking the Charles River. == Description == At the heart of the Institute was the Burndy Library on the ground floor, initially containing 37,000 volumes on the history of science and technology collected by the Dibner Fund. The Library also possessed a large collection of antique scientific instruments, such as astrolabes, telescopes, microscopes, early spectrometers, and a Wimshurst machine, which were on public display in a dedicated gallery outside the library. Also on display was a large collection of antique incandescent light bulbs, gas discharge tubes, electronic vacuum tubes, and other early examples of electrical and electronic technology. The Library would mount occasional special exhibits, such as The Afterlife of Immortality: Obelisks Outside Egypt. The building was a modest Art Deco structure, fronting on Memorial Drive and the Charles River. Above the Library and display space, on the second and third floor were offices and lecture and seminar rooms. The Institute held regular lectures, seminars, study programs, and an annual symposium in the history of science and technology. Over


id: list-of-discoveries-influenced-by-chance-circumstances-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_discoveries_influenced_by_chance_circumstances-0.md
category: reference
title: List of discoveries influenced by chance circumstances
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_discoveries_influenced_by_chance_circumstances
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:56.462578+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: list-of-discoveries-influenced-by-chance-circumstances-20260505-0
summary:
Below are discoveries in science that involve chance circumstances in a particularly salient way. This page should not list all chance involved in all discoveries (i.e. it should focus on discoveries reported for their notable circumstances). == Overview == Royston Roberts says that various discoveries required a degree of genius, but also some lucky element for that genius to act on. Richard Gaughan writes that accidental discoveries result from the convergence of preparation, opportunity, and desire. Major everyday discoveries that were helped by luck in some way include products like vulcanized rubber, teflon, nylon, penicillin, cyanoacrylate (Super Glue), the implantable pacemaker, the microwave oven, Scotchgard, Saran wrap, Silly Putty, Slinky, safety glass, propeller, snowmaking, stainless steel, Perkin's mauve, and popsicles. Most artificial sweeteners have been discovered when accidentally tasted, including aspartame and saccharin. Ideas include the theory of the Big Bang, tissue culture, radio astronomy, and the discovery of DNA. Such archeological discoveries as the Rosetta Stone, the Dead Sea Scrolls and the ruins of Pompeii also emerged partly out of serendipity. Many relevant and well known scientific theories were developed by chance at some degree along history. According to a legend, Archimedes realized his principle on hydrostatics when he


id: discovery-of-human-antiquity-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_of_human_antiquity-0.md
category: reference
title: Discovery of human antiquity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_of_human_antiquity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:57.794617+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: discovery-of-human-antiquity-20260505-0
summary:
The discovery of human antiquity was a major achievement of science in the middle of the 19th century, and the foundation of scientific paleoanthropology. The antiquity of man, human antiquity, or in simpler language the age of the human race, are names given to the series of scientific debates it involved, which with modifications continue in the 21st century. These debates have clarified and given scientific evidence, from a number of disciplines, towards solving the basic question of dating the first human being. Controversy was very active in this area in parts of the 19th century, with some dormant periods also. A key date was the 1859 re-evaluation of archaeological evidence that had been published 12 years earlier by Boucher de Perthes. It was then widely accepted, as validating the suggestion that man was much older than had previously been believed, for example than the 6,000 years implied by some traditional chronologies. In 1863 T. H. Huxley argued that man was an evolved species; and in 1864 Alfred Russel Wallace combined natural selection with the issue of antiquity. The arguments from science for what was then called the "great antiquity of man" became convincing to most scientists, over the following


id: discovery-of-human-antiquity-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_of_human_antiquity-1.md
category: reference
title: Discovery of human antiquity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_of_human_antiquity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:57.794617+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: discovery-of-human-antiquity-20260505-0
summary:
==== Human origins and the "universal deluge" debated ==== The Flood could explain extinctions of species at that date, on the hypothesis that the Ark had not contained all species of animal. A Flood that was not universal, on the other hand, had implications for the biblical theory of races and Noah's sons. The theory of catastrophism, which was as much secular as theological in attitude, could be used in analogous ways. There was interest in matters arising from modification of the biblical narrative, therefore, and it was fuelled by the new knowledge of the world in early modern Europe, and then by the growth of the sciences. One hypothesis was of people not descended from Adam. This hypothesis of polygenism (no unique origin of humans) implied nothing on the antiquity of man, but the issue was implicated in counter-arguments, for monogenism. ==== La Peyrère and the completeness of the Biblical account ==== Isaac La Peyrère appealed in formulating his Preadamite theory of polygenism to Jewish tradition; it was intended to be compatible with the biblical creation of man. It was rejected by many contemporary theologians. This idea of humans before Adam had been current in earlier Christian scholars and


id: discovery-of-human-antiquity-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_of_human_antiquity-2.md
category: reference
title: Discovery of human antiquity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_of_human_antiquity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:57.794617+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: discovery-of-human-antiquity-20260505-0
summary:
The three-age system was in place from about 1820, in the form given to it by Christian Jürgensen Thomsen in his work on the collections that became the National Museum of Denmark. He published his ideas in 1836. Postulating cultural change, in itself and without explaining a rate of change, did not generate reasons to revise traditional chronology. But the concept of Stone Age artifacts became current. Thomsen's book in Danish, Ledetraad til Nordisk Oldkyndighed, was translated into German (Leitfaden zur Nordischen Alterthumskunde, 1837), and English (Guide to Northern Archæology, 1848). John Frere's 1797 discovery of the Hoxne handaxe helped to initiate the 19th century debate, but it started in earnest around 1810. There were then a number of false starts relating to different European sites. William Buckland misjudged what he had found in 1823 with the misnamed Red Lady of Paviland, and explained away the mammoth remains with the find. He also was dismissive of the Kent's Cavern findings of John MacEnery in the later 1820s. In 1829 Philippe-Charles Schmerling discovered a Neanderthal fossil skull (at Engis). At that point, however, its significance was not recognised, and Rudolf Virchow consistently opposed the theory that it was very old. The


id: discovery-of-human-antiquity-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_of_human_antiquity-3.md
category: reference
title: Discovery of human antiquity
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_of_human_antiquity
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:57.794617+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: discovery-of-human-antiquity-20260505-0
summary:
=== Acceptance of human association with extinct animal species === Boucher de Perthes had written up discoveries in the Somme valley in 1847. Joseph Prestwich and John Evans in April 1859, and Charles Lyell with others also in 1859, made field trips to the sites, and returned convinced that humans had coexisted with extinct mammals. In general and qualitative terms, Lyell felt the evidence established the "antiquity of man": that humans were much older than the traditional assumptions had made them. His conclusions were shared by the Royal Society and other British learned institutions, as well as in France. It was this recognition of the early date of Acheulean handaxes that first established the scientific credibility of the deep antiquity of humans. This debate was concurrent with that over the book On the Origin of Species, published in 1859, and was evidently related; but was not one in which Charles Darwin initially made his own views public. Consolidation of the "antiquity of man" required more work, with stricter methods; and this proved possible over the next two decades. The discoveries of Boucher de Perthes therefore motivated further researches to try to repeat and confirm the findings at other sites. Significant


id: doctrine-of-signatures-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_of_signatures-0.md
category: reference
title: Doctrine of signatures
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_of_signatures
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:58.963519+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: doctrine-of-signatures-20260505-0
summary:
The doctrine of signatures, also known as the doctrine of correspondences, is a biomedicinal theory of pseudoscience. It states that herbs or animals have physical or behavioral traits that mirror the ailment it can successfully treat. Theological justifications, such as that of botanist William Cole, were that God would want to show men what plants would be useful for. The doctrine of signatures has a debated origin. Many historians believe it begins with primitive thinking methods, while other historians believe it originated with Dioscorides and was popularized in the 16th and 17th centuries after Jakob Böhme coined the doctrine of signatures in his book The Signature of All Things. This theory is a possible explanation for the ancient discovery of medicinal properties; however, there is no definitive proof as to whether the medicinal property or the connection in physical/behavioral traits was realized first. The theory later became a scientific basis for trying new remedies solely based upon their qualities in an attempt to find new medicines. While there are some homeopathic remedies that are still used today which have been connected to this theory, there are also remedies from this theory which have been found harmful. For instance, birthwort (so-called


id: doctrine-of-signatures-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_of_signatures-1.md
category: reference
title: Doctrine of signatures
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Doctrine_of_signatures
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:38:58.963519+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: doctrine-of-signatures-20260505-0
summary:
It is worth noting that it is possible that these are post hoc attributions—the appearance and treatment linked after the medicinal property was discovered. Depending on the article, remedies connected to the doctrine vary in number and consistency. == Scientific, spiritual, and social context == Signatures are often described as post hoc attributions and mnemonics used to remember the properties of a plant rather than the reason it was originally used. There is no scientific or historical evidence that plant shapes and colors have aided in the discovery of their medical uses. In Europe, the idea of doctrine of signatures was linked with Christian beliefs. However, similar theories were created within black magic with sympathetic magic. Similar theories have been observed all over the world in ancient Egypt, China, pre-Columbian America, and the Middle East. This can also explain how varied, and at times contradictory, applications of the doctrine can be because traditional botany is subject to optimal foraging theory. Remedies would, in many cases, be based on the environmental availability of that resource rather than its objective effectiveness. Some sociologists frame the doctrine of signatures as a type of "enchantment", the idea that it is not just what one


id: dyson-sphere-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere-0.md
category: reference
title: Dyson sphere
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:00.169646+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dyson-sphere-20260505-0
summary:
A Dyson sphere is a hypothetical megastructure that encompasses a star and captures a large percentage of its power output. The concept is a thought experiment that attempts to imagine how a spacefaring civilization would meet its energy requirements once those requirements exceed what can be generated from the home planet's resources alone. Because only a tiny fraction of a star's energy emissions reaches the surface of any orbiting planet, building structures encircling a star would enable a civilization to harvest far more energy. The earliest modern imagining of such a structure was by Olaf Stapledon in his science fiction novel Star Maker (1937). The same concept was later used by physicist Freeman Dyson in his 1960 paper "Search for Artificial Stellar Sources of Infrared Radiation". Dyson speculated that such structures would be the logical consequence of the escalating energy needs of a technological civilization and would be a necessity for its long-term survival. A signature of such spheres detected in astronomical searches would be an indicator of extraterrestrial intelligence. Since Dyson's paper, many variant designs involving an artificial structure or series of structures to encompass a star have been proposed in exploratory engineering or described in science fiction, often


id: dyson-sphere-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere-1.md
category: reference
title: Dyson sphere
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dyson_sphere
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:00.169646+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: dyson-sphere-20260505-0
summary:
== Feasibility and science-based speculation == Although Dyson spheres in the form of a swarm are theoretically possible, building a stable megastructure around the Sun is currently far beyond humanity's engineering capacity. The number of craft required to obtain, transmit, and maintain a complete Dyson sphere exceeds present-day industrial capabilities. Dyson spheres have prompted speculation into the feasibility of a class of proposed stellar engines, hypothetical megastructures whose purpose is to extract useful energy from a star, sometimes for specific purposes. For example, Matrioshka brains have been proposed to use energy extracted by Dyson spheres for computation, while Shkadov thrusters would extract energy for propulsion. Some proposed stellar engine designs are based on the Dyson sphere. Futurist George Dvorsky has advocated the use of self-replicating robots to overcome the limitation of humanity's engineering capacity in the relatively near term. Some have suggested that Dyson sphere habitats could be built around white dwarfs or pulsars. In 2022 it was suggested that a Dyson swarm around the Sun could be launched from either Mercury or Mars. In order to transmit the energy back, far-field radiative wireless power transfer was proposed, a technology that is not yet fully developed. == Fictional examples ==


id: the-eclipse-of-darwinism-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_eclipse_of_Darwinism-0.md
category: reference
title: The eclipse of Darwinism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_eclipse_of_Darwinism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:04.808782+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: the-eclipse-of-darwinism-20260505-0
summary:
Julian Huxley used the phrase "the eclipse of Darwinism" to describe the state of affairs prior to what he called the "modern synthesis". During the "eclipse", evolution was widely accepted in scientific circles but relatively few biologists believed that natural selection was its primary mechanism. Historians of science such as Peter J. Bowler have used the same phrase as a label for the period within the history of evolutionary thought from the 1880s to around 1920, when alternatives to natural selection were developed and explored—as many biologists considered natural selection to have been a wrong guess on Charles Darwin's part, or at least to be of relatively minor importance. Four major alternatives to natural selection were in play in the 19th century: Theistic evolution, the belief that God directly guided evolution Neo-Lamarckism, the idea that evolution was driven by the inheritance of characteristics acquired during the life of the organism Orthogenesis, the belief that organisms were affected by internal forces or laws of development that drove evolution in particular directions Mutationism, the idea that evolution was largely the product of mutations that created new forms or species in a single step. Theistic evolution had largely disappeared from the scientific literature


id: the-eclipse-of-darwinism-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_eclipse_of_Darwinism-1.md
category: reference
title: The eclipse of Darwinism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_eclipse_of_Darwinism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:04.808782+00:00
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parent: the-eclipse-of-darwinism-20260505-0
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British science developed in the early 19th century on a basis of natural theology which saw the adaptation of fixed species as evidence that they had been specially created to a purposeful divine design. The philosophical concepts of German idealism inspired concepts of an ordered plan of harmonious creation, which Richard Owen reconciled with natural theology as a pattern of homology showing evidence of design. Similarly, Louis Agassiz saw Ernest Haeckel's recapitulation theory, which held that the embryological development of an organism repeats its evolutionary history, as symbolising a pattern of the sequence of creations in which humanity was the goal of a divine plan. In 1844 Vestiges adapted Agassiz's concept into theistic evolutionism. Its anonymous author Robert Chambers proposed a "law" of divinely ordered progressive development, with transmutation of species as an extension of recapitulation theory. This popularised the idea, but it was strongly condemned by the scientific establishment. Agassiz remained forcefully opposed to evolution, and after he moved to America in 1846 his idealist argument from design of orderly development became very influential. In 1858 Owen cautiously proposed that this development could be a real expression of a continuing creative law, but distanced himself from transmutationists. Two years


id: the-eclipse-of-darwinism-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_eclipse_of_Darwinism-2.md
category: reference
title: The eclipse of Darwinism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_eclipse_of_Darwinism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:04.808782+00:00
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parent: the-eclipse-of-darwinism-20260505-0
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In the late 19th century the term neo-Lamarckism came to be associated with the position of naturalists who viewed the inheritance of acquired characteristics as the most important evolutionary mechanism. Advocates of this position included the British writer and Darwin critic Samuel Butler, the German biologist Ernst Haeckel, the American paleontologists Edward Drinker Cope and Alpheus Hyatt, and the American entomologist Alpheus Packard. They considered Lamarckism to be more progressive and thus philosophically superior to Darwin's idea of natural selection acting on random variation. Butler and Cope both believed that this allowed organisms to effectively drive their own evolution, since organisms that developed new behaviors would change the patterns of use of their organs and thus kick-start the evolutionary process. In addition, Cope and Haeckel both believed that evolution was a progressive process. The idea of linear progress was an important part of Haeckel's recapitulation theory. Cope and Hyatt looked for, and thought they found, patterns of linear progression in the fossil record. Packard argued that the loss of vision in the blind cave insects he studied was best explained through a Lamarckian process of atrophy through disuse combined with inheritance of acquired characteristics. Many American proponents of neo-Lamarckism were


id: the-eclipse-of-darwinism-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_eclipse_of_Darwinism-3.md
category: reference
title: The eclipse of Darwinism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_eclipse_of_Darwinism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:04.808782+00:00
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parent: the-eclipse-of-darwinism-20260505-0
summary:
Mutationism was the idea that new forms and species arose in a single step as a result of large mutations. It was seen as a much faster alternative to the Darwinian concept of a gradual process of small random variations being acted on by natural selection. It was popular with early geneticists such as Hugo de Vries, who along with Carl Correns helped rediscover Gregor Mendel's laws of inheritance in 1900, William Bateson a British zoologist who switched to genetics, and early in his career, Thomas Hunt Morgan. The 1901 mutation theory of evolution held that species went through periods of rapid mutation, possibly as a result of environmental stress, that could produce multiple mutations, and in some cases completely new species, in a single generation. Its originator was the Dutch botanist Hugo de Vries. De Vries looked for evidence of mutation extensive enough to produce a new species in a single generation and thought he found it with his work breeding the evening primrose of the genus Oenothera, which he started in 1886. The plants that de Vries worked with seemed to be constantly producing new varieties with striking variations in form and color, some of which appeared to


id: the-eclipse-of-darwinism-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_eclipse_of_Darwinism-4.md
category: reference
title: The eclipse of Darwinism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_eclipse_of_Darwinism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:04.808782+00:00
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parent: the-eclipse-of-darwinism-20260505-0
summary:
== Historiography == The concept of eclipse suggests that Darwinian research paused, implying in turn that there had been a preceding period of vigorously Darwinian activity among biologists. However, historians of science such as Mark Largent have argued that while biologists broadly accepted the extensive evidence for evolution presented in The Origin of Species, there was less enthusiasm for natural selection as a mechanism. Biologists instead looked for alternative explanations more in keeping with their worldviews, which included the beliefs that evolution must be directed and that it constituted a form of progress. Further, the idea of a dark eclipse period was convenient to scientists such as Julian Huxley, who wished to paint the modern synthesis as a bright new achievement, and accordingly to depict the preceding period as dark and confused. Huxley's 1942 book Evolution: The Modern Synthesis therefore, argued Largent, suggested that the so-called modern synthesis began after a long period of eclipse lasting until the 1930s, in which Mendelians, neo-Lamarckians, mutationists, and Weismannians, not to mention experimental embryologists and Haeckelian recapitulationists fought running battles with each other. The idea of an eclipse also allowed Huxley to step aside from what was to him the inconvenient association of


id: eddington-experiment-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddington_experiment-0.md
category: reference
title: Eddington experiment
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddington_experiment
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:05.943562+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: eddington-experiment-20260505-0
summary:
The Eddington experiment was an observational test of general relativity, organised by the British astronomers Frank Watson Dyson and Arthur Stanley Eddington in 1919. Observations of the total solar eclipse of 29 May 1919 were carried out by two expeditions, one to the West African island of Príncipe, and the other to the Brazilian town of Sobral. The aim of the expeditions was to measure the gravitational deflection of starlight passing near the Sun. The amount of deflection was predicted by Albert Einstein in a 1911 paper; however, his initial prediction proved inaccurate because it was based on an incomplete theory of general relativity. Einstein improved his prediction after finalizing his theory in 1915 and obtaining the solution to his equations by Karl Schwarzschild. Following the return of the expeditions, the results were presented by Eddington to a joint meeting of the Royal Society and Royal Astronomical Society in London and, after some deliberation, were accepted. Widespread newspaper coverage of the results led to worldwide fame for Einstein and his theories. == Background == One of the first considerations of gravitational deflection of light was published in 1801, when Johann Georg von Soldner pointed out that Newtonian gravity predicts that


id: eddington-experiment-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddington_experiment-1.md
category: reference
title: Eddington experiment
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddington_experiment
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:05.943562+00:00
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parent: eddington-experiment-20260505-0
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== Theory == The theory behind the experiment concerns the predicted deflection of light by the Sun. The first observation of light deflection was performed by noting the change in position of stars as they passed near the Sun on the celestial sphere. The approximate angular deflection δφ for a massless particle coming in from infinity and going back out to infinity is given by the following formula: δ φ ≈ 2 r s b = 4 G M c 2 b . {\displaystyle \delta \varphi \approx {\frac {2r_{s}}{b}}={\frac {4GM}{c^{2}b}}.} Here, b can be interpreted as the distance of closest approach. Although this formula is approximate, it is accurate for most measurements of gravitational lensing, due to the smallness of the ratio rs/b. For light grazing the surface of the Sun, the approximate angular deflection is roughly 1.75 arcseconds. This is twice the value predicted by calculations using the Newtonian theory of gravity. It was this difference in the deflection between the two theories that Eddington's expedition and other later eclipse observers would attempt to observe. == Expeditions and observations == The aim of the expeditions was to take advantage of the shielding effect of the Moon during a total


id: eddington-experiment-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddington_experiment-2.md
category: reference
title: Eddington experiment
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddington_experiment
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:05.943562+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: eddington-experiment-20260505-0
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=== Príncipe === The equipment used for the expedition to Príncipe, an island in the Gulf of Guinea off the coast of West Africa, was an astrographic lens borrowed from the Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford. Eddington sailed from England in March 1919. By mid-May he had his equipment set up on Príncipe near what was then Spanish Guinea. The eclipse was due to take place in the early afternoon of 29 May, at 2 pm, but that morning there was a storm with heavy rain. Eddington wrote: The rain stopped about noon and about 1.30 ... we began to get a glimpse of the sun. We had to carry out our photographs in faith. I did not see the eclipse, being too busy changing plates, except for one glance to make sure that it had begun and another half-way through to see how much cloud there was. We took sixteen photographs. They are all good of the sun, showing a very remarkable prominence; but the cloud has interfered with the star images. The last few photographs show a few images which I hope will give us what we need ... Eddington developed the photographs on Príncipe, and attempted to measure


id: eddington-experiment-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddington_experiment-3.md
category: reference
title: Eddington experiment
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddington_experiment
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:05.943562+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: eddington-experiment-20260505-0
summary:
The presentation of the results at the joint 6 November 1919 session of Royal Society and Royal Astronomical Society led to intensive press coverage first in Great Britain and a few days later in the US press, notably in The New York Times, and some days later still in the German press. While Einstein had been a moderately famous public figure in Germany for a few years by that time, the articles in question marked the beginning of his international celebrity status. A notable exception was Belgium, where the Eddington results were given the cold shoulder – partly because Einstein was seen as representing Germany, with the suffering of Belgium in World War I still very present in the country. The sudden popularity of Einstein's theories led to an "Einstein boom" of popular science books. While there is a later anecdote describing Einstein as unimpressed about the experimental results, and sure of his theory even in the absence of evidence (stating, when asked what he would have said if the results had been otherwise, "Then I would feel sorry for the dear Lord. The theory is correct anyway.") the evidence of Einstein's letters to other scientists indicates, on the contrary,


id: eddington-experiment-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddington_experiment-4.md
category: reference
title: Eddington experiment
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eddington_experiment
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:05.943562+00:00
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parent: eddington-experiment-20260505-0
summary:
== Sources and further reading == Collins, Harry; Pinch, Trevor (1993). The Golem: What everyone should know about science. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521477360. Cowen, Ron (May 2019). Gravity's Century: From Einstein's Eclipse to Images of Black Holes (Illustrated ed.). Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-97496-8. Crelinsten, Jeffrey (May 2006). Einstein's Jury: The Race to Test Relativity. Princeton University Press. ISBN 978-0-691-12310-3. Gates, Sylvester J. Jr; Pelletier, Cathie (2019). Proving Einstein right: The daring expeditions that changed how we look at the universe (First ed.). New York: PublicAffairs. ISBN 978-1541762251. Kennefick, Daniel (2019). No Shadow of a Doubt: The 1919 Eclipse That Confirmed Einstein's Theory of Relativity. Princeton: Princeton University Press. ISBN 9780691183862. Popper, Karl (2002) [1935]. The Logic of Scientific Discovery. Routledge. ISBN 0-203-99462-0. Stanley, Matthew (2019). Einstein's War: How Relativity Triumphed Amid the Vicious Nationalism of World War I. Dutton. ISBN 978-1-5247-4541-7. == External links == Eclipse 1919, website about the eclipse, the expeditions and centenary events "Eddington's Eclipse and Einstein's Celebrity" Discovery (audio) episode (from BBC World Service) "The man who made Einstein world-famous" (BBC News, 24 May 2019) "Matthew Stanley and Einstein's War". Archived 2020-07-30 at the Wayback Machine (Clarke Center for Human Imagination, UCSD podcast) "100


id: empiricism-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism-0.md
category: reference
title: Empiricism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:07.136928+00:00
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parent: empiricism-20260505-0
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In philosophy, empiricism is an epistemological view which holds that true knowledge or justification comes either only or primarily from sensory experience and empirical evidence. It is one of several competing views within epistemology, along with rationalism and skepticism. Empiricists argue that empiricism is a more reliable method of finding the truth than relying purely on logical reasoning, because humans have cognitive biases and limitations which lead to errors of judgement. Empiricism emphasizes the central role of empirical evidence in the formation of ideas, rather than innate ideas or traditions. Empiricists may argue that traditions (or customs) arise due to relations of previous sensory experiences. Historically, empiricism was associated with the "blank slate" concept (tabula rasa), according to which the human mind is "blank" at birth and develops its thoughts only through later experience. Empiricism in the philosophy of science emphasizes evidence, especially as discovered in experiments. It is a fundamental part of the scientific method that all hypotheses and theories must be tested against observations of the natural world rather than resting solely on a priori reasoning, intuition, or revelation. Empiricism, often used by natural scientists, holds that "knowledge is based on experience" and that "knowledge is tentative and


id: empiricism-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism-1.md
category: reference
title: Empiricism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:07.136928+00:00
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parent: empiricism-20260505-0
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During the Middle Ages (from the 5th to the 15th century CE) Aristotle's theory of tabula rasa was developed by Islamic philosophers starting with Al Farabi (c. 872 – c. 951 CE), developing into an elaborate theory by Avicenna (c. 980 – 1037 CE) and demonstrated as a thought experiment by Ibn Tufail. For Avicenna (Ibn Sina), for example, the tabula rasa is a pure potentiality that is actualized through education, and knowledge is attained through "empirical familiarity with objects in this world from which one abstracts universal concepts" developed through a "syllogistic method of reasoning in which observations lead to propositional statements which when compounded lead to further abstract concepts". The intellect itself develops from a material intellect (al-'aql al-hayulani), which is a potentiality "that can acquire knowledge to the active intellect (al-'aql al-fa'il), the state of the human intellect in conjunction with the perfect source of knowledge". So the immaterial "active intellect", separate from any individual person, is still essential for understanding to occur. In the 12th century CE, the Andalusian Muslim philosopher and novelist Abu Bakr Ibn Tufail (known as "Abubacer" or "Ebu Tophail" in the West) included the theory of tabula rasa as a thought experiment


id: empiricism-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism-2.md
category: reference
title: Empiricism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:07.136928+00:00
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parent: empiricism-20260505-0
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British empiricism, a retrospective characterization, emerged during the 17th century as an approach to early modern philosophy and modern science. Although both integral to this overarching transition, Francis Bacon, in England, first advocated for empiricism in 1620, whereas René Descartes, in France, laid the main groundwork upholding rationalism around 1640. (Bacon's natural philosophy was influenced by Italian philosopher Bernardino Telesio and by Swiss physician Paracelsus.) Contributing later in the 17th century, Thomas Hobbes and Baruch Spinoza are retrospectively identified likewise as an empiricist and a rationalist, respectively. In the Enlightenment of the late 17th century, John Locke in England, and in the 18th century, both George Berkeley in Ireland and David Hume in Scotland, all became leading exponents of empiricism, hence the dominance of empiricism in British philosophy. The distinction between rationalism and empiricism was not formally made until Immanuel Kant, in Germany, around 1780, who sought to merge the two views. In response to the early-to-mid-17th-century "continental rationalism", John Locke (1632–1704) proposed in An Essay Concerning Human Understanding (1689) a very influential view wherein the only knowledge humans can have is a posteriori, i.e., based upon experience. Locke is famously attributed with holding the proposition that the human mind


id: empiricism-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism-3.md
category: reference
title: Empiricism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism
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parent: empiricism-20260505-0
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Hume maintained that no knowledge, even the most basic beliefs about the natural world, can be conclusively established by reason. Rather, he maintained, our beliefs are more a result of accumulated habits, developed in response to accumulated sense experiences. Among his many arguments Hume also added another important slant to the debate about scientific method—that of the problem of induction. Hume argued that it requires inductive reasoning to arrive at the premises for the principle of inductive reasoning, and therefore the justification for inductive reasoning is a circular argument. Among Hume's conclusions regarding the problem of induction is that there is no certainty that the future will resemble the past. Thus, as a simple instance posed by Hume, we cannot know with certainty by inductive reasoning that the sun will continue to rise in the East, but instead come to expect it to do so because it has repeatedly done so in the past. Hume concluded that such things as belief in an external world and belief in the existence of the self were not rationally justifiable. According to Hume these beliefs were to be accepted nonetheless because of their profound basis in instinct and custom. Hume's lasting legacy, however,


id: empiricism-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism-4.md
category: reference
title: Empiricism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism
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parent: empiricism-20260505-0
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[Mill] claimed that mathematical truths were merely very highly confirmed generalizations from experience; mathematical inference, generally conceived as deductive [and a priori] in nature, Mill set down as founded on induction. Thus, in Mill's philosophy there was no real place for knowledge based on relations of ideas. In his view logical and mathematical necessity is psychological; we are merely unable to conceive any other possibilities than those that logical and mathematical propositions assert. This is perhaps the most extreme version of empiricism known, but it has not found many defenders. Mill's empiricism thus held that knowledge of any kind is not from direct experience but an inductive inference from direct experience. The problems other philosophers have had with Mill's position center around the following issues: Firstly, Mill's formulation encounters difficulty when it describes what direct experience is by differentiating only between actual and possible sensations. This misses some key discussion concerning conditions under which such "groups of permanent possibilities of sensation" might exist in the first place. Berkeley put God in that gap; the phenomenalists, including Mill, essentially left the question unanswered. In the end, lacking an acknowledgement of an aspect of "reality" that goes beyond mere "possibilities of sensation",


id: empiricism-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism-5.md
category: reference
title: Empiricism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:07.136928+00:00
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parent: empiricism-20260505-0
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Logical empiricism (also logical positivism or neopositivism) was an early 20th-century attempt to synthesize the essential ideas of British empiricism (e.g. a strong emphasis on sensory experience as the basis for knowledge) with certain insights from mathematical logic that had been developed by Gottlob Frege and Ludwig Wittgenstein. Some of the key figures in this movement were Otto Neurath, Moritz Schlick and the rest of the Vienna Circle, along with A. J. Ayer, Rudolf Carnap and Hans Reichenbach. The neopositivists subscribed to a notion of philosophy as the conceptual clarification of the methods, insights and discoveries of the sciences. They saw in the logical symbolism elaborated by Frege (1848–1925) and Bertrand Russell (1872–1970) a powerful instrument that could rationally reconstruct all scientific discourse into an ideal, logically perfect, language that would be free of the ambiguities and deformations of natural language. This gave rise to what they saw as metaphysical pseudoproblems and other conceptual confusions. By combining Frege's thesis that all mathematical truths are logical with the early Wittgenstein's idea that all logical truths are mere linguistic tautologies, they arrived at a twofold classification of all propositions: the "analytic" (a priori) and the "synthetic" (a posteriori). On this basis, they


id: empiricism-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism-6.md
category: reference
title: Empiricism
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empiricism
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:07.136928+00:00
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parent: empiricism-20260505-0
summary:
In his Harvard "Lectures on Pragmatism" (1903), Peirce enumerated what he called the "three cotary propositions of pragmatism" (L: cos, cotis whetstone), saying that they "put the edge on the maxim of pragmatism". First among these, he listed the peripatetic-thomist observation mentioned above, but he further observed that this link between sensory perception and intellectual conception is a two-way street. That is, it can be taken to say that whatever we find in the intellect is also incipiently in the senses. Hence, if theories are theory-laden then so are the senses, and perception itself can be seen as a species of abductive inference, its difference being that it is beyond control and hence beyond critique—in a word, incorrigible. This in no way conflicts with the fallibility and revisability of scientific concepts, since it is only the immediate percept in its unique individuality or "thisness"—what the Scholastics called its haecceity—that stands beyond control and correction. Scientific concepts, on the other hand, are general in nature, and transient sensations do in another sense find correction within them. This notion of perception as abduction has received periodic revivals in artificial intelligence and cognitive science research, most recently for instance with the work of


id: history-of-energy-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_energy-0.md
category: reference
title: History of energy
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_energy
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:08.304981+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: history-of-energy-20260505-0
summary:
In the history of physics, the history of energy examines the gradual development of energy as a central scientific concept. Classical mechanics was initially understood through the study of motion and force by thinkers like Galileo Galilei and Isaac Newton, the importance of the concept of energy was made clear in the 19th century with the principles of thermodynamics, particularly the conservation of energy which established that energy cannot be created or destroyed, only transformed. In the 20th century Albert Einstein's mass–energy equivalence expanded this understanding by linking mass and energy, and quantum mechanics introduced quantized energy levels. Today, energy is recognized as a fundamental conserved quantity across all domains of physics, underlying both classical and quantum phenomena. == Antiquity == The word energy derives from Greek word "energeia" (Greek: ἐνέργεια) meaning actuality, which appears for the first time in the 4th century BCE in various works of Aristotle when discussing potentiality and actuality including Physics, Metaphysics, Nicomachean Ethics and On the Soul. == Kinetic energy == The modern concept of kinetic energy emerged from the idea of vis viva (living force), which Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz defined over the period 1676–1689 as the product of the mass of an object


id: epistemic-cultures-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemic_cultures-0.md
category: reference
title: Epistemic cultures
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epistemic_cultures
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:09.440404+00:00
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parent: epistemic-cultures-20260505-0
summary:
Epistemic cultures (often used in plural form) is a concept developed in the nineties by anthropologist Karin Knorr Cetina in her book Epistemic Cultures: How the Sciences Make Knowledge. Opposed to a monist vision of scientific activity (according to which, would exist a unique scientific method), Knorr Cetina defines the concept of epistemic cultures as a diversity of scientific activities according to different scientific fields, not only in methods and tools, but also in types of reasonings, ways to establish evidence, and relationships between theory and empiry. Knorr Cetina's work is seminal in questioning the so-called unity of science. == Knorr Cetina's anthropology == In practice, Knorr Cetina compares two contemporary important scientific fields: High energy physics and molecular biology. She worked as an anthropologist within two laboratories, along the line of the laboratory anthropology work by Latour and Woolgar. Her anthropological work is comparative and the two chosen scientific fields are highly mediaticized and easily distinguishable. Epistemic cultures as a philosophical concept has been perused by numerous philosophical, anthropological or historical studies of science. == Two distinct publication regimes == High energy physics and molecular biology are very different as scientific fields belonging to two different epistemic cultures. They


id: european-and-american-voyages-of-scientific-exploration-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration-0.md
category: reference
title: European and American voyages of scientific exploration
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:10.846547+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: european-and-american-voyages-of-scientific-exploration-20260505-0
summary:
The era of European and American voyages of scientific exploration followed the Age of Discovery and were inspired by a new confidence in science and reason that arose in the Age of Enlightenment. Maritime expeditions in the Age of Discovery were a means of expanding colonial empires, establishing new trade routes and extending diplomatic and trade relations to new territories, but with the Enlightenment scientific curiosity became a new motive for exploration to add to the commercial and political ambitions of the past. See also List of Arctic expeditions and List of Antarctic expeditions. == Maritime exploration in the Age of Discovery == From the early 15th century to the early 17th century the Age of Discovery had, through Portuguese seafarers, and later, Spanish, Dutch, French and English, opened up southern Africa, the Americas (New World), Asia and Oceania to European eyes: Bartholomew Dias had sailed around the Cape of southern Africa in search of a trade route to India; Christopher Columbus, on four journeys across the Atlantic, had prepared the way for European colonisation of the New World; Ferdinand Magellan had commanded the first expedition to sail across the Atlantic and Pacific oceans to reach the Maluku Islands and


id: european-and-american-voyages-of-scientific-exploration-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration-1.md
category: reference
title: European and American voyages of scientific exploration
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:10.846547+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: european-and-american-voyages-of-scientific-exploration-20260505-0
summary:
== Maritime exploration in the Age of Enlightenment == By the 18th century maritime exploration had become safer and more efficient with technical innovations that vastly improved navigation and cartography: improvements were made to the theodolite, octant, precision clocks, as well as the compass, telescope, and general shipbuilding techniques. From the mid-18th century through the 19th century scientific missions mapped the newly discovered regions, brought back to Europe the newly discovered fauna and flora, made hydrological, astronomical and meteorological observations and improved the methods of navigation. This stimulated great advances in the scientific disciplines of natural history, botany, zoology, ichthyology, conchology, taxonomy, medicine, geography, geology, mineralogy, hydrology, oceanography, physics, meteorology etc. – all contributing to the sense of "improvement" and "progress" that characterized the Enlightenment. Often these missions brought together diverse researchers of different ethnic and regional background, thus creating a "transnational culture of expertise". Artists were used to record landscapes and indigenous peoples, while natural history illustrators captured the appearance of organisms before they deteriorated after collection. Some of the world's finest natural history illustrations were produced at this time and the illustrators changed from informed amateurs to fully trained professionals acutely aware of the need for scientific accuracy.


id: european-and-american-voyages-of-scientific-exploration-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration-2.md
category: reference
title: European and American voyages of scientific exploration
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:10.846547+00:00
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parent: european-and-american-voyages-of-scientific-exploration-20260505-0
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Captain: Thomas Adams (?–1770) Also aboard: Joseph Banks (1743–1820) and Constantine Phipps. ==== 1766–69: La Boudeuse and L'Étoile ==== Ordered by Louis XV, it was the first trip around the world initiated by the French. The discovery and description of Tahiti by Louis Antoine de Bougainville in his trip influenced several Enlightenment philosophers including Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712–78). The expedition was organised by Louis Antoine de Bougainville and received the support of such prominent figures of the time as Charles de Brosses (1709–77), Comte de Buffon (1707–88), Pierre Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698–1759) and Jérôme Lalande (1732–1807). The expedition aimed to discover new territories available for settlement, to open a new route to reach China, to found new outlets for the French East India Company and, finally, discover acclimatable spices for the Isle de France (now Mauritius). Captains: Louis Antoine de Bougainville (1729–1811) Chief of expedition, Nicolas Pierre Duclos-Guyot (Captain of La Boudeuse), François Chenard de la Giraudais (1727–1775) (Captain of L'Étoile) Naturalists: Philibert Commerçon (1727–73), Jeanne Baré (1740–1807) Astronomer: Pierre-Antoine Véron (1736–70) Cartographer: Charles Routier de Romainville (1742–92?) Publication: Louis Antoine de Bougainville, Journey Around the World by the Commander of the La Boudeuse and L'Étoile, in 1766, 1767, 1768


id: european-and-american-voyages-of-scientific-exploration-20260505-3
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration-3.md
category: reference
title: European and American voyages of scientific exploration
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:10.846547+00:00
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parent: european-and-american-voyages-of-scientific-exploration-20260505-0
summary:
Captain: Jean-François de Galaup, comte de Lapérouse (1741–1788) (on the Boussole) and Paul Antoine Fleuriot de Langle (1744–1787) (on the Astrolabe) Chief Engineer: Paul Mérault Monneron (1748–1788) Geologist: Robert de Lamanon (1752–1787) Artists: the uncle and nephew Prevost, Duché De Vancy Naturalists: Jean-André Mongez (1751 – c. 1788) Interpreter of Russian: Barthélemy de Lesseps (1766–1834) landed at Petropavlovsk, and in charge of bringing to France the log, maps and drawings of the trip. ==== 1785–88: King George ==== Global circumnavigation. Captain: Nathaniel Portlock ==== 1785–94: Slava Rossii ==== A Russian expedition commanded by the British Captain Joseph Billings, astronomer on Cook's third voyage. This expedition lasted more than ten years attempting, unsuccessfully, to find the Northwest Passage that had remained undiscovered after Cook's explorations. Captain: Joseph Billings (c. 1758 – 1806) Naturalists: Carl Heinrich Merck and Carl Krebs Surgeons-naturalists: Michael Robeck and Peter Allegretti Cartographer: Gavriil Sarytchev Publications: J. Billings, An Account of a Geographical and Astronomical expedition to the Northern parts of Russia. (1802), translated into French the same year under the title of Voyage made by order of Empress Catherine II Russia, in the North of the Asian Russian the icy sea, in the sea on the coasts


id: european-and-american-voyages-of-scientific-exploration-20260505-4
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration-4.md
category: reference
title: European and American voyages of scientific exploration
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:10.846547+00:00
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parent: european-and-american-voyages-of-scientific-exploration-20260505-0
summary:
This expedition was organised to establish a permanent colonial presence in the South Seas before the British, concentrating on the mapping of the coast of the Australia and New Guinea. Nicolas Baudin died in Mauritius in 1803, another naturalist on the island of Timor, two other naturalists chose to stay on the island and two astronomers died of dysentery. Péron, assisted by his friend Lesueur, managed to gather a vast zoological collection. Naturaliste returned to France in 1803 with a part of the collections. Captain Baudin bought a schooner, the Casuarina, at the British settlement of Port Jackson in Australia. Baudin was replaced by Pierre Bernard Milius (1773–1829). Commanders: Nicolas Baudin (1754–1803) (Le Géographe) and Jacques Hamelin (1768–1839) (Le Naturaliste). Physician, surgeon (first doctor in the Navy) and biologist: Pierre François Keraudren (1769–1858) (Le Géographe). Naturalists: Jean Baptiste Leschenault de la Tour (1773–1826), René Maugé Cely, Stanislas Levillain (1774–1801), François Péron (1775–1810), Jean-Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent (1778–1846) (left the expedition to Mauritius), Désiré Dumont, André Michaux (1746–1803) Artist: Charles-Alexandre Lesueur (1778–1846) assisted by Nicolas-Martin Petit (1777–1804) Astronomers: Pierre-François Bernier (1779–1803) and Frédéric de Bissy (1768–1803) Cartographer: Charles-Pierre Boullanger Geographer: Pierre Faure (1777–1855) Mineralogist: Louis Depuch, Joseph Charles Bailly Publications: F.


id: european-and-american-voyages-of-scientific-exploration-20260505-5
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration-5.md
category: reference
title: European and American voyages of scientific exploration
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:10.846547+00:00
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parent: european-and-american-voyages-of-scientific-exploration-20260505-0
summary:
Commander: lieutenant Louis Isidore Duperrey (1786–1865) Second: lieutenant Jules Dumont d'Urville, botanist (1790–1842) Physician-naturalist: the surgeon, pharmacist and zoologist René Primevère Lesson (1794–1849) and surgeon-major Prosper Garnot (1794–1838) Astronomer: Charles Hector Jacquinot (1796–1879) Illustrators: Jules Louis Lejeune (1804–1851), Jacques Arago (1790–1855) Hydrographer: Victor Charles Lottin (1795–1858) Publications: Lesson and Garnot, Voyage autour du monde exécuté par ordre du roi sur la corvette La Coquille (1828–32)/Journey around the world on the corvette La Coquille (Paris, six volumes, 1826–1830). ==== 1823–26: Predpriyatiye ==== An expedition of two ships of war, the main object of which was to take reinforcements to Kamchatka. There was, however, a staff of scientists on board the Russian sailing sloop Predpriyatiye (Russian: "Enterprise"), who collected much valuable information and material on geography, ethnography and natural history. The expedition, proceeding by Cape Horn, visited the Radak and Society Islands, and reached Petropavlovsk in July 1824. Many positions along the coast were mapped more accurately, the Navigator islands visited, and several discoveries made. The expedition returned by the Marianas, Philippines, New Caledonia and the Hawaiian Islands, reaching Kronstadt on 10 July 1826. Captain: Otto von Kotzebue (1787–1846) Physician-naturalist: Johann Friedrich von Eschscholtz (1793–1831) and Dr. Lenz Publication: O. von Kotzebue,


id: european-and-american-voyages-of-scientific-exploration-20260505-6
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration-6.md
category: reference
title: European and American voyages of scientific exploration
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:10.846547+00:00
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parent: european-and-american-voyages-of-scientific-exploration-20260505-0
summary:
==== 1826–29: Senyavin and Moller ==== A Russian circumnavigation on the ship Senyavin, sailing from Kronstadt and rounding Cape Horn, accompanied by Captain Mikhail Nikolaievich Staniukovich in command of the sloop Moller. During the voyage Litke and his team described the western coastline of the Bering Sea, the Bonin Islands off Japan, and the Carolines, and discovered 12 new islands. The expedition strengthened the Russian presence near Alaska. A large collection of natural history specimens was made including 1,000 new species of insects, fish, birds and other animals, and 2,500 plant specimens including algae and minerals. Captain: Fyodor Litke (1797–1882) Botanist-naturalist: Karl Heinrich Mertens (1796–1830) Naturalist: Heinrich von Kittlitz (1799–1874) Mineralogist: Alexander Philipov Postels (1801–1871) Published by: F. Litke, Trip around the world (1835–1836). ==== 1827–28: La Chevrette ==== The first French expedition to map the coast of India. Captain: Theodore Fabré (1795–1830) Surgeon-naturalist: Auguste Adolphe Marc Reynaud (1804–?) ==== 1828: Ms. Korvet Triton ==== Dutch exploration of New Guinea. The corvette Triton The brig Iris Expedition leader: Dr. H.C. Macklot Captain of Triton: J.J. Steenboom ==== 1829: La Cybèle ==== Scientific exploration was placed under the direction of Jean-Baptiste Bory de Saint-Vincent (1778–1846). Captain: Marie Antoine Chevalier de Robillard


id: european-and-american-voyages-of-scientific-exploration-20260505-7
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration-7.md
category: reference
title: European and American voyages of scientific exploration
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:10.846547+00:00
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parent: european-and-american-voyages-of-scientific-exploration-20260505-0
summary:
The second voyage of L'Astrolabe, this time accompanied by La Zélée, sailed on 7 September 1837 and at the end of November, the ships reached the Strait of Magellan. Dumont thought there was sufficient time to explore the strait for three weeks, taking into account the precise maps drawn by Phillip Parker King between 1826 and 1830, before heading south again but two weeks after seeing their first iceberg, the ships were encased in pack ice for a while. After reaching the South Orkney Islands, the expedition headed directly to the South Shetland Islands and the Bransfield Strait. Then located some land which was named Terre de Louis-Philippe (now called Graham Land), the Joinville Island group and Rosamel Island (now called Andersson Island). In poor shape the two ships headed for Talcahuano in Chile. Turning south they led for the first time some experiments to determine the approximate position of the South Magnetic Pole, discovered the Terre Adélie on 20 January 1840, and landed two days later on an islet of the Géologie Archipelago (66°36′19″S 140°4′0″E) 4 km from the mainland to take mineral and animal samples. Captains: Jules Dumont d'Urville (1790–1842) (L'Astrolabe), Charles Hector Jacquinot (1796–1879) (La Zélée) Physician-naturalist:


id: european-and-american-voyages-of-scientific-exploration-20260505-8
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration-8.md
category: reference
title: European and American voyages of scientific exploration
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:10.846547+00:00
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parent: european-and-american-voyages-of-scientific-exploration-20260505-0
summary:
Captains: Sir James Clark Ross (1800–1862) (Erebus) and Francis Crozier (1796–1848) (Terror) Physician-naturalist: Robert McCormick (1800–1890), Joseph Hooker (1817–1911), John Robertson, David Lyall (1817–1895) Publications: J.C. Ross, A Voyage of Discovery and Research in the Southern and Antarctic Regions. (1847), J.E. Gray and John Richardson, The zoology of the Voyage of HM Ships Erebus and Terror (1844–1875). J.D. Hooker, The botany of the Antarctic voyage of HM discovery ships Erebus and Terror in the years 1839–1843 under the command of Captain Sir James Clark Ross. Three volumes: I. Flora Antarctica (1844), II. Flora Novae Zelandiae (1853–1855), III. Flora Tasmaniae (1860). ==== 1841–44: La Favorite ==== A French scientific exploration in the China Sea and Indian Ocean. Captain: Théogène François Page (1807–1867) Surgeon-naturalist: Charles René Augustin Léclancher (1804–1857) ==== 1842–46: HMS Fly ==== During the early to mid-1840s, Fly charted numerous trade and other routes between many locations, primarily off Australia's north-east coast and nearby islands. Such islands included Whitsunday Island and the Capricorn Islands. After being discovered during the survey of the Gulf of Papua, New Guinea, the Fly River was named after HMS Fly. For the most of its seaworthy existence, Fly was captained by Francis Price Blackwood. Captain:


id: european-and-american-voyages-of-scientific-exploration-20260505-9
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration-9.md
category: reference
title: European and American voyages of scientific exploration
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:10.846547+00:00
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parent: european-and-american-voyages-of-scientific-exploration-20260505-0
summary:
==== 1860: HMS Bulldog ==== An oceanographic survey in HMS Bulldog for the laying of a submarine telegraph cable in the North Atlantic. Captain: Francis Leopold McClintock (1819–1907) Naturalist: George Charles Wallich (1815–1899) Publication: The North Atlantic Sea – Bed; comprising a diary of the voyage on board H. M. S. Bulldog, in 1860, and observations on the presence of animal life, and the formation and nature of organic deposits, at great depths in the ocean. (1862). ==== 1862: Arctic expedition of Krusenstern ==== Arctic expedition of two ships, MV Iermak and MV Embrio in order to discover the Yenissei river delta, resulted in shipwreck in the Kara Sea. Captain: Paul Theodor von Krusenstern Publication: Naufrage du lieutenant Krusenstern dans les glaces de la mer de Kara (1863, in Le Tour du monde Volume 8 pp. 203–208) ==== 1865–68: Magenta ==== An Italian circumnavigation of the globe that made important scientific observations in South America. The purpose of the trip was also to establish diplomatic relations with China and Japan, but without success. De Filippi set out in 1866 on a government-sponsored scientific voyage to circumnavigate the globe. The ship, the Italian warship Magenta, sailed under the command of Vittorio


id: european-and-american-voyages-of-scientific-exploration-20260505-10
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration-10.md
category: reference
title: European and American voyages of scientific exploration
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_and_American_voyages_of_scientific_exploration
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:10.846547+00:00
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parent: european-and-american-voyages-of-scientific-exploration-20260505-0
summary:
Albatross belonged to the Committee on Fisheries of the United States and it carried out numerous scientific expeditions under the direction of Alexander Emanuel Agassiz (1835–1910). The primary goal was an inventory of the Pacific fishery reserves but many other observations are carried out by Townsend and other scientists. Captain: Zera Tanner (1835–1906) Naturalist: Charles Haskins Townsend (1859–1944) ==== 1897–98: Lila and Mattie ==== Zoologist Walter Rothschild commissioned the Webster-Harris Expedition to the Galápagos Islands from June 1897 to February 1898. This expedition on the schooner Lila & Mattie is well-described in the 1983 book titled Dear Lord Rothschild by Miriam Rothschild. In the 1936 book Oceanic Birds of South America by Robert Cushman Murphy, Rollo Beck describes the seminal telegram from C.M Harris that started his long and important association with the Galápagos Islands. The original of this telegram is in the Rollo Beck Collection in the California Academy of Sciences Archives. There is also a photo from Beck's Sierra Nevada collecting trip in the archives of the Museum of Vertebrate Zoology on the University of California, Berkeley campus. The story of buried treasure on Tower Island connected with this trip was apparently known to Captain Lindbridge during this


id: history-of-experiments-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_experiments-0.md
category: reference
title: History of experiments
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_experiments
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:12.087908+00:00
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parent: history-of-experiments-20260505-0
summary:
The history of experimental research is long and varied. Indeed, the definition of an experiment itself has changed in responses to changing norms and practices within particular fields of study. This article documents the history and development of experimental research from its origins in Galileo's study of gravity into the diversely applied method in use today. == Ibn al-Haytham == The Arab physicist Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) used experimentation to obtain the results in his Book of Optics (1021). He combined observations, experiments and rational arguments to support his intromission theory of vision, in which rays of light are emitted from objects rather than from the eyes. He used similar arguments to show that the ancient emission theory of vision supported by Ptolemy and Euclid (in which the eyes emit the rays of light used for seeing), and the ancient intromission theory supported by Aristotle (where objects emit physical particles to the eyes), were both wrong. Experimental evidence supported most of the propositions in his Book of Optics and grounded his theories of vision, light and colour, as well as his research in catoptrics and dioptrics. His legacy was elaborated through the 'reforming' of his Optics by Kamal al-Din al-Farisi (d.


id: history-of-experiments-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_experiments-1.md
category: reference
title: History of experiments
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_experiments
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:12.087908+00:00
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parent: history-of-experiments-20260505-0
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The experiments of Antoine Lavoisier (1743–1794), a French chemist regarded as the founder of modern chemistry, were among the first to be truly quantitative. Lavoisier showed that although matter changes its state in a chemical reaction, the quantity of matter is the same at the end as at the beginning of every chemical reaction. In one experiment, he burned phosphorus and sulfur in air to see whether the results further supported his previous conclusion (Law of Conservation of Mass). In this experiment, however, he determined that the products weighed more than the original phosphorus and sulfur. He decided to do the experiment again. This time he measured the mass of the air surrounding the experiment as well. He discovered that the mass gained in the product was lost from the air. These experiments provided further support for his Law of Conservation of Mass. One of Lavoisier's experiments connected the worlds of respiration and combustion. Lavoisier's hypothesis was that combustion and respiration were one and the same, and combustion occurs with every instance of respiration. Working with Pierre-Simon Laplace, Lavoisier designed an ice calorimeter apparatus for measuring the amount of heat given off during combustion or respiration. This machine consisted of


id: history-of-experiments-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_experiments-2.md
category: reference
title: History of experiments
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_experiments
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:12.087908+00:00
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parent: history-of-experiments-20260505-0
summary:
The French biologist Louis Pasteur (1822-1895), regarded as the "Father of microbiological sciences and immunology", worked during the 19th century. He postulated - and supported with experimental results - the idea that disease-causing agents do not spontaneously appear but are alive and need the right environment to prosper and multiply. Stemming from this discovery, he used experimentation to develop vaccines for chicken cholera, anthrax and rabies, and developed methods for reducing bacteria in some food products by heating them (pasteurization). Pasteur's work also led him to advocate (along with the English physician Dr. Joseph Lister) antiseptic surgical techniques. Most scientists of that day believed that microscopic life sprang into existence from spontaneous generation in non-living matter. Pasteur's observations of tiny organisms under the microscope caused him to doubt spontaneous generation. He designed an experiment to test his hypothesis that life could not arise from where there is no life. He took care to control possible confounding factors. For example, he needed to make sure there was no life, even microscopic, in the flasks of broth he used as a test medium. He decided to kill any microscopic organisms already present by boiling the broth until he was confident that any


id: list-of-experiments-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_experiments-0.md
category: reference
title: List of experiments
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_experiments
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:13.283511+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: list-of-experiments-20260505-0
summary:
The following is a list of historically important scientific experiments and observations demonstrating something of great scientific interest, typically in an elegant or clever manner. == Astronomy == Ole Rømer makes the first quantitative estimate of the speed of light in 1676 by timing the motions of Jupiter's satellite Io with a telescope Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson detect the cosmic microwave background radiation, giving support to the theory of the Big Bang (1964) Kerim Kerimov launches Kosmos 186 and Kosmos 188 as experiments on automatic docking eventually leading to the development of space stations (1967) The Supernova Cosmology Project and the High-Z Supernova Search Team discover, by observing Type Ia supernovae, that the expansion of the Universe is accelerating (1998) Galileo Galilei uses a telescope to observe that the moons of Jupiter appear to circle Jupiter. This evidence supports the heliocentric model, and weakens the geocentric model of the cosmos (1609) == Biology == Robert Hooke, using a microscope, observes cells (1665). Anton van Leeuwenhoek discovers microorganisms (1674–1676). James Lind, publishes 'A Treatise of the Scurvy' which describes a controlled shipboard experiment using two identical populations but with only one variable, the consumption of citrus fruit (1753). Edward Jenner


id: list-of-experiments-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_experiments-1.md
category: reference
title: List of experiments
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_experiments
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:13.283511+00:00
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parent: list-of-experiments-20260505-0
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== Chemistry == Robert Boyle uses an air pump to determine the inverse relationship between the pressure and volume of a gas. This relationship came to be known as Boyle's law (1660–1662). Joseph Priestley suspends a bowl of water above a beer vat at a brewery and synthesizes carbonated water (1767). Antoine Lavoisier determines that oxygen combines with materials upon combustion, thus disproving phlogiston theory (1783). Antoine Lavoisier determines that chemical reactions in a closed container do not alter total mass. From these observations he establishes the law of conservation of mass (1789). Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford demonstrates that the heat developed by the friction of boring cannon is nearly inexhaustible. This result was presented in opposition to caloric theory (1798). Humphry Davy uses electrolysis to isolate elemental potassium, sodium, calcium, strontium, barium, magnesium, and chlorine (1807–1810). Joseph Louis Gay-Lussac studies reactions among gases and determines that their volumes combine chemically in simple integer ratios (1809). Robert Brown studies very small particles in water under the microscope and observes Brownian motion which was later named in his honor (1827). Friedrich Wöhler synthesizes the organic compound urea using inorganic reactants, disproving the application of vitalism to chemical processes (1828). Thomas Graham


id: list-of-experiments-20260505-2
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_experiments-2.md
category: reference
title: List of experiments
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_experiments
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:13.283511+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: list-of-experiments-20260505-0
summary:
Inclined plane experiment (1602–07): Galileo Galilei uses rolling balls to disprove the Aristotelian theory of motion. Atmospheric pressure vs. altitude experiment (1648): Blaise Pascal carries a barometer up a church tower and a mountain to determine that atmospheric pressure is due to a column of air. Magdeburg hemispheres (1654): Otto von Guericke demonstrates atmospheric pressure using a pair of hollow copper hemisphere. Spring of air experiment (1660): Robert Boyle shows that the volume of a given amount of gas is inversely related to the pressure upon it. Kite experiment (1700s): Benjamin Franklin beginning in 1747 describes experiments in letters to Peter Collinson demonstrating electrical principles which were published in a book called Experiments and Observations on Electricity. Voltaic pile (1796): Alessandro Volta constructs a new source of electricity, the electrical battery. Cavendish experiment (1798): Henry Cavendish's torsion bar experiment measures the force of gravity in a laboratory. Double-slit experiment (c.1805): Thomas Young shows that light is a wave in his double-slit experiment. Arago spot (1819): Observation of circular diffraction by François Arago, validated a new wave theory of light by Augustin-Jean Fresnel disproving skeptics like Siméon Denis Poisson. Ørsted experiment (1820): Hans Christian Ørsted demonstrates the connection of electricity and


id: fermentation-theory-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermentation_theory-0.md
category: reference
title: Fermentation theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermentation_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:14.513171+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: fermentation-theory-20260505-0
summary:
In biochemistry, fermentation theory refers to the historical study of models of natural fermentation processes, especially alcoholic and lactic acid fermentation. Notable contributors to the theory include Justus Von Liebig and Louis Pasteur, the latter of whom developed a purely microbial basis for the fermentation process based on his experiments. Pasteur's work on fermentation later led to his development of the germ theory of disease, which put the concept of spontaneous generation to rest. Although the fermentation process had been used extensively throughout history prior to the origin of Pasteur's prevailing theories, the underlying biological and chemical processes were not fully understood. In the contemporary, fermentation is used in the production of various alcoholic beverages, foodstuffs, and medications. == Overview of fermentation == Fermentation is the anaerobic metabolic process that converts sugar into acids, gases, or alcohols in oxygen starved environments. Yeast and many other microbes commonly use fermentation to carry out anaerobic respiration necessary for survival. Even the human body carries out fermentation processes from time to time, such as during long-distance running; lactic acid will build up in muscles over the course of long-term exertion. Within the human body, lactic acid is the by-product of ATP-producing fermentation, which


id: fermentation-theory-20260505-1
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermentation_theory-1.md
category: reference
title: Fermentation theory
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermentation_theory
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:14.513171+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: fermentation-theory-20260505-0
summary:
Pasteur also experimented with the mechanisms of brewer's yeast in the absence of organic nitrogen. By adding pure brewer's yeast to a solution of cane sugar, ammonium salt, and yeast ash, Pasteur was able to observe the alcoholic fermentation process with all of its usual byproducts: glycerin, succinic acid, and small amounts of cellulose and fatty matters. However, if any of the ingredients were removed from the solution, no fermentation would occur. To Pasteur, this was proof that yeast required the nitrogen, minerals, and carbon from the medium for its metabolic processes, releasing carbonic acid and ethyl alcohol as byproducts. This also disproved Liebig's theory, since there was no albuminous matter present in the medium; the decomposition of the yeast was not the driving force for the observed fermentation. == Pasteur on spontaneous generation == Before the 1860s and 1870s—when Pasteur published his work on this theory—it was believed that microorganisms and even some small animals such as frogs would spontaneously generate. Spontaneous generation was historically explained in a variety of ways. Aristotle, an ancient Greek philosopher, theorized that creatures appeared out of certain concoctions of earthly elements, such as clay or mud mixing with water and sunlight. Later on,


id: golden-age-of-cosmology-20260505-0
file: data/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_age_of_cosmology-0.md
category: reference
title: Golden age of cosmology
tags: science, encyclopedia
source_url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_age_of_cosmology
date_saved: 2026-05-05T03:39:15.609448+00:00
instance: kb-cron
parent: golden-age-of-cosmology-20260505-0
summary:
The golden age of cosmology is a term often used to describe the period from 1992 to the present in which important advances in observational cosmology have been made. Prior to the golden age of cosmology, the understanding of the universe was limited to what scientists could observe through telescopes and other instruments. Theories and models were developed based on limited data and observations, and there was much speculation and debate regarding the true nature of the universe. The golden age of cosmology has also seen the development of new observational techniques and technologies. For example, the use of telescopes in space has revolutionized our ability to observe the universe. Space-based observatories such as the Hubble Space Telescope (launched in 1990) and the James Webb Space Telescope (launched in 2021) have provided stunning images and data that have expanded our understanding of the universe. In addition, ground-based telescopes have also undergone significant improvements in recent years. For example, the Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) in Chile is a revolutionary new telescope that is able to observe the universe in unprecedented detail. It has already made significant contributions to our understanding of star formation and the early universe. == Lambda-CDM model


