This history of physics focuses on the question, "How do bodies act on one another across space?" The variety of answers illustrates the function of fundamental analogies or models in physics as well as the role of so-called unobservable entities. Forces and Fields presents an in-depth look at the science of ancient Greece, and it examines the influence of antique philosophy on seventeenth-century thought. Additional topics embrace many elements of modern physics--the empirical basis of quantum mechanics, wave-particle duality and the (...) uncertainty principle, and the action-at-a-distance theory of Wheeler and Feynman. 1961 ed. (shrink)

This volume illustrates the old and fruitful dialogue between historians of science and philosophers, as well as new collaborations with artists. It includes two symposia. The first one is on the history of scientific models, the seond is on science and music. It also contains papers on the philosophy of mathematics, physics, technology and politics, but also on Aristotle, Lucretius, Bacon, Le Bon, Spengler, Reichenbach, and Kuhn.