The Names of Science
Terminology and Language in the History of the Natural Sciences
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Product details:
- Publisher OUP Oxford
- Date of Publication 4 July 2024
- ISBN 9780198917441
- Binding Paperback
- No. of pages352 pages
- Size 17x157x234 mm
- Weight 592 g
- Language English
- Illustrations 10 b/w figures 581
Categories
Short description:
The history of science is echoed in the development of its language and the names chosen for its technical terms. This book examines in detail how new words entered the scientific vocabulary and how some, but not all, have survived to the present.
MoreLong description:
The history of science is echoed in the development of its language and the names chosen for its technical terms. The Names of Science examines in detail how, over time, new words have entered the scientific lexicon and how some of them, but far from all, have survived to the present. Why is a transistor called a transistor and not something else? Why was the term 'scientist' only coined in 1834, and why was the name regarded as controversial for a long time afterwards?
There is a story behind every scientific word we use today. In this work, Helge Kragh tells many of these stories, taking a broad historical perspective from the Renaissance to the present. By combining elements of linguistics with the history of the natural sciences including physics, chemistry, and astronomy, this book offers a new and innovative perspective on the historical development of the natural sciences.
Following an introductory list of useful linguistic terms, the book is structured in six chapters, which cover important phases in the history of science, dealing with a vast range of scientific terminology from physics, chemistry, geology, astronomy, to cosmology. It also considers, if only briefly, how English - and not, say, Latin or French - developed to become the internationally accepted language of science.
Contrary to other works dealing with the subject, The Names of Science pays serious attention to the historical dimension of scientific language, and to the way in which scientists have, sometimes unconsciously, acted as linguists and neologists in their research work.
An important contribution to the history of science, clearly written, informative, and thoroughly documented in extensive use of primary and secondary sources.
Table of Contents:
Preface
Introduction: Some linguistic terms
Issues of science, history, and language
Electicity and electromagnetism
Fundamental particles
More physics names
Worlds and words of chemistry
Heavenly sciences
Bibliography
Index
