A People's History of Science: Miners, Midwives, and "Low Mechanicks" (Nation Books)

We all know the history of science that we learned from grade school textbooks: How Galileo used his telescope to show that the earth was not the center of the universe; how Newton divined gravity from the falling apple; how Einstein unlocked the mysteries of time and space with a simple equation. This history is made up of long periods of ignorance and confusion, punctuated once an age by a brilliant thinker who puts it all together. These few tower over the ordinary mass of people, and in the traditional account, it is to them that we owe science in its entirety. This belief is w.;Acknowledgments; 1 What Science? What History? What People?; 2 Prehistory: Were Hunter-Gatherers Stupid?; 3 What ""Greek Miracle""?; 4 Blue-Water Sailors and the Navigational Sciences; 5 Who Were the Revolutionaries in the Scientific Revolution?; 6 Who Were the Winners in the Scientific Resolution?; 7 The ""Union of Capital and Science""; 8 The Scientific-Industrial Complex; Bibliography; Index. We all know the history of science that we learned from grade school textbooks: How Galileo used his telescope to show that the earth was not the center of the universe; how Newton divined gravity from the falling apple; how Einstein unlocked the mysteries of time and space with a simple equation. This history is made up of long periods of ignorance and confusion, punctuated once an age by a brilliant thinker who puts it all together. These few tower over the ordinary mass of people, and in the traditional account, it is to them that we owe science in its entirety. This belief is wrong. A People's History of Science shows how ordinary people participate in creating science and have done so throughout history. It documents how the development of science has affected ordinary people, and how ordinary people perceived that development. It would be wrong to claim that the formulation of quantum theory or the structure of DNA can be credited directly to artisans or peasants, but if modern science is likened to a skyscraper, then those twentieth-century triumphs are the sophisticated filigrees at its pinnacle that are supported by the massive foundation created by the rest of us. What Science? What History? What People? -- Prehistory: Were Hunter-gatherers Stupid? -- What Greek Miracle? -- Blue-water Sailors And The Navigational Sciences -- Who Were The Revolutionaries In The Scientific Revolution? -- Who Were The Winners In The Scientific Revolution? -- The Union Of Capital And Science -- The Scientific-industrial Complex. Clifford D. Conner. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. Challenges popular beliefs that credit such figures as Galileo, Newton, and Einstein with bringing about modern science, explaining how everyday laborers participated in creating science and continue to do so today, in an account that also documents how the development of science affects ordinary people.