The Britannica Guide to Theories and Ideas That Changed the Modern World (Turning Points in History)

There was a time when people assumed that the world was flat. Once an alternate theory was proposed, however, that conceit was challenged and, eventually, disproved. In short, theories and ideas can be potent agents of change—none more so than those that are extensively detailed in this book. Title......Page 3 Copyright......Page 4 CONTENTS......Page 5 Introduction......Page 12 THE ORIGIN OF LIFE......Page 21 THE DEATH OF SPONTANEOUS GENERATION......Page 22 THE ORIGIN OF PRIMORDIAL LIFE......Page 23 CELL THEORY......Page 25 THE PROBLEM OF THE ORIGIN OF CELLS......Page 28 THE PROTOPLASM CONCEPT......Page 31 THE CONTRIBUTION OF OTHER SCIENCES......Page 32 GERM THEORY......Page 35 DISCOVERIES IN CLINICAL MEDICINE AND ANESTHESIA......Page 37 ADVANCES AT THE END OF THE CENTURY......Page 38 GENETICS......Page 40 ANCIENT THEORIES OF PANGENESIS AND BLOOD IN HEREDITY......Page 41 PREFORMATION AND NATURAL SELECTION......Page 43 THE WORK OF MENDEL......Page 44 HOW THE GENE IDEA BECAME REALITY......Page 45 THE DISCOVERY OF LINKED GENES......Page 46 DNA AND THE GENETIC CODE......Page 47 RECOMBINANT DNA TECHNOLOGY AND THE POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION......Page 49 EVOLUTION......Page 51 THE WORK OF CHARLES DARWIN......Page 52 THE DARWINIAN AFTERMATH......Page 54 THE SYNTHETIC THEORY......Page 56 MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCES......Page 57 ECOLOGY......Page 60 ARABIC NUMERALS......Page 65 THE PRECALCULUS PERIOD......Page 67 NEWTON AND LEIBNIZ......Page 70 THE ATOMIC THEORY......Page 74 THE ROOTS OF ASTRONOMY......Page 77 A PREPONDERANCE OF THEORIES......Page 80 GRAVITATIONAL THEORY......Page 84 SPECIAL RELATIVITY......Page 87 LIGHT AND THE ETHER......Page 88 STARTING POINTS AND POSTULATES......Page 90 RELATIVISTIC SPACE AND TIME......Page 91 COSMIC SPEED LIMIT......Page 94 GENERAL RELATIVITY......Page 96 PRINCIPLE OF EQUIVALENCE......Page 97 CURVED SPACE-TIME AND GEOMETRIC GRAVITATION......Page 99 PLANCK'S RADIATION LAW......Page 100 EINSTEIN AND THE PHOTOELECTRIC EFFECT......Page 101 BOHR'S THEORY OF THE ATOM......Page 102 SCATTERING OF X-RAYS......Page 104 BROGLIE'S WAVE HYPOTHESIS......Page 105 THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE: THE BIG BANG THEORY......Page 108 THE EVOLUTION OF STARS AND THE FORMATION OF CHEMICAL ELEMENTS......Page 111 SOLAR-SYSTEM ASTRONOMY......Page 113 PLATE TECTONICS......Page 114 ISOSTASY......Page 115 EVIDENCE SUPPORTING THE HYPOTHESIS......Page 116 PALEOMAGNETISM, POLAR WANDERING, AND CONTINENTAL DRIFT......Page 117 GESTATION AND BIRTH OF PLATE TECTONIC THEORY......Page 118 DETERMINATION OF PLATE THICKNESS......Page 121 PLATE-DRIVING MECHANISMS AND THE ROLE OF THE MANTLE......Page 122 KNOWLEDGE OF LANDFORMS AND OF LAND-SEA RELATIONS......Page 123 PALEONTOLOGY AND STRATIGRAPHY......Page 124 WILLIAM SMITH AND FAUNAL SUCCESSION......Page 125 CHARLES LYELL AND UNIFORMITARIANISM......Page 126 GEOLOGIC TIME AND THE AGE OF THE EARTH......Page 127 PERSPECTIVE......Page 130 ABSTRACT ART......Page 135 IMPRESSIONISM......Page 138 EXPRESSIONISM......Page 141 THE VISUAL ARTS......Page 142 LITERATURE AND DRAMA......Page 147 OTHER ARTS......Page 148 THE FIRST PHASE......Page 151 THE SECOND PHASE: ANALYTICAL CUBISM......Page 152 THE THIRD PHASE: SYNTHETIC CUBISM......Page 154 MODERNISM......Page 155 MODERNISM IN LITERATURE......Page 156 MODERNISM IN OTHER ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE......Page 158 HARMONY......Page 159 THE ROOTS OF HARMONY......Page 161 HARMONY BEFORE THE COMMON PRACTICE PERIOD......Page 162 CLASSICAL WESTERN HARMONY......Page 169 MONTAGE......Page 171 THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE......Page 175 DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE HISTORY AND THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE......Page 177 DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE AND THE THEORY OF ART......Page 179 FUNCTIONALISM......Page 182 THE ART OF BUILDING......Page 184 “COMMODITY, FIRMNESS, AND DELIGHT”: THE ULTIMATE SYNTHESIS......Page 187 GREEN ARCHITECTURE......Page 198 THE RISE OF ECO-AWARENESS......Page 199 GREEN DESIGN TAKES ROOT......Page 201 THE PRINCIPLES OF BUILDING GREEN......Page 205 THE CHALLENGES TO ARCHITECTURE......Page 207 URBAN PLANNING......Page 211 THE DEVELOPMENT OF URBAN PLANNING......Page 213 URBAN FORM......Page 221 THE SCOPE OF PLANNING......Page 224 MASS PRODUCTION......Page 235 THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS......Page 236 PIONEERS OF MASS PRODUCTION METHODS......Page 238 MANUFACTURING PIONEERS......Page 239 THEORIES OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT......Page 241 PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORIES......Page 242 PIAGET'S THEORY......Page 244 LEARNING THEORY......Page 245 PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY......Page 247 SCREEN MEMORIES......Page 248 THE INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS......Page 250 FURTHER THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENT......Page 252 HUMAN RIGHTS......Page 255 CONSCIENCE......Page 258 SIN......Page 260 SOUL......Page 262 THE PROBLEM......Page 266 THEISTIC RESPONSES......Page 267 JUST WAR......Page 269 NATURAL LAW......Page 273 THEORIES AND OBJECTIVES OF PUNISHMENT......Page 278 PUNISHMENT IN ISLAMIC LAW......Page 284 PUNISHMENT IN ASIAN SOCIETIES......Page 286 UTOPIA......Page 288 MONOTHEISM......Page 293 NEUTRALITY......Page 298 DUE PROCESS......Page 302 HISTORY......Page 304 CONTEMPORARY DEMOCRATIC SYSTEMS......Page 308 EQUAL PROTECTION......Page 311 DEFINITION AND SCOPE......Page 316 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT......Page 319 INTERNATIONAL LAW AND MUNICIPAL LAW......Page 325 SOCIAL CONTRACT......Page 329 ABSOLUTISM......Page 332 THE IDENTIFICATION OF STATE AND PEOPLE......Page 336 CULTURAL NATIONALISM......Page 338 EUROPEAN NATIONALISM......Page 339 ASIAN AND AFRICAN NATIONALISM......Page 344 THE EMERGENCE OF INTELLECTUAL-PROPERTY LAW......Page 353 INTERNET DOMAIN NAMES......Page 355 THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION AND INTELLECTUAL-PROPERTY LAW......Page 356 ECONOMIC AND ETHICAL ISSUES......Page 357 THEORETICAL DEBATES......Page 358 TRENDS......Page 361 Glossary......Page 366 For Further Reading......Page 369 Index......Page 371 Title 3 Copyright 4 CONTENTS 5 Introduction 12 Chapter 1: THE BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES 21 THE ORIGIN OF LIFE 21 THE DEATH OF SPONTANEOUS GENERATION 22 THE ORIGIN OF PRIMORDIAL LIFE 23 CELL THEORY 25 THE PROBLEM OF THE ORIGIN OF CELLS 28 THE PROTOPLASM CONCEPT 31 THE CONTRIBUTION OF OTHER SCIENCES 32 GERM THEORY 35 DISCOVERIES IN CLINICAL MEDICINE AND ANESTHESIA 37 ADVANCES AT THE END OF THE CENTURY 38 GENETICS 40 ANCIENT THEORIES OF PANGENESIS AND BLOOD IN HEREDITY 41 PREFORMATION AND NATURAL SELECTION 43 THE WORK OF MENDEL 44 HOW THE GENE IDEA BECAME REALITY 45 THE DISCOVERY OF LINKED GENES 46 EARLY MOLECULAR GENETICS 47 DNA AND THE GENETIC CODE 47 RECOMBINANT DNA TECHNOLOGY AND THE POLYMERASE CHAIN REACTION 49 EVOLUTION 51 THE WORK OF CHARLES DARWIN 52 THE DARWINIAN AFTERMATH 54 THE SYNTHETIC THEORY 56 MOLECULAR BIOLOGY AND EARTH SCIENCES 57 ECOLOGY 60 Chapter 2: MATHEMATICS AND THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES 65 ARABIC NUMERALS 65 THE CALCULUS 67 THE PRECALCULUS PERIOD 67 NEWTON AND LEIBNIZ 70 THE ATOMIC THEORY 74 THE ROOTS OF ASTRONOMY 77 THE SCIENTIFIC REVOLUTION 80 A PREPONDERANCE OF THEORIES 80 GRAVITATIONAL THEORY 84 SPECIAL RELATIVITY 87 LIGHT AND THE ETHER 88 EINSTEIN’S GEDANKENEXPERIMENTS 90 STARTING POINTS AND POSTULATES 90 RELATIVISTIC SPACE AND TIME 91 COSMIC SPEED LIMIT 94 GENERAL RELATIVITY 96 PRINCIPLE OF EQUIVALENCE 97 CURVED SPACE-TIME AND GEOMETRIC GRAVITATION 99 QUANTUM MECHANICS 100 PLANCK'S RADIATION LAW 100 EINSTEIN AND THE PHOTOELECTRIC EFFECT 101 BOHR'S THEORY OF THE ATOM 102 SCATTERING OF X-RAYS 104 BROGLIE'S WAVE HYPOTHESIS 105 THE EXPANDING UNIVERSE: THE BIG BANG THEORY 108 THE EVOLUTION OF STARS AND THE FORMATION OF CHEMICAL ELEMENTS 111 SOLAR-SYSTEM ASTRONOMY 113 PLATE TECTONICS 114 ALFRED WEGENER AND THE CONCEPT OF CONTINENTAL DRIFT 115 ISOSTASY 115 DRIVING FORCES 116 EVIDENCE SUPPORTING THE HYPOTHESIS 116 PALEOMAGNETISM, POLAR WANDERING, AND CONTINENTAL DRIFT 117 GESTATION AND BIRTH OF PLATE TECTONIC THEORY 118 DETERMINATION OF PLATE THICKNESS 121 PLATE-DRIVING MECHANISMS AND THE ROLE OF THE MANTLE 122 GEOLOGIC TIME 123 KNOWLEDGE OF LANDFORMS AND OF LAND-SEA RELATIONS 123 PALEONTOLOGY AND STRATIGRAPHY 124 WILLIAM SMITH AND FAUNAL SUCCESSION 125 CHARLES LYELL AND UNIFORMITARIANISM 126 LOUIS AGASSIZ AND THE ICE AGE 127 GEOLOGIC TIME AND THE AGE OF THE EARTH 127 Chapter 3: THE ARTS 130 PERSPECTIVE 130 ABSTRACT ART 135 IMPRESSIONISM 138 EXPRESSIONISM 141 THE VISUAL ARTS 142 LITERATURE AND DRAMA 147 OTHER ARTS 148 CUBISM 151 ORIGINS OF THE STYLE 151 THE FIRST PHASE 151 THE SECOND PHASE: ANALYTICAL CUBISM 152 THE THIRD PHASE: SYNTHETIC CUBISM 154 MODERNISM 155 MODERNISM IN LITERATURE 156 MODERNISM IN OTHER ARTS AND ARCHITECTURE 158 HARMONY 159 THE ROOTS OF HARMONY 161 HARMONY BEFORE THE COMMON PRACTICE PERIOD 162 CLASSICAL WESTERN HARMONY 169 MONTAGE 171 THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE 175 DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE HISTORY AND THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE 177 DISTINCTION BETWEEN THE THEORY OF ARCHITECTURE AND THE THEORY OF ART 179 FUNCTIONALISM 182 THE ART OF BUILDING 184 “COMMODITY, FIRMNESS, AND DELIGHT”: THE ULTIMATE SYNTHESIS 187 GREEN ARCHITECTURE 198 THE RISE OF ECO-AWARENESS 199 GREEN DESIGN TAKES ROOT 201 THE PRINCIPLES OF BUILDING GREEN 205 THE CHALLENGES TO ARCHITECTURE 207 URBAN PLANNING 211 THE DEVELOPMENT OF URBAN PLANNING 213 URBAN FORM 221 THE SCOPE OF PLANNING 224 Chapter 4: THE SOCIAL SCIENCES, PHILOSOPHY, AND RELIGION 235 MASS PRODUCTION 235 THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION AND EARLY DEVELOPMENTS 236 PIONEERS OF MASS PRODUCTION METHODS 238 MANUFACTURING PIONEERS 239 THEORIES OF CHILD DEVELOPMENT 241 PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORIES 242 PIAGET'S THEORY 244 LEARNING THEORY 245 PSYCHOANALYTIC THEORY 247 SCREEN MEMORIES 248 THE INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS 250 FURTHER THEORETICAL DEVELOPMENT 252 HUMAN RIGHTS 255 CONSCIENCE 258 SIN 260 SOUL 262 THE PROBLEM OF EVIL 266 THE PROBLEM 266 THEISTIC RESPONSES 267 JUST WAR 269 NATURAL LAW 273 PUNISHMENT 278 THEORIES AND OBJECTIVES OF PUNISHMENT 278 PUNISHMENT IN ISLAMIC LAW 284 PUNISHMENT IN ASIAN SOCIETIES 286 UTOPIA 288 MONOTHEISM 293 Chapter 5: POLITICS AND THE LAW 298 NEUTRALITY 298 DUE PROCESS 302 DEMOCRACY 304 HISTORY 304 CONTEMPORARY DEMOCRATIC SYSTEMS 308 EQUAL PROTECTION 311 INTERNATIONAL LAW 316 DEFINITION AND SCOPE 316 HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT 319 INTERNATIONAL LAW AND MUNICIPAL LAW 325 SOCIAL CONTRACT 329 ABSOLUTISM 332 NATIONALISM 336 THE IDENTIFICATION OF STATE AND PEOPLE 336 CULTURAL NATIONALISM 338 EUROPEAN NATIONALISM 339 ASIAN AND AFRICAN NATIONALISM 344 INTELLECTUAL-PROPERTY LAW 353 THE EMERGENCE OF INTELLECTUAL-PROPERTY LAW 353 INTERNET DOMAIN NAMES 355 THE WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION AND INTELLECTUAL-PROPERTY LAW 356 ECONOMIC AND ETHICAL ISSUES 357 THEORETICAL DEBATES 358 TRENDS 361 Glossary 366 For Further Reading 369 Index 371 There was a time when people assumed that the world was flat. Once an alternate theory was proposed, the original notion was challenged and, eventually, disproved. In short, theories and ideas can be potent agents of changenone more so than those that are extensively detailed in this book. Fascinating photographs and illustrations accompany the narrative. Discusses the people, movements, and events behind the theories and ideas that changed the modern world, covering topics in the biological sciences, mathematics and the physical sciences, the arts, the social sciences, philosophy, religion, and politics and the law