Weinberg, Steven. To Explain the World: The Discovery of Modern Science. Harper; 1^st Edition edition, 2015.

“A masterful commentary on the history of science from the Greeks to modern times, by Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg—a thought-provoking and important book by one of the most distinguished scientists and intellectuals of our time.

In this rich, irreverent, and compelling history, Nobel Prize-winning physicist Steven Weinberg takes us across centuries from ancient Miletus to medieval Baghdad and Oxford, from Plato’s Academy and the Museum of Alexandria to the cathedral school of Chartres and the Royal Society of London. He shows that the scientists of ancient and medieval times not only did not understand what we understand about the world—they did not understand what there is to understand, or how to understand it. Yet over the centuries, through the struggle to solve such mysteries as the curious backward movement of the planets and the rise and fall of the tides, the modern discipline of science eventually emerged. Along the way, Weinberg examines historic clashes and collaborations between science and the competing spheres of religion, technology, poetry, mathematics, and philosophy.

An illuminating exploration of the way we consider and analyze the world around us, To Explain the World is a sweeping, ambitious account of how difficult it was to discover the goals and methods of modern science, and the impact of this discovery on human knowledge and development.”

- from Harpercollins publishers llc [US] site

A little about the author
 

“Steven Weinberg  (born in New York in 1933) is a theoretical physicist and the winner of the Nobel Prize in Physics (1979), the National Medal of Science, the Lewis Thomas Prize for the Scientist as Poet, and numerous honorary degrees and other awards. He is a member of the National Academy of Science, the Royal Society of London, the American Philosophical Society, and other academies. A longtime contributor to the New York Review of Books, he is also the author of The First Three Minutes, Dreams of a Final Theory, Facing Up, and Lake Views, as well as leading treatises on theoretical physics. He holds the Josey Regental Chair in Science at the University of Texas at Austin.”

- from Harpercollins publishers llc [US] site

Contents

Part I: Ancient Greek Physics

1. Matter and Poetry
2. Music and Mathematics
3. Motion and Philosophy
4. Hellenistic Physics and Technology

5. Ancient Science and Religion

Part II: Ancient Greek Astronomy

6. The Uses of Astronomy

7. Measuring the Sun, Moon and Earth
8. The Problem of the Planets

Part III: The Middle Ages

9. The Arabs
10. Medieval Europe

Part IV: The Scientific Revolution

11. The Solar System Solved
12. Experiments Begun
13. Method Reconsidered
14. The Newtonian Synthesis
15. Epilogue: The Grand Reduction

Other books by the same author that available in Greek

Critiques – Presentations

Νίκος Ρομποτής, Οι αρχαίοι, η επιστήμη και ο κόσμος μας, "Η Καθημερινή"/ "Τέχνες και Γράμματα", 15.1.2017

             Σπύρος Μανουσέλης, Επιστημονικά βιβλία για τις γιορτές, "Εφημερίδα των Συντακτών", 10.12.2016

Μάρκος Καρασαρίνης, Στίβεν Γουάινμπεργκ: «Μια νέα επανάσταση σαν εκείνη του Αϊνστάιν είναι πιθανή στη Φυσική», Περιοδικό "BHmagazino", 29.10.2016

Steven Weinberg. To explain the world. “The New York Times”,  6.3.2015. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/08/books/review/to-explain-the-world-by-steven-weinberg.html?mcubz=0

Tim Radford. To explain the world: The Discovery Science by Steven Weinberg. “The Guardian”, 14.3.2015 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/14/to-explain-the-world-discovery-of-modern-science-steven-weinberg-review

Nicola Davis. To Explain the World review – a dry study of history’s greatest scientists. “The Guardian”, 22.2.2015 https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/feb/22/to-explain-the-world-steven-weinberg-history-great-thinkers

Lewis Dartnell. To Explain the World: the Discovery of Modern Science by Steven Weinberg, review: 'fascinating but unbalanced'. “The Telegraph”, 12.2.15 http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/bookreviews/11408156/To-Explain-the-World-the-Discovery-of-Modern-Science-by-Steven-Weinberg.html

https://www.nobelprize.org/search/?query=Steven+Weinberg (Βιογραφικό του συγγραφέα, συνεντεύξεις, φωτογραφίες κ.ά. στην ιστοσελίδα των βραβείων Νόμπελ)

https://www.c-span.org/video/?325755-1/steven-weinberg-explain-world (Βίντεο στο οποίο ο συγγραφέας μιλάει για το βιβλίο του στο C-Span)

http://www.worldsciencefestival.com/participants/steven_weinberg/ (Διάφορα βίντεο του συγγραφέα στα πλαίσια της συμμετοχής του στο World Science Festival)

http://www.nytimes.com/2000/01/25/science/scientist-at-work-steven-weinberg-physicist-ponders-god-truth-and-final-theory.html?mcubz=0 (Άρθρο του James Glanz για τον συγγραφέα στο The New York Times)

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/mar/03/steven-weinberg-interview-rational-heroes (Συνέντευξη /  παρουσίαση του συγγραφέα στο Theguardian)

https://www.quantamagazine.org/steven-weinberg-on-the-history-of-physics-20150317/ (Συνέντευξη /  παρουσίαση του συγγραφέα στο Quanta Magazine)