Book ID: CBB600779827

Bedeviled: A Shadow History of Demons in Science (2020)

unapi

Canales, Jimena (Author)


Princeton University Press


Publication Date: 2020
Physical Details: 416
Language: English

How scientists through the ages have conducted thought experiments using imaginary entities―demons―to test the laws of nature and push the frontiers of what is possible Science may be known for banishing the demons of superstition from the modern world. Yet just as the demon-haunted world was being exorcized by the enlightening power of reason, a new kind of demon mischievously materialized in the scientific imagination itself. Scientists began to employ hypothetical beings to perform certain roles in thought experiments―experiments that can only be done in the imagination―and these impish assistants helped scientists achieve major breakthroughs that pushed forward the frontiers of science and technology.Spanning four centuries of discovery―from René Descartes, whose demon could hijack sensorial reality, to James Clerk Maxwell, whose molecular-sized demon deftly broke the second law of thermodynamics, to Darwin, Einstein, Feynman, and beyond―Jimena Canales tells a shadow history of science and the demons that bedevil it. She reveals how the greatest scientific thinkers used demons to explore problems, test the limits of what is possible, and better understand nature. Their imaginary familiars helped unlock the secrets of entropy, heredity, relativity, quantum mechanics, and other scientific wonders―and continue to inspire breakthroughs in the realms of computer science, artificial intelligence, and economics today.The world may no longer be haunted as it once was, but the demons of the scientific imagination are alive and well, continuing to play a vital role in scientists' efforts to explore the unknown and make the impossible real.

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Reviewed By

Review Michael T. Stuart (2023) Review of "Bedeviled: A Shadow History of Demons in Science". Isis: International Review Devoted to the History of Science and Its Cultural Influences (pp. 426-427). unapi

Review Rawad El Skaf (2022) Review of "Bedeviled: A Shadow History of Demons in Science". History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences (p. 6). unapi

Citation URI
https://data.isiscb.org/isis/citation/CBB600779827/

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Authors & Contributors
Shaw, Jamie
Kranke, Nina
Rodrigues, Ana Duarte
Greene, Catherine
Rosefeldt, Tobias
Černá, Jana
Concepts
Epistemology
Methodology of science; scientific method
Philosophy of science
Imagination
Philosophy
Experiments and experimentation
Time Periods
Early modern
19th century
21st century
20th century, late
18th century
17th century
Places
London (England)
Spain
Europe
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