Arthur S. Eddington, The Nature of the Physical World

Gifford Lectures of 1927, An Annotated Edition
Erscheinungsjahr 2014
ISBN: 978-1-4438-6386-5
Verlag: Cambridge Scholars Publishing

Buch, Englisch, 420 Seiten

Arthur S. Eddington, FRS, (1882-1944) was one of the most prominent British scientists of his time. He made major contributions to astrophysics and to the broader understanding of the revolutionary theories of relativity and quantum mechanics. He is famed for his astronomical observations of 1919, confirming Einstein’s prediction of the curving of the paths of starlight, and he was the first major interpreter of Einstein’s physics to the English-speaking world. His 1928 book, The Nature of the Physical World, here re-issued in a critical, annotated edition, was largely responsible for his fame as a public interpreter of science and has had a significant influence on both the public and the philosophical understanding of 20th-century physics. In degree, Eddington’s work has entered into our contemporary understanding of modern physics, and, in consequence, critical attention to his most popular book repays attention.

Born at Kendal near Lake Windermere in the northwest of England into a Quaker background, Eddington attended Owens College, Manchester, and afterward Trinity College, Cambridge, where he won high mathematical honors, including Senior Wrangler. He became Plumian Professor of Astron¬omy at Cambridge in 1913 and in 1914 Director of the Cambridge Observatory. Eddington was a conscien¬tious objector during the First World War. By the end of his career, he was widely esteemed and had received honorary degrees from many universi¬ties. He was elected president of the Royal Astronomical Society (1921-1923), and was subse¬quently elected President of the Physical Society (1930-1932), the Mathematical Association (1932), and the Interna¬tional Astro¬nomical Union (1938-1944). Eddington was knighted in 1930 and received the Order of Merit in 1938. During the 1930s, his popular and more philosophical books made him a well known figure to the general public. Philoso¬phers have found his writings of considerable interest, and have debated his themes for nearly a hundred years.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Callaway, H. G.

Fachgebiete

• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Philosophie der Mathematik, Philosophie der Physik
• Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Wissenschaftstheorie, Wissenschaftsphilosophie
• Naturwissenschaften Physik Physik Allgemein Geschichte der Physik
• Interdisziplinäres Wissenschaften Wissenschaften: Allgemeines Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften, Formalen Wissenschaften & Technik
• Geisteswissenschaften Geschichtswissenschaft Geschichtliche Themen Wissenschafts- und Universitätsgeschichte

Über Autor(innen)

Callaway, H. G.
Dr H.G. Callaway has published widely in Europe and the US on the philosophy of language and meaning—and concerning the languages of science in particular. Prior publications include Context for meaning and Analysis: A Critical Study in the Philosophy of Language (1993), his translation of W.V. Quine’s Kant Lectures (2003) and from Cambridge Scholars Publishing, a volume of his essays, Meaning without Analyticity (2008). A native of Philadelphia, PA, he holds a doctorate in Philosophy and has taught at various American and European universities and at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. Dr Callaway’s work in the field of American philosophy and American intellectual history includes critical editions of books by Ralph Waldo Emerson and William James and his Memories and Portraits, Explorations in American Thought (2010) from Cambridge Scholars. His most recent book is a critical study of A.J. Dallas and the foreign policy of the early American republic.