The Knowledge Machine: How Unreasonable Ideas Created Modern Science

How are breakthroughs made and scientific revolutions happen? What role does chance play in scientific discoveries? Using examples from physics and biology, Michael Strevens shows how observations and experiments have helped different scientific schools develop their theories and methods, shaping modern scientific views. The author introduces us to portraits of great scientists: from Isaac Newton to Einstein and the discoverer of the quark, Murray Gell-Mann, and discusses how questions about the role of God were illuminated and evolved in scientific works, and how philosophers, from Aristotle to Descartes, explained motion, inertia, centrifugal force, and other phenomena of nature. Strevens highlights the significance of the scientific method, critical thinking, and the predictive and explanatory capabilities of theories. By thoroughly exploring the history of different scientific schools, he offers us a fascinating explanation of why science has become so powerful, yet its development took centuries.