The Cambridge History of Science: Volume 1, Ancient Science

Description

This volume in the highly respected Cambridge History of Science series is devoted to the history of science, medicine and mathematics of the Old World in antiquity. Organized by topic and culture, its essays by distinguished scholars offer the most comprehensive and up-to-date history of ancient science currently available. Together, they reveal the diversity of goals, contexts, and accomplishments in the study of nature in Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Rome, China, and India. Intended to provide a balanced and inclusive treatment of the ancient world, contributors consider scientific, medical and mathematical learning in the cultures associated with the ancient world.

Alexander Jones is Leon Levy Director Professor of the History of the Exact Sciences in Antiquity at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University and author of A Portable Cosmos: Revealing the Antikythera Mechanism, Scientific Wonder of the Ancient World (2017). Liba Taub is Director of the Whipple Museum of the History of Science and Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at the University of Cambridge. She is the author of Ptolemy's Universe: The Natural Philosophical and Ethical Foundations of Ptolemy's Astronomy (1993), Ancient Meteorology (2003), Aetna and the Moon: Explaining Nature in Ancient Greece and Rome (2008), and Science Writing in Greco-Roman Antiquity (Cambridge, 2017).

'The entire set of volumes in this comprehensive work should eventually be found on the shelves of any institution of higher learning with a serious science program, and more broadly, in the libraries of academic institutions offering area studies programs and/or courses on the history of science and philosophy ... Highly recommended.' C. G. Wood, Choice 'As one would expect from a Cambridge History volume dedicated to "ancient science," this book provides a coherent and accessible overview of the history, sources, philosophy, and sociology of the principal fields of natural inquiry in the ancient world. I find it as invaluable as a reference book, since it is accessible for introductory reading, and it is a model, in my opinion, of the sort of questions and approach toward which the field is rightly moving.' Daniel Patrick Morgan, Journal of the American Oriental Society