Jonathan Beard, contributor In the years between 1609, when
Kepler published his first two laws of planetary motion, and
1687, when Newton published Principia, a handful of European men
laid the foundations of modern science and weakened religion's
hold on educated minds. Edward Dolnick chronicles these
momentous times, explaining how these men changed the
intellectual landscape forever by popularising their work and
making knowledge public through articles and books. Spicing
chapters on difficult mathematical concepts with asides on the
lives of scientists from Aristotle to Einstein, Dolnick invokes
metaphors to sidestep the trickier mathematics - though less
numerate readers may still have to take some things on trust.
Through this fascinating history, Dolnick reveals that all the
geniuses of this seminal time were devout Christians who hoped
their work would promote an appreciation of God's creation. His
book also shows us that, in that respect, they failed. The
Clockwork Universe: Isaac Newton, the Royal