| Popis: |
I am conditioned by the pernickety and pedantic outlook of Oxford teachers, locally known as dons, so that when I started to write something on this general theme, I wondered what "modern society" was and, thence, what was "modern." So I asked one of my colleagues, who is an historian, when he considered that "modern" history began. By and large, as far as England is concerned, he thought somewhere about the end of the fifteenth century. For the purposes of today, I suppose it is legitimate to confine one's remarks to what has happened in Europe and the western hemisphere, and it is generally agreed that modern science began there about the end of the sixteenth century. I thought, therefore, that it might be helpful in assessing our position today to try to get some historical perspective and to see what role, if any, scientists played at the beginning of the modern era, and to try to see how the complex contemporary situation has been reached in which the activities of scientists have become so important, not only in making and applying new discoveries, but in helping to determine state policy. We have recently been reminded of the beginning of the modern era because scientists in many parts of the world have been celebrating the fourth centenary of the birth ofGalileo, whose complex and controversial character, I am happy to say, has kept up employment among historians, for they are still trying to unravel the tortuous events of his somewhat stormy life. But it is certain, as Andrade has remarked, that "the essence of Galileo's services to science was that he insisted upon and demonstrated |
