Facing Up - Science And Its Cultural Adversaries Steven Weinberg

Résumé :

In a recent New York Times profile, James Glanz remarked, Steven Weinberg is perhaps the world's most authoritative proponent of the idea that physics is hurtling toward a final theory, a complete explanation of natures particles and forces that will endure as the bedrock of all science forevermore. He is also a powerful writer of prose that can illuminate-and sting... He recently received the Lewis Thomas Prize, awarded to the researcher who best embodies the scientist as poet. Both the brilliant scientist and the provocative writer are fully present in this book as Weinberg pursues his principal passions, theoretical physics and a deeper understanding of the culture, philosophy, history, and politics of science. Each of these essays, which span fifteen years, struggles in one way or another with the necessity of facing up to the discovery that the laws of nature are impersonal, with no hint of a special status for human beings. Defending the spirit of science against its cultural adversaries, these essays express a viewpoint that is reductionist, realist, and devoutly secular. Each is preceded by a new introduction that explains its provenance and, if necessary, brings it up to date. Together, they afford the general reader the unique pleasure of experiencing the superb sense, understanding, and knowledge of one of the most interesting and forceful scientific minds of our era.

A propos de l'auteur :

Steven Weinberg, Professor of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Texas, is the author of many books, including The Quantum Theory of Fields, and, for general readers, The First Three Minutes and Dreams of a Final Theory. He won the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979 and the National Medal of Science in 1991.

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