The Fontana History of Scientific Institutions, Enterprises and Sensibilities
Major scientific advances stem from changes in three distinct areas: the social institutions that promote science, the sensibilities of scientists themselves and the goal of the scientific enterprise. Examining the institutions that have shaped science: the academies of Ancient Greece, universities, the growth of museums of science, technology and natural history, botanical and zoological gardens, and the advent of modern specialised research laboratories, this book also analyses changing scientific sensibilities through time - such as the relationship between religion and science of the interplay between the growth of democracy and the growth of scientific knowledge.
The book covers the changing nature of scientific enterprise and considers how the goals of science have evolved, giving an indispensable account of how science, perhaps above all other human endeavours, has shaped, and been shaped by, the world we inhabit today.