THE NAMES OF SCIENCE

The history of science is echoed in the development of its language and the names chosen for its technical terms The Names of Science examines in detail how over time new words have entered the scientific lexicon and how some of them but far from all have survived to the present Why is a transistor called a transistor and not something else Why was the term scientist only coined in 1834 and why was the name regarded as controversial for a long time afterwards There is a story behind every scientific word we use today In this work Helge Kragh tells many of these stories taking a broad historical perspective from the Renaissance to the present By combining elements of linguistics with the history of the natural sciences including physics chemistry and astronomy this book offers a new and innovative perspective on the historical development of the natural sciences Following an introductory list of useful linguistic terms the book is structured in six chapters which cover important phases in the history of science dealing with a vast range of scientific terminology from physics chemistry geology astronomy to cosmology It also considers if only briefly how English and not say Latin or French developed to become the internationally accepted