Mathematician Henri Poincaré was boarding a bus when he realized that the transformations of non-Euclidean geometry were just those he needed in his research on the theory of functions. He did not have to interrupt his conversation, still less to verify the equation in detail; his insight was complete at that point. Poincaré's insight into his own creativity -- his awareness that preliminary cogitation and the working of the subconscious had prepared his mind for an intuitive flash of recognition -- is just one of many possible analyses of scientific creativity, a subject as fascinating as it is elusive. The authors of this book have chosen to search for the springs of scientific creativity by examining the lives and work of a dozen innovative thinkers in the fields of mathematics, physics, and chemistry from the seventeenth down to the mid-twentieth century.
Mathematician Henri Poincaré was boarding a bus when he realized that the transformations of non-Euclidean geometry were just those he needed in his research on the theory of functions. He did not have to interrupt his conversation, still less to verify the equation in detail; his insight was complete at that point. Poincaré's insight into his own creativity -- his awareness that preliminary cogitation and the working of the subconscious had prepared his mind for an intuitive flash of recognition -- is just one of many possible analyses of scientific creativity, a subject as fascinating as it is elusive. The authors of this book have chosen to search for the springs of scientific creativity by examining the lives and work of a dozen innovative thinkers in the fields of mathematics, physics, and chemistry from the seventeenth down to the mid-twentieth century.
A personal story of the ways in which persistence, chance, and creativity interact in biomedical research. This first book by the author of Zen and the Brain examines the role of chance in the creative process. James Austin tells a personal story of the ways in which persistence, chance, and creativity interact in biomedical research; the conclusions he reaches shed light on the creative process in any field. Austin shows how, in his own investigations, unpredictable events shaped the outcome of his research and brought about novel results. He then goes beyond this story of serendipity to propose a new classification of the varieties of chance, drawing on his own research and examples from the history of science—including the famous accidents that led Fleming to the discovery of penicillin. Finally, he explores the nature of the creative process, considering not only the environmental and neurophysiological correlates of creativity but also the role of intuition in both scientific discoveries and spiritual quests. This updated MIT Press paperback edition includes a new introduction and recent material on medical research, creativity, and spirituality.
Before the Gates of Excellence is an exceptionally well-written and lively account of the nature of productive creativity or 'genius'. It is a comprehensive survey of knowledge about productive creativity: it explores the theoretical concepts of creativity and the creative process, and attempts to explain the determining factors. Almost all schools of thought and methodological approaches are represented. The facts and ideas discussed are drawn not only from the findings of psychological research but also from biographical studies, autobiographical accounts and personal documents, illustrating the interacting influences of social environments, personality, life experiences, etc. This clear and comprehensive account of the determinants and processes of creativity will appeal to undergraduates and graduate students of psychology and is readily accessible to the general reader.
This book examines key aspects of the history, philosophy, and culture of science in India, especially as they may be comprehended in the larger idea of an Indian civilization. The authors, drawn from a range of disciplines, discuss a wide array of issues — scientism and religious dogma, dialectics of faith and knowledge, science under colonial conditions, science and study of grammar, western science and classical systems of logic, metaphysics and methodology, and science and spirituality in the Mahabharata. This collection of essays aims to evolve a framework in which science, culture, and society in India may be studied fruitfully across disciplines and historical periods. With its diverse themes and original approaches, the book will be of interest to scholars and researchers in the fields of the history and philosophy of science, science and religion, cultural studies and colonial studies, philosophy and history, as well as India studies and South Asian studies.
This collection focuses on the intellectual development of the sciences, their relationships with technology, and their place in culture in general including a proposed realignment of science, technology, and art.
Volume II: 1862-1873 contains texts which illuminate Maxwell's scientific maturity. In this period he wrote the classic works on field physics and statistical molecular theory which established his unique status in the history of science. His important correspondence with Thomson and Tait provides remarkable insight into the major themes of his physics.
Albert Einstein once said that all of his most important and productive thinking was done by playing with images in his imagination. Only in a secondary stage did he translate - with great effort, he says - these images into the language of words and mathematics that could be understood by others. According to Thomas G. West, Einstein was a classic example of a strong visual thinker, a person who tends to think in images and visual patterns, and sometimes has difficulty with words and numbers. In his awarding-winning book, In the Mind''s Eye, West discussed the connections between highly talented, visually oriented persons like Einstein and certain learning disabilities such as dyslexia. Now, in Thinking Like Einstein, West investigates the new worlds of visual thinking, insight, and creativity made possible by computer graphics and information visualization technologies. He argues that, with the rapid spread of inexpensive and powerful computers, we are now at the beginning of a major transition, moving from an old world based mainly on words and numbers to a new world where high level work in all fields will eventually involve insights based on the display and manipulation of complex information using moving computer images. West profiles several highly creative visual thinkers, such as James Clerk Maxwell, Nikola Tesla, and Richard Feynman, pointing out that there is a long history of using visualization rather than words or numbers to solve problems. Citing the longstanding historical conflicts between image lovers and image haters, West examines the relationship of art, scientific knowledge, and differences in brain capabilities - observing how modern visual thinkers with visualization technologies seem to have learned how to cut through the problems of overspecialization in academia and in the workplace. West predicts that computer visualization technology will radically change the way we all work and think. For thousands of years the technology of writing and reading has tended to promote the dominance of the left hemisphere of the brain, with its linear processing of words and numbers. Now the spread of graphical computer technologies is permitting a return to our visual roots with a new balance between hemispheres and ways of thinking - presenting new opportunities for problem solving and big picture thinking. Thus, he argues that the newest technologies will help us to reaffirm some of our oldest capabilities, allowing us to see previously unseen patterns and to restore a balance in thought and action.
This is a comprehensive edition of Maxwell's manuscript papers published virtually complete and largely for the first time. Maxwell's work was of central importance in establishing and developing the major themes of the physics of the nineteenth century: his theory of the electromagnetic field and the electromagnetic theory of light and his special place in the history of physics. His fecundity of imagination and the sophistication of his examination of the foundations of physics give particular interest and importance to his writings. Volume I: 1846-1862 documents Maxwell's education and early scientific work and his major period of scientific innovation - his first formulation of field theory, the electromagnetic theory of light and the statistical theory of gases. Important letters and manuscript drafts illuminate this fundamental early work and the volume includes his letters to friends and family, general essays and lectures and juvenilia.
