Books by Sir Arthur Eddington

It is often said that there is no "philosophy of science", but only the philosophies of certain scientists. But in so far as we recognize an authoritative body of opinion which decides what is and what is not accepted as present-day physics, there is an ascertainable present-day philosophy of physical science. It is the philosophy to which those who follow the accepted practice of science stand committed by their practice.This book contains the substance of the course of lectures which the author Eddington delivered as Tarner Lecturer of Trinity College Cambridge in the Easter Term 1938. The lectures have afforded him an opportunity of developing more fully than in his earlier books the principles of philosophic thought associated with the modern advances of physical science.

In these lectures the author Eddington discusses some of the results of modern study of the physical world which give most food for philosophic thought. This will include new conceptions in science and also new knowledge. In both respects we are led to think of the material universe in a way very different from that prevailing at the classical physics.This book is substantially the course of Gifford Lectures which the author Eddington delivered in the University of Edinburgh in January to March 1927. It treats of the philosophical outcome of the great changes of scientific thought. The theory of relativity and the quantum theory have led to strange new conceptions of the physical world; the progress of the principles of thermodynamics has wrought more gradual but no less profound change.

Written by the English astrophysicist, Sir Arthur Eddington (1882-1944), and originally published in 1920, 'Space, Time and Gravitation' outlines the general theory of relativity in astrophysics. This fascinating early work navigates Einstein's theory through a series of perspectives - that of the experimental physicist, pure mathematician, and relativist, making it a wonderful read for the student, teacher or astrophysics enthusiast today. Contents include: Arthur Eddington; Preface; Prologue; 'What Is Geometry?'; 1 - The Fitzgerald Contraction; 2 - Relativity; 3 - The World of Four Dimensions; 4 - Fields of force; 5 - Kinds of Space; 6 - The New Law of Gravitation and the Old Law; 7 - Weighing Light; 8 - Other Tests of the Theory; 9 - Momentum and Energy; 10 - towards infinity; 11 - Electricity and Gravitation; 12 - On The Nature of Things; Appendix; Mathematical Notes; Historical Note. This classic text is being republished in a modern and affordable edition, complete with reproductions of the original illustrations and a specially written concise biography.