Book Report: The Clockwork Universe by Edward Dolnick

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Most of the book deals with the Newton-Leibniz feud which I hadn't really known about.  The author  does a pretty good intro to physics and calculus.  And the history of science focusing on Copernicus, Kepler, Brahe, Galileo, Newton and Leibniz among others was interesting.  Also the info on the Royal Society was interesting, especially considering that it still exists - they have many interesting lecture videos on Youtube.

One item I almost missed in the book was Newton's invention of the reflecting telescope.  The author just mentions it in passing and that it was smaller than the refractor that Galileo used.  Newton's telescope is still the basis of the latest and greatest telescopes today such as the JWST.

But the big takeaway from the book for me was The Royal Society method:
 

=> experiments not lore
 

 => share experimental results freely

 

Lots of echoes of those sentiments in ham radio.

I have to confess that I did nod off a few times while reading it - the book form of the TV program NOVA.  So I tried to get through it fairly quickly.

Best Regards,
Chuck, WB9KZY
http://wb9kzy.com/ham.htm