Starting in the 1950s, US physicists dominated the search for elementary particles; aided by the association of this research with national security, they held this position for decades. In an effort to maintain their hegemony and track down the elus...

Does science aim at providing an account of the world that is literally true or objectively true? Understanding the difference requires paying close attention to metaphor and its role in science. In "The Third Lens", Andrew S. Reynolds argues that me...

On September 21, 1938, one of the most powerful storms of the twentieth century came unannounced into the lives of New Yorkers and New Englanders, leaving utter devastation in its wake. The Great Hurricane, as it came to be known, changed everything,...

The hurricane that pummeled the northeastern United States on September 21, 1938, was New England's most damaging weather event ever. To call it "New England's Katrina" might be to understate its power. Without warning, the storm plowed into Long Isl...

From Thoreau's renowned Journal, a treasury of memorable, funny, and sharply observed accounts of his encounters with the wild and domestic animals of Concord Many of the most vivid writings in the renowned Journal of Henry David Thoreau concern cre...

The conflict between science and religion seems indelible, even eternal. Surely two such divergent views of the universe have always been in fierce opposition? Actually, that's not the case, says Peter Harrison: our very concepts of science and relig...

Duhem's 1908 essay questions the relation between physical theory and metaphysics and, more specifically, between astronomy and physics-an issue still of importance today. He critiques the answers given by Greek thought, Arabic science, medieval Chri...

This book explores the stories behind seventy-five extraordinary maps. It includes unique treasures such as the fourteenth-century Gough Map of Great Britain, exquisite portolan charts made in the fifteenth century, the Selden Map of China – the earl...

Some of Henry David Thoreau's most beautiful nature writing was inspired by the flowering trees and plants of Concord. An inveterate year-round rambler and journal keeper, he faithfully recorded, dated, and described his sightings of the floating wat...

In science and technology, the images used to depict ideas, data, and reactions can be as striking and explosive as the concepts and processes they embody – both works of art and generative forces in their own right. Drawing on a close dialogue betwe...