Servants of Nature

‘Highly readable, subtle and thought-provoking scientific history’ Scotsman


In this penetrating work, Pyenson and Pyenson identify that major advances in science stem from changes in three distinct areas of society: the social institutions that promote science, the sensibilities of scientists themselves and the goal of the scientific enterprise. Servants of Nature begins by examining the institutions that have shaped science: the academies of Ancient Greece, universities, the growth of museums of science, technology and natural history, botanical and zoological gardens, and the advent of modern specialized research laboratories. It is equally comprehensive when it analyses changing scientific sensibilities — for example, the relationship between religion and science, or the interplay between the growth of democracy and the growth of scientific knowledge.The final section of this book is on the changing nature of the scientific enterprise and considers how the goals of science have evolved. It is an indispensable account of how science, perhaps above all other human endeavours, has shaped, and been shaped by, the world we inhabit today.