Science in the 20th Century and Beyond

Jon Agar is senior lecturer in science and technology studies at University College London and editor of the British Journal for the History of Science. His previous books include Constant Touch: A Global History of the Mobile Phone and The Government Machine: A Universal History of the Computer.

A compelling history of science from 1900 to the present day, this is the first book to survey modern developments in science during a century of unprecedented change, conflict and uncertainty. The scope is global.
 
Science's claim to access universal truths about the natural world made it an irresistible resource for industrial empires, ideological programs, and environmental campaigners during this period. Science has been at the heart of twentieth century history - from Einstein's new physics to the Manhattan Project, from eugenics to the Human Genome Project, or from the wonders of penicillin to the promises of biotechnology. For some science would only thrive if autonomous and kept separate from the political world, while for others science was the best guide to a planned and better future. Science was both a routine, if essential, part of an orderly society, and the disruptive source of bewildering transformation.
 
Jon Agar draws on a wave of recent scholarship that explores science from interdisciplinary perspectives to offer a readable synthesis that will be ideal for anyone curious about the profound place of science in the modern world.

Much-needed overview of the history of science from 1900 to the present day.

Emphasises the crucial part that science has played in the bigger picture of twentieth century history, from Einstein's new physics to the Human Genome Project.

* Acknowledgements
* 1. Introduction
* Part 1: Science after 1900
* 2. New Physics
* 3. New Sciences of Life
* 4. New Sciences of the Self
* Part 2: Sciences in a World of Conflict
* 5. Science and the First World War
* 6. Crisis: Quantum Theories and Other Weimar Sciences
* 7. Science and Imperial Order
* 8. Expanding Universes: Private Wealth and American Science
* 9. Revolutions and Materialism
* 10. Nazi Science
* 11. Scaling Up, Scaling Down
* Part 3: Second World War and Cold War
* 12. Science and the Second World War
* 13. Trials of Science in the Atomic Age
* 14. Cold War Spaces
* 15. Cold War Sciences (1): Sciences from the Working World of Atomic Projects
* 16. Cold War Sciences (2): Sciences from Information Systems
* Part 4: Sciences of Our World
* 17. Transition: Sea Change in the Long Sixties
* 18. Networks
* 19. Connecting Ends
* Part 5: Conclusions
* 20. Science in the Twentieth Century and Beyond