Western Civilization II / Unit 5 WC2 0418 short lesson, about 20 seconds
The Republic of Science: Journals, Correspondence, Shoulders of Giants
Captions available
The idea
Lectures, letters and repeated experiments bound a republic of science; the Royal Society's Philosophical Transactions was the first journal. Progress became incremental, each result building on the last, standing on the shoulders of giants, and any disciplined person could contribute.
In practice
Newton presiding over the society that published him.
Where people slip
Incremental progress is the modern habit; the ancients had claimed completeness.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
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