Book Project

I like this rock. It is in the Thorncraig Bird Sanctuary in Lewiston, Maine.

I am researching and writing a book that is inspired by a collaborative pedagogy project with Prof. Aburto Guzmán of the Bates College Department of Hispanic Studies and the research I conducted while developing my course Science and Human Welfare: A Historical Perspective. The book will provide a comprehensive review of the history natural science inquiry and philosophy, followed by ten case studies of significant discoveries classified as scientific. The narrative for each case study will include an explanation of how the discovery was made, why it is significant, what economic, political, and cultural factors drove the people involved to work toward the discovery, and how the discovery impacted, and continues to impact, the welfare of various affected population groups. I want to make it widely accessible to a general audience.

Tentatively planned chapters (working titles) and case studies:

(The case study chapters are arranged in chronological order, from a history of science perspective.)

Part 1

The Origin and Meaning of Scientific Inquiry (draft completed)
The Evolution of Western Scientific Inquiry in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (draft completed)
The Fragmentation, Politicization, and Maturation of Western Science in the Eighteenth Nineteenth Centuries( draft completed)
The Maturation and Philosophical Fine-Tuning of the Modern Scientific Method in the Twentieth Century (draft completed)
Why is Modern Scientific Practice Almost Exclusively European? (draft in process)
Current Practice of Science: Infrastructure, Funding, and Unreliable Information Dissemination
Northern Hemisphere Scientific Arrogance: The Example of Latin American Science

Part 2

Case Study: Energy Transmutations Explained by Thermodynamics and the Fossil Fuels: the Addiction that Changed Everything
Case Study: DNA Manipulation Version 2.0 and the Paths of Destruction Wrought by Genetically Modified Organisms
Case Study: Viral Diseases, Disease Transmission, and the Facts and Falsehoods about Vaccines
Case Study: How Natural and Synthetic Nitrogen Fixation Helped to Make and Ruin Empires
Case Study: The Discovery and Commercialization of the Electromagnetic Spectrum for Entertainment, Truth, and Deception
Case Study: How Oxidation-Reduction Chemistry Came to Influence the Masses through Photography
Case Study: Organic Polymer Synthesis and the Conquest of Humanity by Plastics
Case Study: Nuclear Reactions Unleashed into a Variety Pack of Weapons, Energy, and Medicine
Case Study: Antibiotics and the Changing Tide in the War Against Bacteria
Case Study: Semiconductors, Transistors, and How Computers Came to Control the World
Conclusions and Future Paradigms

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