Mary Terrall's Books

The Man Who Flattened the Earth

Maupertuis and the Sciences in the Enlightenment

By: Mary Terrall

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The Man Who Flattened the Earth

Maupertuis and the Sciences in the Enlightenment

By: Mary Terrall

Self-styled adventurer, literary wit, philosopher, and statesman of science, Pierre-Louis Moreau de Maupertuis (1698-1759) stood at the center of Enlightenment science and culture. Offering an elegant and accessible portrait of this remarkable man, Mary Terrall uses the story of Maupertuis's life, self-fashioning, and scientific works to explore what it meant to do science and to be a man of science in eighteenth-century Europe. Beginning his scientific career as a mathematician in Paris, Maupertuis entered the public eye with a much-discussed expedition to Lapland, which confirmed Newton's calculation that the earth was flattened at the poles. He also made significant, and often intentionally controversial, contributions to physics, life science, navigation, astronomy, and metaphysics. Called to Berlin by Frederick the Great, Maupertuis moved to Prussia to preside over the Academy of Sciences there. Equally at home in salons, cafés, scientific academies, and royal courts, Maupertuis used his social connections and his printed works to enhance a carefully constructed reputation as both a man of letters and a man of science. His social and institutional affiliations, in turn, affected how Maupertuis formulated his ideas, how he presented them to his contemporaries, and the reactions they provoked. Terrall not only illuminates the life and work of a colorful and important Enlightenment figure, but also uses his story to delve into many wider issues, including the development of scientific institutions, the impact of print culture on science, and the interactions of science and government. Smart and highly readable, Maupertuis will appeal to anyone interested in eighteenth-century science and culture. “Terrall’s work is scholarship in the best sense. Her explanations of arcane 18th-century French physics, mathematics, astronomy, and biology are among the most lucid available in any language.”—Virginia Dawson, American Historical Review Winner of the 2003 Pfizer Award from the History of Science Society

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420

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University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0226793621

ISBN 13

9780226793627

Catching Nature in the Act

Réaumur & the Practice of Natural History in the Eighteenth Century

By: Mary Terrall

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Catching Nature in the Act

Réaumur & the Practice of Natural History in the Eighteenth Century

By: Mary Terrall

Natural history in the eighteenth century was many things to many people—diversion, obsession, medically or economically useful knowledge, spectacle, evidence for God’s providence and wisdom, or even the foundation of all natural knowledge. Because natural history was pursued by such a variety of people around the globe, with practitioners sharing neither methods nor training, it has been characterized as a science of straightforward description, devoted to amassing observations as the raw material for classification and thus fundamentally distinct from experimental physical science. In Catching Nature in the Act, Mary Terrall revises this picture, revealing how eighteenth-century natural historians incorporated various experimental techniques and strategies into their practice. At the center of Terrall’s study is René-Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur (1683–1757)—the definitive authority on natural history in the middle decades of the eighteenth century—and his many correspondents, assistants, and collaborators. Through a close examination of Réaumur’s publications, papers, and letters, Terrall reconstructs the working relationships among these naturalists and shows how observing, collecting, and experimenting fit into their daily lives. Essential reading for historians of science and early modern Europe, Catching Nature in the Act defines and excavates a dynamic field of francophone natural history that has been inadequately mined and understood to date.

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284

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

022608874X

ISBN 13

9780226088747

Storytelling Apes

Primatology Narratives Past and Future

By: Mary Sanders Pollock

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Storytelling Apes

Primatology Narratives Past and Future

By: Mary Sanders Pollock

The annals of field primatology are filled with stories about charismatic animals native to some of the most challenging and remote areas on earth. There are, for example, the chimpanzees of Tanzania, whose social and family interactions Jane Goodall has studied for decades; the mountain gorillas of the Virungas, chronicled first by George Schaller and then later, more obsessively, by Dian Fossey; various species of monkeys (Indian langurs, Kenyan baboons, and Brazilian spider monkeys) studied by Sarah Hrdy, Shirley Strum, Robert Sapolsky, Barbara Smuts, and Karen Strier; and finally the orangutans of the Bornean woodlands, whom Biruté Galdikas has observed passionately. Humans are, after all, storytelling apes. The narrative urge is encoded in our DNA, along with large brains, nimble fingers, and color vision, traits we share with lemurs, monkeys, and apes. In Storytelling Apes, Mary Sanders Pollock traces the development and evolution of primatology field narratives while reflecting upon the development of the discipline and the changing conditions within natural primate habitat. Like almost every other field primatologist who followed her, Jane Goodall recognized the individuality of her study animals: defying formal scientific protocols, she named her chimpanzee subjects instead of numbering them, thereby establishing a trend. For Goodall, Fossey, Sapolsky, and numerous other scientists whose works are discussed in Storytelling Apes, free-living primates became fully realized characters in romances, tragedies, comedies, and never-ending soap operas. With this work, Pollock shows readers with a humanist perspective that science writing can have remarkable literary value, encourages scientists to share their passions with the general public, and inspires the conservation community.

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Page Count

269

Publisher

Penn State Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0271067705

ISBN 13

9780271067704

Catching Nature in the Act

Réaumur & the Practice of Natural History in the Eighteenth Century

By: Mary Terrall

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Catching Nature in the Act

Réaumur & the Practice of Natural History in the Eighteenth Century

By: Mary Terrall

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284

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

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ISBN 10

022608874X

ISBN 13

9780226088747

The Evolution of Gerald Durrell

Biography of an Author and Wildlife Conservationist

By: Mary Sanders Pollock

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The Evolution of Gerald Durrell

Biography of an Author and Wildlife Conservationist

By: Mary Sanders Pollock

In The Evolution of Gerald Durrell: A Naturalist's Critical Biography, Mary Sanders Pollock revisits the life and work of Gerald Durrell, one of the most significant environmentalist figures of the 20th century. This new biography tracks Durrell's evolution from a free-range childhood on Corfu through his time in Africa, South America, and the islands of the Pacific and Indian Oceans. Durrell's early work is described in his numerous travel narratives, but his conservation activities culminated in “the stationary ark,” a conservation zoo on the Isle of Jersey which still plays an important role in global wildlife conservation efforts. This biography situates Durrell's writing, collecting, and conservation practices within the frameworks of animal studies, conservation biology, and postcolonial history. Familiarizing readers with the broad range of his cultural impact, from The Corfu Trilogy to his BBC television specials, Pollock shows how Durrell's approach offers models for how life on earth is to thrive and survive: scientists must make greater efforts to touch hearts and minds, and cultural workers must communicate more about science and the perilous existence of other species.

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246

Publisher

Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1350385484

ISBN 13

9781350385481

Women Writers and the Nation's Past 1790-1860

Empathetic Histories

By: Mary Spongberg

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Women Writers and the Nation's Past 1790-1860

Empathetic Histories

By: Mary Spongberg

1790 saw the publication of Edmund Burke's Reflections on the Revolution in France -- the definitive tract of modern conservatism as a political philosophy. Though women of the period wrote texts that clearly responded to and reacted against Burke's conception of English history and to the contemporary political events that continued to shape it, this conversation was largely ignored or dismissed, and much of it remains to be reconsidered today. Examining the works of women writers from Jane Austen and Mary Wollstonecraft to the Strickland sisters and Mary Anne Everett Green, this book begins to recuperate that conversation and in doing so uncovers a more complete and nuanced picture of women's participation in the writing of history. Professor Mary Spongberg puts forward an alternate, feminized historiography of Britain that demonstrates how women writers' recourse to history caused them to become generically innovative and allowed them to participate in the political debates that framed the emergence of modern British historiography, and to push back against the Whig interpretation of history that predominated from 1790-1860.

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246

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Bloomsbury Publishing

Published Date

ISBN 10

1350016748

ISBN 13

9781350016743

Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing

Concepts of Care in Evidence-Based Practice

By: Mary C Townsend,Karyn I Morgan

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Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing

Concepts of Care in Evidence-Based Practice

By: Mary C Townsend,Karyn I Morgan

Clearly written, comprehensive coverage of psychiatric mental-health nursing delivers what nursing students need to meet the challenges of health care today. Its evidence-based, holistic approach to nursing practice focuses on both physiological and psychological disorders. Designed to be used in longer psychiatric mental-health nursing courses, this text provides students with a comprehensive grounding in therapeutic approaches as well as must-know DSM-5 disorders and nursing interventions.

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Page Count

1076

Publisher

F.A. Davis

Published Date

ISBN 10

0803669860

ISBN 13

9780803669864

The House of the Burgesses

By: Michael Burgess,Mary Wickizer Burgess

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The House of the Burgesses

By: Michael Burgess,Mary Wickizer Burgess

A facsimile reprint of the Second Edition (1994) of this genealogical guide to 25,000 descendants of William Burgess of Richmond (later King George) County, Virginia, and his only known son, Edward Burgess of Stafford (later King George) County, Virginia. Complete with illustrations, photos, comprehensive given and surname indexes, and historical introduction.

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Page Count

732

Publisher

Wildside Press LLC

Published Date

ISBN 10

0893704792

ISBN 13

9780893704797

The Man Who Flattened the Earth

Maupertuis and the Sciences in the Enlightenment

By: Mary Terrall

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The Man Who Flattened the Earth

Maupertuis and the Sciences in the Enlightenment

By: Mary Terrall

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Solve jigsaw puzzle

Age

Page Count

420

Publisher

University of Chicago Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0226793621

ISBN 13

9780226793627

Book's by Mary Terrall

The Man Who Flattened the Earth

The Man Who Flattened the Earth

Catching Nature in the Act

Catching Nature in the Act

Storytelling Apes

Storytelling Apes

Catching Nature in the Act

Catching Nature in the Act

The Evolution of Gerald Durrell

The Evolution of Gerald Durrell

Women Writers and the Nation's Past 1790-1860

Women Writers and the Nation's Past 1790-1860

Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing

Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing

The House of the Burgesses

The House of the Burgesses

The Man Who Flattened the Earth

The Man Who Flattened the Earth

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