Introduction: The Modern Physical and Mathematical Sciences
Part I - The Public Cultures of the Physical Sciences After 1800
1 - Theories of Scientific Method
2 - Intersections of Physical Science and Western Religion in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
3 - A Twisted Tale: Women in the Physical Sciences in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
4 - Scientists and Their Publics: Popularization of Science in the Nineteenth Century
5 - Literature and the Modern Physical Sciences

Part II - Discipline Building in the Sciences: Places, Instruments, Communication
6 - Mathematical Schools, Communities, and Networks
7 - The Industry, Research, and Education Nexus
8 - Remaking Astronomy: Instruments and Practice in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
9 - Languages in Chemistry
10 - Imagery And Representation In Twentieth-Century Physics

Part III - Chemistry and Physics: Problems Through the Early 1900s
11 - The Physical Sciences in the Life Sciences
12 - Chemical Atomism and Chemical Classification
13 - The Theory of Chemical Structure and its Applications
14 - Theories and Experiments on Radiation from Thomas Young to X Rays
15 - Force, Energy, and Thermodynamics
16 - Electrical Therory and Practice in the Nineteenth Century

Part IV - Atomic and Molecular Sciences in the Twentieth Century
17 - Quantum Theory and Atomic Structure, 1900–1927
18 - Radioactiviy and Nuclerar Physics
19 - Quantum Field Theory: From QED to the Standard Model
20 - Chemical Physics and Quantum Chemistry in the Twentieth Century
21 - Plasmas and Solid-State Science
22 - Macromolecules: Their Structures and Functions

Part V - Mathematics, Astronomy, and Cosmology Since the Eighteenth Century
23 - The Geometrical Tradition: Mathematics, Space, and Reason in the Nineteenth Century

A narrative and interpretative history of the physical and mathematical sciences from the early nineteenth century to the close of the twentieth century. Drawing upon the most recent methods and results in historical studies of science, the authors of over thirty chapters employ strategies from intellectual history, social history, and cultural studies to provide unusually wide-ranging and comprehensive insights into developments in the public culture, disciplinary organization, and cognitive content of the physical and mathematical sciences. The sciences under study in the volume include physics, astronomy, chemistry and mathematics, as well as their extensions into geosciences and environmental sciences, computer science, and biomedical science. Scientific traditions and scientific changes are examined; the roles of instruments, languages, and images in everyday practice are analyzed; the theme of scientific 'revolution' is scrutinized; and the interactions of the sciences with literature, religion, and ideology are examined.