Laura J. Snyder, Ph.D., Professor of Philosophy at St. John’s
University, was asked by
The Wall Street Journal to choose this year’s “Gift Guide
2012: Science” list of books recommended for the holiday season.
Her recommendations were published in the November 16 edition of
the paper.
A Fulbright Scholar, prolific author and past president of the
International Society for the History of Philosophy of Science
(HOPOS), Dr. Snyder has taught at St. John’s since 1996. She has
most recently published The Philosophical Breakfast Club: Four
Remarkable Friends Who Transformed Science and Changed the
World (2011). This work traces the friendship of four
19th-century scientists who met at Cambridge. Inspired by Francis
Bacon’s ideas, they coined the word “scientist” and were central in
transforming science from the province of the amateur
(practitioners were, until then, called “natural philosophers”) to
a professional system.
This highly acclaimed work was chosen as a Scientific
American Notable Book, the winner of the 2011 Royal
Institution of Australia Poll for Favorite Science Book and an
official selection of the TED Book Club. TED — which stands for
technology, entertainment and design — is a nonprofit organization
formed to bring together influential thinkers from these diverse
worlds.
Dr Snyder is currently working on a new book which explores the
relation between science — especially optics — and art in the 17th
century.