Quantitative Methods in Biological and Medical Sciences: A Historical Essay - Couverture souple

Lancaster, H.O.

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 1461276241 ISBN 13 : 9781461276241

Editeur : Springer, 2011

Synopsis

My original intention was to write a history of medical statistics, used in its prewar sense, expanding the writings on the subject by Major Greenwood, from which I formed many of my ideas in the early days immediately after the Second World War. In later years, I decided that the scope of his works was narrower than what I think is appropriate now, for he was writing in an era before the acceptance and use of the Fisherian methods and he was probably not aware of the mathematization of many parts of biological theory. Further, the boundary between the medical and biological sciences has largely disappeared. Many texts have now been written on branches of the theory and practice inspired by R. A. Fisher (see §4. 13). I discuss the history of the use of quantitative methods in the biological sciences, defined after the style of Peller (1967) as that branch of science that uses a quantitative approach to, or quantitative logical reasoning on, or biology. The mathematical tech- any issue having to do with medicine niques are various and not classified here. Within the book I use "biological sciences" to include medicine but use the longer phrase in its title to avoid misunderstandings as to content. Moreover, most of the experimental work carried out in medical research laboratories is performed on animals other than man.

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

This wide-ranging volume surveys the immense impact that quantitative methods have had on the development of modern biological and medical science. Professor Lancaster begins with the contribution of the Ancient Greek philosophers and then traces the development of fundamental ideas from there to the present day. He shows how mathematics, principally through counting and measurement, and statistics have profoundly influenced the emergence of key ideas and theories. Since no background knowledge of biological anatomy, physiology or disease is required, this volume is essentially a self-contained account. As befits such a wide-ranging volume, amongst the topics covered are: epidemiology, the classification of disease, microbiology, genetics, clinical trials, death rates and life tables, and evolution. All those interested in these topics will find this an invaluable source of information and a remarkable synthesis of the long history of quantification in the biological (including medical) sciences.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Springer
• Date d'édition: 2011
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 1461276241
• ISBN 13: 9781461276241
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 316
• Coordonnées du fabricant: ProductSafety@springernature.com; ProductSafety@springernature.com; ; Poststr. 9; Darmstadt; 64293; Allemagne