The second half of the 19th century has been called the Golden Age of Science. How was this reflected in the literature and philosophy of all time?

Essay by NoiseeShoesHigh School, 11th grade February 2006

download word file, 3 pages 3.0

In the early 1900's, the significant dilemmas in the government and working class were finally getting resolved, therefore the people moved on to better activities that involved much intelligence. In this time there was a large breakthrough in scientific technology, this era was known as the Golden Age Of Science. In the Golden Age Of Science, scientific knowledge expanded quickly, changing the way people look at everyday life.

As the many scientific discoveries came out, more and more people benefited from them. Many previous inventions were improved, such as rail roads and steam engines. Researchers were explaining to the people how these things worked, and people became more interested. One important scientist was Louis Pasteur who discovered thermodynamics. Thermodynamics investigated the relationship between heat and energy, and it built on Isaac Newton's laws of mechanics. Dmitri Mendeleev also contributed to science, in the world of chemistry. Mendeleev brought to the people the Periodic Law and the Periodic Table.

These inventions were important, and they greatly impacted society, economics, and thought. In society, many controversies were brought up from the new theories, especially the theory of evolution. The discoveries affected the economy because, money was put into them before the people decided that they were worthy of investing in. Many people in society lacked scientific knowledge, therefore, this greatly effected the popular thought.

In the Golden Age of Science, one theory was realism. Realism was depicting life exactly how it was. Realism was much different than the previous idea, romanticism. Romantics magnified individual freedom, and had a strong interest in nature, emotion and the use of one's imagination, whereas Realists focused on existing human acts and events. The Realist movement began in France, and eventually gained supporters in other countries. Realist writers worked to show the ideas of everyday life, these...