David Peat

PREFACEQue sais-je? (What do I know?)MontaigneThe first year of a new centuryalways appears auspicious. The year 1900 was no exception. Americanswelcomed it in with the three Ps: Peace, Prosperity, and Progress. It wasthe culmination of many outstanding achievements and looked forward,with great confidence, to a century of continued progress. Thetwentieth century would be an age of knowledge and certainty. Ironicallyit ended in uncertainty, ambiguity, and doubt. This book is thestory of that change and of a major transformation in human thinking.It also argues that, while our new millennium may no longer offercertainty, it does hold a new potential for growth, change, discovery,and creativity in all walks of life.On April 27, 1900, Lord Kelvin, the eminent physicist and presidentof Britain’s Royal Society, addressed the Royal Institution, pointingout “the beauty and clearness of the dynamical theory.” FinallyNewton’s physics had been extended to embrace all of physics, includingboth heat and light. In essence, everything that could be knownwas, in principle at least, already known. The president could lookahead to a new century with total conviction. Newton’s theory ofix