Science and Hypothesis

Science and Hypothesis is the 1905 English translation of the 1902 classic by Henri Poincaré (1854-1912), the French mathematician who was perhaps the last man to master the whole of the mathematics of his time. The book asks what science actually claims when it claims truth, arguing that much of physics and geometry rests on convenient convention rather than fact, and a young Einstein read it closely before relativity. It remains one of the few philosophy-of-science books that working scientists still press on each other. Free PDF download available on BDeBooks.