You might enjoy the book, The Fellowship: Gilbert, Bacon, Harvey, Wren, Newton, and the Story of a Scientific Revolution. The book is set around 1660, as the c

You might enjoy the book, The Fellowship: Gilbert, Bacon, Harvey, Wren, Newton, and the Story of a Scientific Revolution. The book is set around 1660, as the center of the scientific universe shifted from Italy to England. Interestingly, the formation of the Royal Society occurred in the midst of the English Civil war. Not only economic forces, but military forces and political forces had a dramatic impact on shaping what became the formalization of of the scientific method, and peer review process. Consider that the very existence of Oxford (and other universities) hung on the arbitrary conceptions of military generals and the political implications of their decisions.